Legislative Alert: 2024 Mental Health Parity Rule Rescinded

May 20, 2025

A week ago, the Trump Administration announced its intention to stop the passage of the 2024 Mental Health Parity Rule that would have made the 2008 Mental Health Parity and Addiction Parity Act (MHPAEA) enforcement much stronger. As most CSWA members are aware, the implementation of this 16-year-old law has been a challenge [laws are the beginning of the legislative process which are implemented by rules]. The constant problems LCSWs have dealing with prior authorizations, network adequacy, reimbursement rates, timely reimbursement of claims, and more would have been largely resolved in the 2024 rule proposed by the Biden Administration. (View the proposed rule at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/09/23/2024-20612/requirements-related-to-the-mental-health-parity-and-addiction-equity-act.)

Also about a week ago, the Trump Administration stopped putting new rules out for public comment, making it difficult for CSWA and other organizations to have a voice in the development of new rules. This is a major attack on the democratic process which allows the public to have a voice in the implementation of our laws.

One way we CAN affect rules is by contacting our members of Congress to ask that they informally influence the administration and agencies that carry out the proposed rule. An excellent summary of the dangers of eliminating the proposed rule can be found at KFF by visiting https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/trump-biden-mental-health-parity-insurance-law-coverage-deadline/. These helpful materials can be used to develop a bill in Congress to implement this rule. Even though the current administration has announced that they are unwilling to implement any of the 2024 proposed rule, we can let our members of Congress know that we as constituents want them to push back on this attempt to allow insurers to continue practices that hurt LCSWs and our patients.

Here is a template for that you can use to send a message to your members of Congress at https://www.congress.gov/contact-us: “I am a licensed clinical social worker, a constituent, and a member of the Clinical Social Work Association. I am writing to ask you to oppose the intent of the Trump Administration to stop the 2024 Rule for the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Parity Act. For 16 years this Act has languished because passing meaningful rules has been opposed by insurers and the corporations that have become the groups that control our health care system. Please give our citizens the access to the mental health and addiction services they need by pushing for the passage of the 2024 MHPAEA Rule.”

As always, please let me know when you have sent your messages.

Laura Groshong, LICSW, CSWA Director of Policy and Practice

lwgroshong@clinicalsocialworkassociation.org

Affiliated society members: If you are receiving this communication from your state society but did not also receive it directly from CSWA then you are not an active CSWA member. Membership in a state society does not equate to membership in CSWA. Membership in both organizations is highly recommended. Please consider joining CSWA today - your support is instrumental in maintaining CSWA's ability to work nationally on your behalf and on behalf of the field of clinical social work. Please visit our membership information and registration page for additional information.

Clinical Social Work Association
The National Voice for Clinical Social Work

https://s12.view.sfmc-marketing.com/view_email.aspx?qs=68a9a39a155c4c90a3d16cfa069bd33e3f493c06dfd7522b686d18be3d334b101ad33e9356d4d7b6199aed5d8bdaf8ef977cac111b3bb4922f58893c87b56c21878c35dd3ff48c34

 https://www.gwscsw.org/event-6153739

·        When

Friday, June 20, 202

9:30 AM - 1:30 PM

ONLINE ZOOM

Registration

·        Member – $100.00

$25.00 per credit hour

·        Nonmember – $160.00

$40.00 per credit hour

·        State Affiliate Member – $100.00 

·        Student/Graduate/Retiree Member – $60.00

$15 per credit hour

Presenter: Lynn Grodzki, LCSW, MCC

CEUs:  Category 1 | 4 CEUs -- 4 Continuing Education Hours (CEUs), including 1 hour approved for Ethics credit -- Recorded version will be available with Category 2 CEUs 

A 4-Hour CEU Workshop for Early-Career Therapists, their supervisors and owners/operators of a private practice

Starting and operating a private practice brings challenges to a therapist beyond simple logistics. Despite finishing graduate school, getting licensed and having spent time in other settings, you need to consider important concerns, including:

·        How do you reconcile profit and service, or deal with the psychological issues that are inherent in money?   

·        What is the best way to quickly supervise yourself, session by session, to make sure that you feel confident in your clinical work?

·        What ethical red flags exist primarily for those in  private practice—and how can you avoid them?

·        How can you help clients stay long enough to complete their treatment?

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND ONLINE REGISTRATION: What is Narcissistic Abuse and How Do We Intervene? A Clinicians Guide 

Mark your calendars for the GWSCSW event listed below.  Register today and save your spot!  

What is Narcissistic Abuse and How Do We Intervene? A Clinicians Guide
Online ZOOM
Sunday, June 22, 2025 | 10:00 AM-1:00 PM 
Cost:  $45 Retiree/Graduate/Student | $75 Member | $120 Nonmember (Please make sure you are logged in to get the correct member pricing)

After you Register Online for GWSCSW Events -- you will have the option of paying by credit card or sending in a check.  If you send a check your profile will be updated when the check is received.  All checks can be mailed to:  PO Box 711 | Garrisonville, VA  22463

Presenter Ed Geraty, LCSW-C (MD), LICSW (WV), LCSW (VA), LICSW (DC) 

CEUs: Category 1 | 3.0 

Synopsis this presentation will explain the patterns of the traumatizing narcissist and the relational system of subjugation; discuss the origin of the Narcissistic ABUSE CYCLE ; and describe how victims of the traumatizing narcissist can be helped to recognize the nature of the abuse and learn to recover from damage to the sense of self.

Workshop Objectives:

Upon finishing this training, participants will be able to:

1. Define narcissistic abuse and its clinical presentation
2. Identify signs and patterns of narcissistic abuse in clients
3. Understand psychological effects on survivors
4. Learn evidence-based therapeutic approaches
5. Discuss treatment challenges and clinician strategies

1. United Healthcare offers a program called Real Appeal that provides weight loss coaching and support and may offer reimbursement for weight loss programs like Noom.
2. Blue Cross Blue Shield offers a health insurance program called Blue365 which provides discounts on health and wellness and weight loss programs here. Some BCBS plans including Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield of California, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts may also offer weight loss reimbursement for the cost of Noom.
3. Aetna health insurance offers a program called the Aetna Weight Management discount program here, which provides discounts on weight loss programs and products. Some Aetna plans may also offer weight loss reimbursement like Noom.
4. Cigna? Cigna has a program called Healthy Rewards for up to 30% off weight management and nutrition, but Noom is not listed as one of the programs

You may be able to use your FSA, HSA (Health Savings Account), or HRA to pay for the cost  if you have a letter of medical necessity from your doctor, or if your plan specifically includes Noom as a qualifying weight loss program.

Notice Regarding Nondeductible Portion of GWSCSW Membership Dues: In accordance with the requirements of Internal Revenue Code §6033(e), we are notifying you that a portion of your GWSCSW dues is attributable to lobbying and is therefore not deductible to you as an ordinary and necessary business expense for federal income tax purposes. Based upon GWSCSW’s anticipated lobbying expenses and a good faith estimate of dues payments received through the fiscal year ended June 30, 2025, you should consider 47.25% of your dues payment nondeductible.

DC offers online CE courses that meet these requirements for DC licensed social workers.   https://www.dcrxce.com/ 

Ketamine found effective in treatment-resistant depression — Harvard Gazette - https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2023/05/ketamine-found-effective-in-treatment-resistant-depression/

https://www.clinicalsocialworkassociation.org/compact-information

Follow-Up on 7 Cups

April 8, 2025

By Laura Groshong, LICSW, CSWA Director of Policy and Practice

Thanks to all of you who have contacted me to let me know you have sent messages to 7 Cups that you would like to be taken off their list. Please continue to check if your name is on the 7 Cups list. CSWA is working with the Psychotherapy Advocacy Network (PsiAN) to expand the number of clinicians who respond to 7 Cups. This effort is more complex than our work with CareDash was because 1) it has been in place and gathering clinicians’ information for much longer, and 2) it mixes peer counseling and licensed professionals together without acknowledging the differences in scopes of practice, training, and regulation.

CSWA will be writing a letter to the 7 Cups Legal Department to demand that the ways our professional information is being used without our permission, as well as confused with unlicensed people, be stopped. We will be sending more information on how to fight this attempt to make clinicians join the 7 Cups network or risk losing potential patients. Here is a summary of what we know so far.

The following letter has been sent to many clinicians when they ask to be removed from the 7 Cups list:

Thank you for contacting 7 Cups. 7 Cups is the world’s largest mental health community. We have over 570,000 trained volunteer listeners across 189 countries that provide support in 140 languages. We have reached over 73 million people. Often, we need to make referrals to licensed clinicians, shelters, and food pantries. That is why we built our provider directory and local support service. We are now starting to make referrals to local clinicians.

The goal of the local support systems (7cups.com/local) is to connect people online to services offline so they can get better help. We believe therapists are an important part of local support systems.

I understand that you may have reasons for wanting to be removed, but I wanted to share some additional context that you might find helpful. 7 Cups sends out thousands of free referrals to therapists every month. If someone were to complete the contact form on your profile, we would forward their information to you for follow-up. This would essentially be a free referral for you. We operate similarly with food pantries and shelters, as our goal is to connect people with local resources in their community.

We are providing therapists the option of a free premium month of being listed on 7 Cups to gain additional referrals. We are also providing this premium service to therapists free of charge if they cannot afford it as we think it is important for therapists to get referrals and build their practice. We want to feature as many therapists we can as part of the local support system.

If you do not wish to have your profile listed and decide not to become part of our local support network then please let us know and we will delete your profile within 48 business hours.

When members have checked to see whether their names were in fact removed, often they were not within the 48 hours as 7 Cups said they would. One malpractice insurer has recommended the use of our information without our permission be considered internet fraud and that a complaint be filed with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (https://www.ic3.gov/). This can be added to the list of actions to be taken to oppose 7 Cups from our previous post.

CSWA will continue to provide information about this unfair and possibly illegal activity as we have it.

Clinical Social Work Association
The National Voice for Clinical Social Work