Board Meeting Minutes  MCPP Board of Directors Meeting Minutes February 20, 2022

February 20, 2022

Present:  Jerry Brandell, Marybeth Atwell, David Freiband, Miriam Goldstein, Lisa Larson, Michele Rivette, Shil Sengupta, Karen Weber, Linda Young

Approval of Minutes.   With minor corrections the minutes for the January 16, 2022 MCPP Board meeting were approved.

Discussion of the No Surprises Act- This act, passed by congress, effective January 1, 2022, requires practitioners to provide for clients a document called a Good Faith Estimate, that specifies an estimate of the cost of treatment for a 12-month period.  A concern was raised that this requirement was initiated to address medical situations where a patient might be presented with a bill for services that they were not aware of, or of the cost.  Because psychotherapy clients are aware of the cost per session, this requirement should not be applied to psychotherapy services.  The board members discussed the importance of resisting this requirement, and if the board might either issue a statement of our own, or perhaps sign on to the statement released by PsiAN. Board members felt that a statement by our organization would be important as support for us as clinicians, and to register our strong objection to this requirement.

Linda Young will forward a copy of the PsiAN document, and the board will revisit this discussion at the next meeting.

 It was decided that the discussion regarding the future of the training program would be tabled until the next board meeting when Peter Wood is present.

Treasurer: Eve Avrin was not present, but Jerry Brandell reported that we are close to having $100,000 in our account.

Programs VP: David Freiband has started to line up presenters for next year.  Karen Maroda is scheduled to present in February 2023.  The current plan is that she would come to Michigan for an in-person meeting. 

David has a list of presenters who are being considered for next year and is currently exploring who might fill the spots.

Miriam Goldstein has volunteered to help David work with presenters about the information they need to provide for CEU’s.

The board members discussed expanding efforts to promote our presentations and David requested help from others to assist with publicity.  Linda Young will send information to the Washtenaw Psychology Association, and Barry Dauphin. She will also contact Diane Gartland regarding posting the information on the MPA website.  Linda Young and Lisa Larson will work on the issue of publicity as part of their duties related to membership. 

David Freiband gave an update about reservations for the venues for next year’s presentations and raised the issue as to whether we will plan to meet in person.  We need to decide by June whether we are asking presenters to come in person or continue the virtual format.  There was discussion as to whether we would want to have people gather in person if the presenter was virtual. David Freiband will research what would be involved in this kind of hybrid presentation in terms of technology and cost.

It was decided that we will poll the membership about their preferences for in-person vs. virtual meetings.  Michele Rivette will gather questions from board members suggestions and Marybeth Atwell will create and send out the survey to MCPP members.

David Freiband has agreed to stay on for one more year as VP of Programs. Thank you David!  Michele Rivette has agreed to assist David, as will Miriam Goldstein.

Elections:  Marybeth Atwell- The nomination process was completed, and we received 3 responses to the ballot that was sent out.   Marybeth Atwell will contact the people who have been nominated and sort out who wishes to take positions.  David Freiband has been working on recruiting possible candidates for the position of President and has drafted a letter to help with that.  We will reach out and talk to potential candidates. 

Marybeth Atwell inquired as to whether we might be able to hire the position of Treasurer if no one comes forward.  Jerry offered that he knows a very reliable accountant who might be willing to do that.

Membership: Linda Young & Lisa Larson –We have 69 paid members. Of the 69, 63 are Regular members, 2 are New Professionals, 3 are Retirees, and 1 is a Student member.  Linda questioned the wording we use “regular member”, and the category of “inactive member”.  Linda will research the nomenclature used by other organizations and report back next month.

We have sent out reminder letters to members who haven’t renewed, and now a letter will go out to those who have been regular members, but have not renewed, letting them know that their membership is expired. Also, a letter is sent to those who attend our presentations but are not members, to invite them to join.

We discussed contacting Anton Babushkin from Start My Wellness to offer more information about our organization.  Shil Sengupta offered to do that and report back next month.

Education and Training: (Currently vacant)

Certification: (Currently vacant)

Committee Reports:

Website:  Karen Weber – It was noted that the Access program had been left off the website and that is currently being fixed.

Social Work CEU’s:  Tamra Frei- no report

Psychology CE’s:   Miriam Goldstein & Alice Michael – The annual report to the APA has been sent.

Accreditation:  Karen Baker

Registrar: (vacant position)

Bulletin:

Newsletter:

Ombudsperson:  Lynne Tenbusch

MPC Members-At-Large  Shil Sengupta, Liam Faulkner; Michele Rivette; Beth Waiess; Lisa Larson; Karen Weber