Welcome to IPS

The Iowa Psychiatric Society is an association of physicians dedicated to promoting excellence in psychiatric care.

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News

Free Presentation:

Dealing with the Psychological Effects of Unemployment
Saturday, February 6, 2010 Download the Flier
Handouts will be posted here this week.

New Lobbyist Hired
IPS has hired Emily Piper, Piper Consulting Services, to provide legislative services in 2010. Ms. Piper has over twenty years of lobbying experience at the state and federal level. Ms. Piper’s work experience includes two years as a legislative assistant for the American Meat Institute in Washington, D. C. and twelve years as a lobbyist for the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation. Ms. Piper formed her own lobbying firm in 2004 and worked closely with our lobbyist on improving mental health parity legislation last year. Ms. Piper’s philosophy is to work issues from the grassroots to the leadership in order to develop strong relationships with as many legislators as possible. The Legislative Committee looks forward to meeting with Ms. Piper and setting the legislative agenda for 2010.

New Officers Elected
Daniel Gillette, MD was elected as President-Elect at the IPS Business Meeting in October. Since Dr. Gillette was serving as Secretary/Treasure with his term ending in 2012, Dr. Michael Flaum was elected to fill that position starting in May of 2010.

APA Rep and Deputy Rep Elections to be Held
Due to an oversight nominations were not made prior to the Business Meeting for the APA Rep and Deputy Rep positions that are up in May of 2010. A motion was made and approved at the Business Meeting to have the nominating committee meet to select candidates and that a special election be held by a mail ballot. The Nominating Committee met in November and has approved the nomination of Bhasker Dave, MD to the position of APA Rep and Laura Van Cleve, DO to the position of Deputy Rep. A full report and ballot will be sent to members in January.

Alerts

APA Launches Mental Health Blog The American Psychiatric Association launched a new consumer blog, Healthy Minds. Healthy Lives. which seeks to have a conversation with the public about mental health treatment and resources.
Consult Codes Elimination We would like to share the attached information about Medicare’s elimination of the consult codes. The document will also be available on the Medicare/Medicaid section of the APA website. We’d very much like to hear back from you with any information you have about whether private insurers are following Medicare’s example and eliminating payment for these codes as well. You can contact Becky Yowell at byowell@psych.org / 703-907-8593 or Ellen Jaffe at ejaffe@psych.org /703-907-8591. Download Consult Codes Elimination Information
Discriminatory Copay Begins Phase Out Beginning January 1, 2010, Medicare will begin reimbursing providers for outpatient psychiatric services at 55 percent, while the patient copay will drop to 45 percent from the current 50 percent copay. The new rates are mandated by the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 and the first step in the gradual elimination of the discriminatory copayment rate for outpatient mental health treatment. The reimbursement rate to providers will increase to 60 percent in 2012, 65 percent in 2013 and 80 percent in 2014, the same as for all other medical services.