Licensing a Mixed Bag in '99

Social workers pushed for licensing in 1999 with varied success.

The licensing landscape in 1999 was alive with activity that produced mixed results, and licensing will continue to be a subject of debate and policymaking throughout the states this year, say NASW officials.

North Carolina, which certified social workers rather than licensing them, passed a law mandating licensure of clinical social workers. Other levels will continue to be certified and voluntary, according to Kathy Boyd, executive director of the North Carolina Chapter.

Like social workers in other states who are pushing for licensure, Boyd said many members felt the license would help them with managed care reimbursements and in the competition with counselors, marriage and family therapists and other mental health providers.

That's why Pennsylvania passed a license for clinical social work a year ago, according to Ebbonie Simmons, government relations specialist for the state's NASW chapter. Before, there had been no designation for clinical social workers.

"Social workers were having problems receiving reimbursements from third-payer insurance payers," said Simmons. "With this specialty license, I forsee this as no longer being a problem.

In New York, on the other hand, licensure advocates including the New York State and New York City NASW chapters and other social work organizations at press time remained frustrated by what state chapter Associate Director Stuart Kaufer called capable counterlobbying by the Medical Society of the State of New York (MSSNY).

Kaufer says the medical society convinced enough members of the Senate to kill a bill that would have given social workers title protection and established three levels of licensure. MSSNY's own proposal would require any mental health care provider other than a psychiatrist to get clearance from a physician before and during treatment provision.

"They would like to control our practice," Kaufer said.

A meeting with medical society representatives in December apparently fell apart, Kaufer added.

"Their commitment is to take back the care of what they define as the seriously mental ill," he said. "It would be helpful to have the practice of social work defined in law, but wouldn't be helpful to have it the way the medical society wants."

Right now, social work certification is voluntary, with a lot of BSWs practicing unregulated, he said.

In Michigan, a licensing bill died in a House committee in the last session. But as in New York, advocates are expected to reintroduce licensing proposals.

In other states:

• The NASW Washington State Chapter has been working with other associations there to develop their first licensure bill, which was expected to be introduced in the state House and Senate in mid-January.
• Texas' law, amended in 1999, now allows social workers to renew their licenses via telephone.
• NASW's Arizona Chapter has been working closely with substance abuse counselors and other behavioral health care providers for a licensure law.
• Alberta, Canada, amended its registration law to grant certified social workers from U.S. states registration when they move there.
• One of the hottest topics at the 1999 American Association of State Social Work Boards' annual meeting was certification of social work educators. Several states are looking into the efficacy of setting standards for professors, according to NASW officials.

Back to NASW News Contents

Copyright NASW Press, 1998