Judy Gallant

Writing this prior to Election Day, it is hard to know what the legislative picture will look like when you read this. Will Maryland have elected a new Democratic Governor, Ben Jealous? Or will Republican Larry Hogan maintain his position? It is unlikely there will be major changes in the Maryland legislature, but shifts in Committee Chairmanships can make a difference.

There was a question on the listserv recently about the adequacy of CareFirst identifying clinical social workers as provider referral resources. We have been in touch with CareFirst, and they will be making themselves available on a conference call to discuss and try to rectify the problems. Look for follow-up on this issue on the listserv or in the next newsletter.

Another question was raised on the listserv by a member who wrote an evaluation of a client for Montgomery County Schools to certify an emotional condition and thus qualify the young person for special provisions for in-home or hospital educational services. Our member received a response saying that, in Maryland, only a psychiatrist or a psychologist is considered qualified to certify this. Our lobbyist researched this issue and found that this is a Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) regulation that governs home and hospital services. We are investigating this further to find out how to change this antiquated regulation-whether it can be done through the MSDE, or if legislation will need to be proposed to create new regs. Stay tuned!

Marylanders received information from our Board of Social Work Examiners in October about new regulations that were open for public comment until November 13. This is the result of the legislation passed in 2017 regarding BSWE (written up in our June, 2017 issue of News & Views). We have been going over these regs to see if any public comment is necessary, and will let you know if we do make comments. We hope you also took note of this and may have taken a look at these yourself. Please know that your legislative committee can always use your help in reviewing something like this. Please feel free to contact me any time at judy.gallant@verizon.net.

Judy Gallant, LCSW-C, is the director of the Society’s Legislation & Advocacy program, as well as chair of the Maryland Clinical Social Work Coalition, our GWSCSW legislative committee in Maryland. She maintains a private practice in Silver Spring.