May 12, 2024

On May 9, MCTAC hosted a webinar entitled “SED/OMH/OASAS Joint Presentation on Professional Scope of Practice FAQs”.  The Council encouraged members to attend, but was dismayed when it was made immediately clear that the subject matter would not cover answers to frequently asked questions about licensed practitioners’ scope of practice.  Instead, the spokespersons emphasized that the May 9 presentation would be one in a series of presentations and that the June 24 final implementation decisions, including what necessary paperwork will be needed to comply with scope changes, have not yet been finalized.  The session on May 9 was intended to simply review licensing and limited practice permits; the next in series will cover OMH/OASAS program specific concerns (OMH says they will do this webinar is ‘a few weeks’) and the final will cover the implementation of the final stages of the diagnostic privilege.

You will find the majority of slides from the May 9 SED presentation on our website here:  https://nyscouncil.org/slides-from-scope-of-practice-webinar/   Note:  I have not received the ‘official’ slide deck from the state agencies yet.  I will send it once it arrives.

Other resources:

• Grid describing restricted activities and exemptions for professions in OMH and OASAS settings (ATTACHED)
• May 7 notes from SED Professional Practice Committee that includes discussion and agreement to move forward an amendment that would permit use of telehealth modality for provision of supervision on a permanent basis:  
• Citation at the top of page 3 of the SED Memo (ATTACHED) citing Education Law §8410 that authorizes LMHCs, LMFTs and LPs to diagnose and develop assessment-based treatment plans through June 24, 2025, in certain settings approved by the Department. 

A few points of clarification that were made, although disappointing, include:

1) You must have the limited permit to practice, so there is a gap while interns await their limited permit being processed

2) No supervisor may supervise more than 5 limited permit holders or interns at one time

3) There are no longer any exempt settings, there are only exempt people

4) Agencies can hire 3rd party licensed practitioners to supervise, but all the patients being treated under that supervision must have access to the supervisor if they have questions about their care

A few points regarding applications and the application process:

1) call the right unit when checking on your application – this information will be in the slides

2) DO NOT leave any sections of the application blank, even when the answer seems duplicative

3) Applicants MUST submit the Operating Certificate with their application – it cannot be processed without it

4) Only applicants can call to check status on their applications, not supervisors or Human Resources or the College or your Mother

5) The dates of training must end prior to the date the supervisor signs the application

6) The Education Department recommends the processing will take 6-8 weeks, but they stated they are working faster than that leeway

7) Under no circumstances should a correctly completed application take 4 months or more to process