Policy Statements



The following policy statements are based on the Board’s interpretation of the psychology licensure law, state rules and regulations, and the Ethics Code.  These policies reflect the opinion of the Board and may not reflect on the psychologist’s relationship with their third party payers.  


TREATMENT RECORD RETENTION

Treatment Records are defined as intake evaluation forms or reports, treatment or progress notes, and treatment summary reports.   Adult Psychotherapeutic Treatment Records shall be retained for at least five years after the date that psychotherapy was terminated, but the clinician should be aware of State law and/or contractual obligations.  Child Treatment Records shall be retained at least until the child reaches the age of 22. 


ASSESSMENT RECORD RETENTION

Adult Evaluation Reports must be retained for five years after the date of completion of the report.   Child Evaluation Reports are kept until the child reaches the age of 22.   Except for raw scores and scaled scores, it is not necessary to retain test data and test materials (protocols, etc.). 

 

ADDING A SCOPE OF PRACTICE DOMAIN

When licensed psychologists want to add a domain of expertise they must submit a letter of request and documentation that they attained additional training and/or supervision sufficient to prepare them to practice in the new domain.  They shall also submit three pertinent work samples.  After review of this documentation and materials the Board may approve the new domain or require that additional tasks be completed. 

 

TELE-PSYCHOLOGY

§17-3-23.  Tele-Psychology – New from Series 3

Telepsychology is defined as the provision of psychological services using telecommunication technologies. Telecommunication technologies include but are not limited to telephone, mobile devices, interactive videoconferencing, email, chat, text and internet. Technologies may augment traditional in-person services or be used as stand-alone services. Psychologists assume responsibility to continually assess both their professional and technical competence when providing telepsychology services. Psychologists both understand and inform their clients of the limits to confidentiality and risks to the possible access or disclosure of confidential data and information that may occur during service delivery. Psychologists shall be mindful of potential threats to the security of client information.  Psychologists shall take reasonable steps to ensure that security measures are in place for protecting and controlling access to client data.  Psychologists shall meet additional Tele-Psychology requirements as promulgated by the Board via Board motions and/or policy statements.  Psychologists can also use the Tele-Psychology guidelines of the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards (ASPPB) and the American Psychological Association (APA).  Psychologists shall use these for guidance, but the board rules, requirements, and policy statements shall prevail.  



RECORDS PROCESSING GUIDELINES WHEN A PSYCHOLOGIST RETIRES OR OTHERWISE TERMINATES PRACTICE

DEFINITIONS

Patient Records:  Intake evaluations, treatment progress notes, discharge summaries/reports, psychological evaluation reports [Not test data].  Note:  Patient records are not owned by third parties, i.e. Social Security.

Active Patients:  Are individuals with open cases/charts.

Inactive Patients:  For the purpose of this policy, are individuals with cases/charts closed within the past 7 years. 

Initial Notifications:  Notify Inactive Patients via local newspaper for 10 days that, with proper identification, they can retrieve their records and have 30 days to do so. Notification may also include other forms of media.  Communicate this message to Active Patients during treatment and evaluation sessions.  Place signs in the office containing the same message. In the event that an Active Patient chooses referral to another mental health practitioner, with a signed release records may be forwarded to the designated professional.

Remaining Active or Inactive Patient records may be stored after the 30-day retrieval period. In such cases the psychologist should consider a variety of factors, including, as cautioned by the APA in their Record Keeping Guidelines,

“The risks associated with obsolete or outdated information, or privacy loss, versus the potential benefits associated with preserving the records"

We further underscore the APA’s caution that the psychologist should carefully weigh the decision whether to retain or dispose of records upon termination of practice.

 

 

TITLES & LICENSURE NUMBERS

Licensees shall use the title “Licensed Psychologist” or “Licensed School Psychologist” and their license number on all reports, letters and other similar documents.

Example:

B. F. Skinner, MA
Licensed Psychologist, WV #000

 

 

PSYCHOMETRICIANS

New from Series 3

11.1  All licensees who supervise psychometricians shall list their current psychometricians on their renewal forms and update the Board office when there is a change.

Licensees are also required to clearly indicate in their reports that they have used a psychometrician.  Please note that supervised-psychologists are not permitted to supervise and/or use psychometricians. 

 

 

VETERANS ASSESSMENT CE POLICY STATEMENT

Effective January 1, 2017, two hours of the 20 hours required for each two-year renewal period shall be about mental health conditions common to veterans and their family members. Such training shall include (1) Inquiry about whether patients are veterans or family members of veterans, and (2) Screening veterans and their family members for: (a) suicide risk and suicide prevention; (b) posttraumatic stress, anxiety, panic, depressive, intermittent explosive & related disorders; and (c) the need for family and/or marital counseling.