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.
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.