Month: February 2019

Medicare’s 2006 Better Access initiative was a direct response to low treatment rates for common mental disorders. Four million people experienced mental disorders last year; many of those experienced more than one mental disorder. All registered psychologists working in mental health have been trained in, and continuously engage in further specialised training and supervision throughout their working lives. Research commissioned by the Australian Government shows that our client outcomes…

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RAPS believes the APS belongs to its members, not the executive or the board. Dissent, criticism and questioning should be allowed from members of a democratic and representative organisation – members who are unhappy with the way that organisation is acting or functioning, supposedly on their behalf. A representative organisation’s governing body or board, as well as its executive, are there to govern in the best interest of all…

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A member of our RAPS Team today received an email from Frances Mirabelli, CEO of the APS, confirming that their 3-tier submission to the Medicare review has not been withdrawn. This may come as a surprise to many who may have thought otherwise. Last week, the AAPi received a letter from the Deputy Secretary, Health Financing Group, of the Department of Health stating that the current APS MBS Expert…

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POLL is at the end of this post. Since the 3-tier APS submission to the Medicare review – which we understand has still not been withdrawn! –  RAPS hears regularly from members that they will not be renewing their membership on May 31st this year. These members are saying that the APS no longer represents their best interests so why pay them a hefty fee annually to do this?…

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The Honourable John ****** ******************************** ******************************** ******************************** ******************************** ******************************** 27 January 2019 The Chair APS Committee of Review Dear Mr Gorton I have become aware, through media reports and other sources, of the unfortunate and undesirable schism which seems to have developed within the professional psychological community. If I understand matters correctly, including the Minister’s reasons for deferring the Mental Health Benefits Schedule review, I believe we are seeing…

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For your information, RAPS has received an email whose relevance should be self evident as we approach the deadline for APS members’ written submissions this Thursday the 14 February 2019. Some details irrelevant to the main message have been deleted for privacy reasons.   Email: From: Ros Knight Sent: Wednesday, 27 September 2017 5:28 PM Subject: Invititation to a list serve and Elections and AGM details Hi All, (************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)…

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Members of the APS College of Counselling Psychologists (CCOUNP) recently received two emails from their National Chair. In her emails, Dr Davis-McCabe indicated that the CCOUNP National Executive was supportive of differentiation based on area of practice endorsement (AoPE) under Better Access and the proposed stepped care model. Dr Davis-McCabe is the recently announced CCOUNP representative on the APS MBS Expert Committee. If this does not reflect your views…

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Most APS members were shocked today by the disclosure of the members on the so-called independent APS MBS Expert Committee today. The composition of the 20-member Committee is not independent and is once again grossly biased towards one group of endorsed members, particularly the clinical members. There are 6 clinical endorsed members on the Committee compared to 4 general members, despite General members outnumbering the clinicals twice over. If…

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