Friday, May 15, 2015 8:30 - 3:00 PM
The Conference Center of
Mercer County Community College
West Windsor, NJ 

A shock wave reverberated through the health care industry, especially in the mental health field, when Congress passed HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. All of a sudden Big Brother was looking over our shoulders escalating our usual concern about regulators into paranoia by creating some arcane sounding rules and regulations about what a therapist could do with confidential information. It became possible to be charged with a FEDERAL OFFENSE for mentioning the name of a mutual client to another therapist or doctor!!  What would be next?!? Will text messaging therapy land you in jail? The FBI seizing our records and checking for violations?!?

Our presenters will answer these questions and calm your paranoia to a mild rumble. Al Bassetti, LPC, has been a primary HIPAA coordinator at the Hunterdon Medical Center in Flemington, NJ, since the Act became effective.  In 2001, he provided an introduction to several of New Jersey’s mental health licensing boards, including the MFT board, to HIPAA. He will help you understand the portions of HIPPA that apply to you and your practice. He will help you understand the seemingly confusing expectations about how to maintain your client records, what kind of red tape paperwork will keep you out of jail and seeing clients. Jim Verser, LMFT, NJAMFT’s ethics educator will help you undestand how HIPAA applies specifically to MFTs. For example, you will learn how your cell phone could be a problem.

Al Bassetti M.A., LPC, is currently Director of Emergency Services at Hunterdon Medical Center. Mr. Bassetti has been on staff at the medical center since 1992 providing psychotherapy, and crisis intervention. He is currently responsible for the operations of Crisis Services, Mobile Outreach, Family Crisis Intervention, Employee Assistance, and Involuntary Out-Patient Commitment. He served upon the committee which formulated HIPAA compliance, policies, and procedures for the Medical Center when HIPAA went into effect. Prior to his work at Hunterdon Medical Center, Al worked for New York Law School, the Division of Youth and Family Services, JFK Medical Center, New York University, Rutgers University, and The College of New Jersey.

Jim Verser M.Div., M.S., Ed.S., LMFT, has been in private practice in Hunterdon County since 1980. After serving on the New Jersey Board of Marriage and Family Therapy Regulators for 14 years, eight of those years as the Chair, NJAMFT recruited him to provide legal and ethical training that would meet the CEU requirements for NJAMFT members and other LMFTs.

NOTE: The CEU period that this workshop covers is July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2016.  The same workshop will be presented in 2015 and 2016. You only need to take it once to meet the CEU requirement for this biennium. You are encouraged to attend the current workshop to avoid the possibility that you might not be able to attend the 2016 workshop.

REMEMBER: BRING YOUR LAP TOP COMPUTER OR OTHER INTERNET CAPABLE DEVICE that will allow you to access the pertinent documents on the internet.  Also please submit examples of HIPAA concerns, dilemmas and fears to: james.verser@gmail.com.