Earlier this year the state of Washington became the first jurisdiction to offer statutory protection for the right of a patient and a therapist to contract privately. The bill was passed into law through the coordinated efforts of clinicians representing social work, psychology, psychiatry, and psychoanalysis. The new law addresses a recent practice of Value Behavioral Health (VBH). This company has recently been including in its contracts a clause prohibiting a patient and a therapist from contracting privately to continue psychotherapy during appeal of an adverse decision by a VBH treatment reviewer. The new law prohibits such clauses in contracts, or any provision that prevents private contracting for other clinically appropriate reasons.
The law came about through the efforts of a number of individuals working together during the first half of 1996. Laura Groshong is an analytically oriented therapist and legislative chair for the National Membership Committee on Psychoanalysis in Social Work. She made it a point to meet regularly with Darlene Fairley, her state senator, who chairs the Senate Health and Long-Term Care Committee. When the legislative session was about to begin, Laura mentioned to Senator Fairley the unfairness of the VBH contract. Fairley agreed to sponsor a bill to remedy this. Lucy Homans, director of professional affairs of the Washington State Psychological Association, garnered the support of the psychologists and requested her organization's lobbyist, Gail McGaffick, to draft the bill. When the bill was heard in committee, Laura, Lucy, and I drove to Olympia to testify on its behalf. I represented the Seattle Psychoanalytic Society and the Washington State Psychiatric Society, which had also provided essential support, especially the services of its lobbyist, Steve Duncan. Also testifying was Barry Anton, government and legal affairs chair for the psychologists. Our testimony was to show through practical examples that this measure was a matter of common sense and fairness. The legislators readily agreed with us.
The bill was passed easily by the committee and the full Senate. With a last-minute push from the lobbyists, the more conservative House passed the bill literally in the last five minutes of the session. Governor Mike Lowry was delighted to sign it.
As each professional group recognized that this bill was in its interest, the informal coalition came together quickly. It worked because we were all pulling in the same direction and because what we were pursuing was clearly for the benefit of our patients. Although the insurance companies, especially the Blues, opposed us, the major corporations, such as Boeing and Microsoft, did not. In the end the legislators of Washington listened to the appeal of a unified group of therapists and responded with a helpful and important piece of legislation.