clinical social work association

Insurance Challenges and Possible Solutions Webinar

Thank you for attending the "Insurance Challenges and Possible Solutions" Webinar. Please find the recording and slides below. 

Recording (The password is "newyear")

Webinar slides (full)

Webinar slides (with room for note-taking)

Original event listing: 

Insurance Challenges and Possible Solutions

January 17, 2025 | 12:00 to 1:30 pm Eastern Time

Please note that there will be no CEs for this program. 

About the webinar

The problems with insurance reimbursement are numerous and growing. CSWA has been tracking the most common problems that have affected LCSWs in the past year. This webinar will summarize the problems that many members have experienced in the past year, and sometimes for much longer. Additional issues that seem to have died down will also be discussed. There will be significant time for attendees to submit questions about the insurance challenges that they face. Here are some of the main issues which will be addressed:

- Insurers engaging in “clawbacks” which are a demand that payments made be returned to the insurer, sometimes many months after they have been made.

- Refusal of insurers to pay for more than one session a week.

- Questioning the repeated use of 90837.

- Questioning length of treatment for more than a year.

- Insurers returning to “prior authorizations” for some kinds of mental health treatment.

- Stagnant reimbursement for LCSWs for the past 20 years.

Some of these issues have been around for over 10 years but have had an uptick in the past year. It is likely that this increase is due to the likelihood that mental health parity rules are being made more stringent and that insurers will have to comply with coverage of mental health conditions that they have avoided until now. The new parity rules should help reduce the ways that insurers are keeping reimbursement for LCSWs stagnant. Sending complaints to your insurance commissioner can also have a positive effect on working with insurers.

About the instructors: Laura Groshong, LICSW has been in clinical practice for the past 43 years, and was a Registered Lobbyist in Washington for five mental health organizations for 25 years. She has been the Director of Policy and Practice for the Clinical Social Work Association nationally since 2006 and, through the Mental Health Liaison Group, worked on passage of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equality Act of 2008, the Affordable Care Act, and many other pieces of legislation that support and benefit LCSWs. Laura has written and lectured extensively on clinical and legislative issues around the country. Ms. Groshong is currently serving as the Interim Chair for the Social Work Compact Commission. Judy Gallant, LCSW-C received her MSW from Columbia University School of Social Work in 1980. She has worked in variety of practice settings, including with foster children and parents in NYC; providing child, adolescent and adult therapy at a family service agency in Baltimore; and as the Coordinator for the Psychological and Educational Resources and Testing Center at Jewish Family Services in Baltimore. She currently has a private practice in Silver Spring, MD. Ms. Gallant has served as the Director of Legislation and Advocacy for the Greater Washington Society for Clinical Social Work since 2014, and as the Chair of the Maryland Legislation and Advocacy Committee since 2012. After being a member of CSWA for many years, she became Deputy Director of Policy and Practice in 2022.

Fee & Registration:

The cost is $10 for CSWA members, and $30 for non-members. If you are not a CSWA member, click here to learn more about CSWA benefits and join today.  Registrations will be accepted until 24 hours prior to the start of the webinar or until the webinar is full. Cancellations must be received 48 hours prior to the live webinar to receive a refund. Each registered participant will receive zoom log-in information via email from administrator@clinicalsocialworkassociation.org two days prior to the webinar.

There are no CEs available for this program.

System Requirements to Participate

On a PC:
Internet Explorer 9, Mozilla Firefox 34, Google Chrome 39 (JavaScript enabled) or the latest version of each web browser
Windows XP, Windows Server 2008 or later
Cable modem, DSL or better Internet connection (1 Mbps or faster)
Dual-core 2.4GHz CPU or faster with 2GB or more of RAM

On a Mac:
Safari 6, Firefox 34, Google Chrome 39 (JavaScript enabled) or the latest version of each web browser
Mac OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion) or newer
Cable modem, DSL or better Internet connection (1 Mbps or faster)
Intel processor (2GB of RAM or better)

Participants wishing to connect to audio using VoIP will need a fast Internet connection, a microphone, and speakers (a USB headset is recommended).

On an iPad, iPhone, Android or Windows mobile device:
Free Zoom at www.zoom.us ; WiFi connection recommended for VoIP audio

Special Accommodations: To request special accommodations, please contact our administrator immediately upon registration. All special requests must be made within a minimum of 5 business days prior to the event. Closed captioning will be available. 

Questions? Contact Angela Katona, CSWA Executive Administrator, at  administrator@clinicalsocialworkassociation.org.

If you do not receive an email upon registering, please reach out for assistance by emailing administrator@clinicalsocialworkassociation.org. All inquiries regarding registration status, links or other event-related concerns must be made at least 24 hours prior the start of an event. Staff will not be able to provide assistance right before or during the event. 

This program will be recorded for pre-registered, paid attendees.