LETTERS NASSAU AND SUFFOLK Edition

• Published in: Newsday
• Main Authors: Stephen Long. Huntington. Editor's Note: The writer is a clinical psychologist, Kirk M. Dunklee. North Massapequa, Vincent DiPalma. Farmingdale, Andrew Koff. Westbury, W. Adam Mandelbaum. Oyster Bay, Sue Moriarty. Smithtown, Jay Bernstein. Plainview
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Long Island, N.Y Newsday LLC 02.03.1999
• Edition: Combined editions

Regarding your article on therapists' reactions to cuts in Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield fees {"Therapists Leaving Insurers," Feb. 16}: Magellan Behavioral Health is the managed-care company administering Empire's mental health benefits. Magellan official David Glazer says that the cuts show that local rates are too high. Glazer must be unaware of reports that suggest that at the reduced fee of $50 per session, a psychologist putting in a 53-hour work week (which might include seeing 32 individual patients) may gross $78,000. Due to expenses involved in private practice, the psychologist likely would have a taxable income of roughly $38,000. At salaries like that, few people will be able to afford the seven or more years of training following the usual four years of college that the most highly trained mental health practitioners have. Glazer implies that if therapists cannot accept the cuts in fees, patients can transfer to those therapists who remain with Empire. He said that no long-term therapy relationships need to be severed abruptly, thanks to a 90-day transition period. Psychotherapy that continues for six months or beyond generally appears to produce the best results. A system that fosters the notion that eight sessions of psychotherapy are sufficient to deal with the things for which most people seek psychotherapy does a great disservice. It distorts what psychotherapy means and undermines its demonstrated potential to improve mental and physical health as well as to reduce overall health care costs. Stephen Long. Huntington. Editor's Note: The writer is a clinical psychologist.