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Dedicated to the well-being of our clients and the professional development of 
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<p align="center" class="style1">LEGISLATIVE ALERT</p>
<div id="legislativenews" class="style2" style="padding-left: 70px; padding-right: 100px;"><strong>
	<span class="style2">Position of LCPCM on CACREP Accreditation</span></strong><br>
	<br><span class="style3">LCPCM 
	believes there are several issues that may be getting lost in reference to 
	the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) recommendation that all mental health 
	counseling programs be accredited by CACREP. </span> <br class="style3">
	<br class="style3"><span class="style3">Fifty to seventy percent of 
	counseling programs are not CACREP accredited; and CACREP is not a mandatory 
	accrediting agency. Whatever the merits of the recommendations, they 
	overreached in asking universities and state boards to collectively abandon 
	their current standards and adopt the IOM recommendations, if they wish 
	their state’s counselors to be recognized by TRICARE. A profession cannot 
	change this quickly; and current members and students are getting caught in 
	the controversy. </span> <br class="style3"><br class="style3">
	<span class="style3">The CACREP Accreditation issue has regrettably been 
	divisive to our profession. CACREP must create accrediting standards that 
	are achievable and affordable by our universities. And they have to stop 
	arguing that CACREP graduates are superior when this has no basis in fact. 
	LCPCM also recommends achievable grandfathering standards in TRICARE, the 
	Veterans Administration and potentially MEDICARE that excludes CACREP 
	Accreditation as a criterion. </span> <br class="style3"><br class="style3">
	<span class="style3">LCPCM is worried that the IOM model, with its 
	mandatory CACREP Accreditation, will become the standard for MEDICARE 
	providers; and if it does, this will be a great blow to Maryland LCPCs, most 
	of whom did not graduate from CACREP Programs. It is like telling our 
	nation&#39;s lawyers who have passed their bar and have been practicing 
	successfully for many years, that they are not qualified since their law 
	school was not accredited by a voluntary accrediting body (that may not have 
	even existed at the time they were in school) and they must take a new exam, 
	despite their many years of effective practice. </span> <br class="style3">
	<br class="style3"><span class="style3">It is ironic that Maryland 
	LCPCs can treat Members of Congress and the Executive Branch, since we are 
	recognized by Federal Blue Cross and Blue Shield, but we are felt 
	unqualified to serve veterans and military families who need our services 
	desperately.
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