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Kansas BSRB advisory committee reviews licensee survey; reimbursement, EPPP and workforce concerns top responses
Summary
Advisory committee members reviewed a draft licensee survey showing many practitioners report no recommended changes but recurring concerns about insurance reimbursement, the costs and pass rates tied to the EPPP exam, and an expected wave of retirements among clinical licensees.
The Kansas Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Board's master's-level psychology advisory committee on Dec. 3 reviewed results from a recent licensee survey and discussed recurring concerns about insurance recognition, exam burdens and workforce turnover.
Executive Director David Fye highlighted summary results for master's-level psychology licensees: 88 LMLPs answered the question about whether the BSRB could do more to protect the public, with 50 saying "no," while 94 LCP respondents gave 60 "no" responses. Fye said frequent open-ended replies cited insurance and reimbursement barriers, interest in multistate compacts or reciprocity, and questions about the EPPP examination.
Members said payers often do not recognize Kansas master's-level credentials. "A lot of those federal insurances… don't know what our license is," Rebecca Jabara said, describing difficulties securing reimbursement. Caitlin Reed and others added that some tuition reimbursement and credentialing programs exclude master's-level licenses.
The committee also discussed workforce projections. Chair Dave Anderson noted a higher-than-average retirement intention among LCPs, with roughly 20% indicating plans to retire within five years, a point members said warrants planning for replacement capacity. Josh Tangaway and other members described program-level student enrollment but said statewide pipeline data are incomplete.
On exam-related concerns, members reiterated long-standing frustration with the EPPP (Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology). Fye said Kansas maintains a tiered licensure model in which a 400 score yields the master's-level psychology license and a 500 is required for the clinical psychotherapist level; he noted other states have different thresholds (examples cited during the meeting included 450 in Alaska and Michigan, 440 in North Carolina). Several members argued that test performance does not always reflect clinical competence and suggested exploring alternative pathways, supervised practice, or an alternate state exam as possible future topics.
The advisory committee asked staff to continue compiling comparative state data and suggested continuing the conversation at future meetings. Fye said the final survey reports and a draft comparison report will be posted to the BSRB website later this month.
The advisory committee did not take formal regulatory action on the survey material; it provided feedback to staff for ongoing study and publication.
