Board Meeting Minutes
ABGERO minutes (2/14/14)10-11EST
Board members present: Victor Molinari (presiding); Greg Hinrichsen; June Blum; Rick Zweig, Andrew Heck
Agenda items:
1) Current status of applicant/candidate flow – We have 2 completed applications, 22 assigned mentees, and at least 2 senior people in the process of applying. We need to examine 21 non-Board members in order for us to become a full-fledged specialty. ABPP Central Office and the other specialties have been consistently supportive of our specialty gaining full status.
2) Getting the word out – The ABGERO exams for 2014 will be in Chicago (Monday 5/19); APA (8/6-8/7 in DC), and GSA (11/4-5 in DC). The latter 2 dates are tentative. June suggested that we make up a flyer to send out for some e-media blasts indicating the benefits and process of ABGERO certification.
3) Mentorship program – mentors need to set a timeline for their mentees so that they can be examined this year at some point. Mentees often get stuck in the pipeline at the PSS/Work example phase. The guidelines Victor sent around are informal ones, and each mentor needs to decide how much time that they can put into their effort. If all the people now being mentored take oral exams this year, then we become an official specialty in December.
4) Discussion about the oral examination process & how to assure reliability. The revisions we have made in the oral examination review process were recommended by David Cox. If one person fails a candidate in any one domain, a discussion amongst all three reviewers is triggered. Ultimately, majority rules regarding pass/fail, but this process does seem to better assure that a full review of the candidates’ competencies is undertaken before a final decision is made. It was noted that the varied specialties have diverse review processes, and that ABGERO needs to decide on the process that best fits our need.
5) Changes to our Implementation Plan – we will need to finalize the revisions to our Implementation plan at some point, and I will need a few people to review in order to make sure that the changes I have made are consistent with the feedback we have received from the ABPP observers.
6) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) – starting in 2015, ABPP will require that each person who receives the ABPP will need to get re-certified 10 years later. Those who receive their ABPPs prior to 2015 will be able to opt out of re-certification, but what this means is unclear because if, for example, the VA contacts the ABPP office, the VA would be told that the person received the ABPP but has not re-certified. This may cause difficulties for older ABPPs who have been grandfathered and are not required by ABPP to be re-certified. MOC will cost those who get re-certified a nominal amount to defray the expenses of the MOC review. Victor will be meeting with Deborah Attix, MOC liaison from ABPP to discuss the process by which we will re-certify specialists in geropsychology. Please contact him if interested in having a say-so in this important endeavor.
7) Other items – credentialing of specialties is “in the air” at APA and has momentum. Rick mentioned that this appears to be a top priority with Nadine Kaslow, APA president who was the president of the APA board. There appears to be other vanity boards out there that credential geropsychologists, but at this point ABPP and one other neuropsychology organization are the only ones endorsed by APA. Andrew mentioned that we need to develop an Examiner’s Manual like some of the other specialties to make our evaluation process more reliable.
Action Items :
1) it is requested that ABGERO board members volunteer to review the revised Implementation plan. There is no time pressure for this, but it would be helpful if a couple of board members made sure that Victor’s revisions are in keeping with both the spirit and the letter of ABPP monitors feedback;
2) Victor will send out a draft of a one-page promotion for the ABPP specialty in geropsychology that should be reviewed so that we can have a blurb that could be used by all Board members to foster applications;
3) Victor will be communicating with the MOC liaison to review the MOC template and tailor it for ABGERO needs. At some point, an ABGERO MOC committee will need to be formed, probably at the end of the year when we become certified as a specialty.
4) Andrew will assist with the development of an Examiner’s Manual. This process will probably start later on in the year based on the feedback we receive from our monitors during the 2014 examinations.