I have received several questions from students lately on the topic of insurance. Can registered interns accept insurance?
There is no 491 board rule specifically prohibiting this, so we need to look to other rules and ethical guidelines. The board states that interns must clearly and specifically designate themselves so as to not confuse the public. For example, if you are a mental health intern you must specify “Registered Mental Health Intern” on all of your correspondence. You should not abbreviate. Don’t use RMCHi or worse, LMHCi. These acronyms, especially the latter, can falsely lead the public to think you are licensed when you are not. This is a clear ethical and legal violation.
Now that we are labeling ourselves properly, we need to look to the insurance company. Many insurance plans require several years of post-licensure experience, however, some insurance companies will reimburse interns for counseling sessions. Read the insurance company requirements carefully before beginning the credentialing process or submitting a superbill for reimbursement. (By the way, a superbill is an invoice that has diagnostic criteria as well as any information required by the insurance company for payment). If you seek reimbursement from an insurance company who does not credential interns, you could get into legal trouble. Also, if you somehow make it through the credentialing process (most likely due to the insurance company’s oversight) and seek reimbursement, you could be in breach of contract. Even though it was the insurance company’s error that got you there in the first place. Bottom line? Read the guidelines thoroughly.
If you are working in an agency or group practice, please be aware that it is unethical for your supervisor to bill insurance companies for your counseling sessions under his or her license. Put simply, this is lying. Essentially, the supervisor is stating to the insurance company that the counseling session was performed by him or herself, when in reality it was performed by the intern. Although it is technically the supervisor who is in violation, if you are aware of the practice you have an ethical obligation to stop it; and if you cannot stop it you must report it.
Yours in the Joy of Knowledge,
Dr. Barbara LoFrisco
