Why Join IMHPA? Why NOW?
State-wide Marketing for Telehealth & In-person Practice
IMHPA offers mental health professionals four $20 per-month entry points for membership. Enroll, enjoy IMHPA’s marketing and technology resources, meet, collaborate, consult with colleagues and support future healthy contracts. Promote your Oregon practice with OregonTherapyOptions.com.
IMHPA’s membership structure includes Psychologists, Marriage and Family Therapists, Professional Counselors, Social Workers, Psychiatrists, and Mental Health Nurse Practitioners and those at post-graduate levels of training, practicing under approved supervision.
IMHPA members find support and colleagues through active involvement in peer consultation, collaborative marketing, conversation and healthy contract advocacy. Members gather when and where possible, socially and professionally. IMHPA’s goals include support for independent mental health practices, replacing the isolation of individual and group practices with creating healthy collaborations that develop cross-referrals based on knowing one another’s skills and strengths.
2026 Enrollment goal: 200 Oregon mental health professionals, building a clear, persistent voice to negotiate with health plans!
IMHPA is committed to support for independent mental health professionals and advocacy for healthy contracts. Many in private practice avoid health plan contracts, or accept only one or two because payers’ reimbursements are low.* Payers’ mental health contracts do not reflect the well-established fact that mental health services have positive economic benefits for health plans. Mental and behavioral health care improves emotional and functional well-being and substantially reduces medical costs.
The future of mental and behavioral health services in Oregon will include commercial and publicly funded payment contracts developed in various value-based-payment (VBP) models. Fee-for-service contracts will diminish as VBP contracts increase. Incorporated groups may be able to enter VBP contracts designed to demonstrate the benefits of mental and behavioral health care services, individuals will not.
The complete absence of state regulations that define and require well designed, high-quality payers’ contracts for mental and behavioral health services is a major problem for providers and the public. Healthy contract regulations are essential to meet Oregon’s stated objectives of improved access to care with focus on patient-centered outcomes and higher quality.
IMHPA collaborates with Mentor Research Institute (MRI) in advocate for healthy contracts legislation. The goal: protect the public and health care providers. Oregon is currently a safe haven that allows health plans to engage in fraud and anti-trust violations with little consequence to health plans.
IMHPA’s a contracting structure has provided support for qualified practices since 1996.
IMHPA supports ethical, independent, solo and group mental health practices as Oregon stumbles toward the new arena of value-based contracting.
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