clinical social work association

The Aware Advocate: LCSW Reciprocity

November 2020

Laura Groshong, LICSW, CSWA Director Policy and Practice

In these difficult COVID times, the issue of being able to practice across state lines has become increasingly important.  Most LCSWs* – not by choice – have become proficient in videoconferencing over the past eight months.  While this has presented challenges and frustrations, the upside is that we now have the technology skills to provide psychotherapy in this format. [See the three CSWA webinars in the Members Only section on the website to review these issues.] With these skills comes the ability to practice with patients who are not close enough to meet with us in the office.  Those LCSWs who have tried to make lemonade out of this development, i.e., expanding their practices online, have found that there are many barriers to practicing across state lines without a license.

This issue of The Aware Advocate, CSWA’s occasional newsletter providing a deeper dive on current matters affecting clinical social work practice will explain the current state of affairs when it comes to practicing across state lines in the time of the pandemic.

History of Reciprocity

Clinical social work licensure laws are governed by the state social work board in that state (there are four states that have governance by a state agency).  These boards and agencies implement rules as to how the laws that created clinical social work licensure are implemented. Most states have rules that regulate which LCSWs may practice in each state.  The Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) serves as the organization that develops the clinical social work examination and as a ‘home base’ for social work boards but does not have oversight over them.

Until last March, most boards had some process for becoming licensed in a new state.  Almost no states allowed LCSWs to practice without acquiring a license in each state, except in emergency situations (for more information see my book, Clinical Social Work Practice and Regulation: An Overview, 2009.)  Some states allowed an LCSW to become licensed in another state if their license had the same or higher standards of licensure than the state in which they were licensed without going through the whole licensure process of gathering supervised experience hours; the ASWB clinical examination only needs to be taken once and is transferable to any state. Some states do require completing supervised clinical hours again, an onerous task for established clinicians. 

* LCSWs is used to cover all clinical social work titles including LICSWs, LISWs, etc.

The small group of LCSWs that have chosen to become licensed in more than one state have more options for the patients that they can treat. Being licensed as an LCSW in more than one state means higher costs for being licensed in more than one state, different continuing education standards, and more complicated relationships with third party payers.

Current Clinical Social Work Policies on Reciprocity

Many of the laws and rules governing clinical social work licensure reciprocity have changed since COVID-19 has impacted our ability to see patients in person, roughly since March, 2020 when the State of Emergency was declared nationally. Beginning with Maryland, whose Governor allowed any LCSW licensed in another state to see patients in Maryland through videoconferencing without becoming an LSCW-C in Maryland, many states have relaxed the rules in place for which LCSWs can provide treatment in their state.  See my article “Guide to Telemental Health Across State Lines” on 11-11-20 for more details on how to find out the current standards on reciprocity for LCSWs in each state. A good link for this information is  https://www.naswil.org/post/state-by-state-guide-to-the-rules-laws-about-telehealth-services-across-state-lines. It is crucial to check these standards in the state in which you are currently licensed and the state in which a patient resides.

National Policies on Reciprocity

Another outcome of the pandemic is the increased pressure for national reciprocity for LCSWs.  Psychologists have been working toward this goal with a group of states that accepts the license of a psychologist from a state which is affiliated with a group of states who agrees on licensure standards, called PSYPACT.  This is a much easier task for psychologists because all   psychologists licensed as psychologists have a doctorate before they become licensed and that process is standardized.  NOTE: psychologists who have a terminal Master’s degree cannot become licensed as a psychologist and generally become licensed counselors.

The Master’s in Social Work is considered the terminal degree for clinical social workers, though there are several ways LCSWs continue to be trained for 2-3 years after receiving an MSW.  The laws and rules governing this training varies widely from state to state and each social work board has a vested interest in the standards that they have created.  Getting social work boards to agree on standards that would allow an LCSW to practice in another state is challenging.  Nonetheless, CSWA in collaboration with ASWB and NASW, is hoping to find a way to do so and have been working on this goal for the past 4-5 years.  There is a special urgency now because all the patients that we are seeing who we can now treat because of relaxed standards may be unable to continue their work with us, and have that work be covered by insurance,  when the State of Emergency ends.

Summary

For all the reasons noted above, there are problems for licensed clinical social workers in creating a way to use our licenses across state lines.   This may come about in time, but the nature of clinical social work licensing is state based and boards are reluctant to give up their right to create standards of practice for becoming licensed or for allowing reciprocity.  For now, the best way to practice across state lines through telemental health is to make sure you are in compliance with the rules of your own state and those of the patient’s location.  This is likely to change when the State of Emergency ends, likely within the next year.

Let me know if you have any questions at lwgroshong@clinicalsocialworkassociation.org.