How Do I Get on the Approved Provider List?

A friend of mine asked me a number of questions earlier this week about becoming a CE provider here in the state of TX and getting on the Approved Provider list. Thought I'd pass that Q&A session along in the hopeful knowledge that it might help someone else as well. Here we go.

How Do I Become a CE Provider in Texas?

Just a few years ago all you had to do to become a CE provider in Texas was complete and sign a 1-page form and most importantly, sign a $50 check payable to the state. Then the rules were changed at the behest of The Sunset Commission which told our governing boards that they needed to get out of the ce regulation business altogether. So they did and registration with the state as a ce provider and its $50 contribution were no longer required.

Some thought that was an awful move as any oversight on who might be offering ce's was being removed. Really? That argument held very little water because, how much oversight is administered by a form wanting little more than your name and address, and a board that never approved the materials you were teaching anyway! (Let's not forget that here was ZERO empirical data indicating that there was a problem here needing to be fixed.)

All that was really lost was the $50 revenue times a couple thousand ce providers. Fact is, that's as close to nothing as you can get in a state with a 30 billion dollar budget surplus in it's rainy day fund. It was never about the money.

What About the Recent CE Renewal Changes?

You need to understand that the recent overhaul to your bi-annual license renewal requirements did absolutely nothing to change your need to register with the state. No need to pay them to call yourself a ce provider. Nada. You don't have to do that anymore.

Let me drive that home then we'll move on. So as of this writing, and according to the latest rulebooks for all 4 license designations there is zero registration or check-writing to the state required to call yourself a ce provider and start teaching. You may begin!

I Thought the State Was Out of the CE Regulation Business?

Yeah, help me make sense of that, too, will ya? Apparently enough time passed that certain board and public members on the Standards Committee, and your boards, (who apparently prefer having their hands in the control aspects of what you consume as education, and how you run your practice), felt it was safe to get back into practice micromanagement where they feel most empowered.

I'm So Cornfused!!

Still confused? If so I think what's happening is that you're confusing:

a) not needing to register and pay the state to be recognized as a ce provider (see above), with...

b) an understanding of the new renewal requirements and the level of merit arbitrarily assigned to your offerings.

So let's look at that from the viewpoint of a licensee thinking about offering ce courses and/or workshops. Please understand that what follows is not a thorough explanation of all of the ce renewal changes. I'm just going to address the two aspects that I think may have you confused, that of the Approved Provider List and the 50% Rule. Here goes.

Approved Providers vs The "Other" Category

The Standards Committee decided, and your four boards all approved it, that as a collective we counselors are not smart enough to decide what constitutes quality continuing education; that several key entities needed to be appointed to make sure that what you consume is pre-approved by the gatekeepers of their choosing. So, they created an "Approved Providers" list of entities.

These are not specific people or companies, but organizational categories, the ce offerings of which should be considered by default to be good enough based on the size of their bureaucracy alone, apparently. They are also permitted to pass judgment on your offerings if you don't happen to already be on that Approved Provider list. (Side note: please don't worry about the members of the Standards Committee or your boards. They made sure they were on the Approved Provider list!)

What's the Difference?

The difference between the A/P List and the "Other" list is the 50% Rule.

• You must take a minimum of 50% of your renewal ce's from the A/P list, up to 100%.
• You may only take a maximum of 50% of your renewal ce's from the "Other" providers list.

Read that again and let it soak in before you move on.

So How Do I Get on the Approved Providers List?

Yeah, that's what it all boils down to. There are several ways. Either you are already one of the A/P category types and by association your ce offerings are blessed, or you find someone already considered an A/P and get them to bless your ce materials. If you hold the license status of supervisor, you're already considered an A/P provider; no blessing needed.

Let's say that you're not currently considered an A/P Provider but you and what you teach agrees with the Value Statement of an association like, the Association for Mental health Professionals, for example. You could join this association, answer a couple of quick questions and, bingo, you're now an Approved Provider. (Think what you will about that process. We didn't come up with it, the Camel Committee did! We're just playing by their rules.)

That's It?

Yep. It took an entire year for a committee assigned the simple task of designing a horse (streamlining a half page of renewal requirements in your rulebook) to come up with this 3-humped camel of a mess (it now occupies almost 4 complete pages in your rulebook). Now we're stuck with it until enough people on the boards have been replaced, that a new mind-hive of visionary thought takes a look at this beast, says, "wth were they thinking?" and returns us to some semblance of sanity.

And this doesn't even address keeping track of all these hours. Who's responsible for tracking this train-wreck as it unfolds (I'll give you 3 guesses and the first 2 don't count!), if the hours are approved or unapproved, how does one prove that, etc. and how to go about doing that. We'll have that conversation next week.

Take a Deep Breath

The world is about to need us more than ever but the good news is, sanity is going to make a comeback of tsunami-like proportions and He will be leading the way. In the meantime, keep your chins up and your minds focused.

We got this.