Counseling firm to close

After more than 30 years of providing psychological and behavioral health care services to Lancaster County residents, Life Management Associates will close its doors June 30.

LMA Consulting Group, part of the Life Management organization, will cease operations as well.

Declining reimbursement from insurers and ever-increasing paperwork requirements are among the reasons for the move, said President Jeff Klunk.

About 40 employees, most of whom are full time, will be affected. "We have a very highly trained staff," he said, almost half of whom are mental health clinicians. LMA averages about 1,500 client sessions a month, Klunk said.

Every effort will be made to see that clients stay with the same therapist, he said. "We anticipate that the vast majority will be able to," Klunk said.

LMA staff members will move to other psychological and behavioral health care practices or start their own, he said, taking clients with them.

Pressure from managed care companies is resulting in decreased reimbursement for services, Klunk said. That and the demand for greater documentation "has really reduced the margins" for an industry without much profit margin to begin with, Klunk said.

"The head winds we're running into" are just too strong, he said.

Given the current trends, LMA would've needed "a lot of capital investment" to keep going and "adjust to the challenges we foresee," Klunk said.

"Some of our clinicians just wanted to get out of working for insurance companies," he said.

One good aspect of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, is that there's a move toward "paying for outcomes" in health care, Klunk said.

However, LMA would "need more clients to make that economically feasible," he said.

Sam Knapp, director of professional services for the Pennsylvania Psychological Association, said the news about LMA is "really sad."

He said Medicare reimbursements have been dropping, and many private insurers have followed suit as well.

Also, reimbursement cuts for mental health services are steeper than elsewhere in the health care system, and "that's a real problem," Knapp said.

Some practitioners may opt not to treat Medicare patients, for example, making it harder for older adults to access mental health services, he said.

State surveys reveal that the percentage of older adults having trouble finding a psychologist rose from 15 percent in 2010 to 29 percent in 2012, Knapp said.

Studies show that access to psychological services also reduces overall medical expenses, he said, so it's "shortsighted" to marginalize mental health.

A long legacy

The clinical side of LMA provides a range of services, including Employee Assistance Programs. About 110 companies, most in Lancaster County, contract with LMA, which offers counseling and other services to the firms' employees.

The first employer client was the Alcoa plant, Klunk said. Today, employers with LMA contracts range in size from about five to 4,000 workers, he said.

LMA also does individual, marriage and family counseling; substance-abuse counseling; and psychological assessments. And it works with children, using such systems as play therapy.

LMA Consulting Group, the other arm of the organization, offers executive and performance coaching, career development and other services.

Life Management Associates formed in 1982. Its corporate office is at 1848 Charter Lane, and there are branch locations in Ephrata, Silver Spring and Willow Valley. Klunk is one of three founding members still involved, along with Ken Ruffner and Barry Davis.

He said the organization was among the first in Lancaster County to develop extensive services using systems theory. That looks at any group as a system, whether it's a family or a business, Klunk said.

Before starting LMA, he worked for Catholic Social Services. Klunk, a licensed psychologist, is an Adams County native who holds a bachelor's degree in political science from McDaniel College and a master's in psychology from Millersville University. Fluent in Spanish, he also spent two years in the Peace Corps in South America.

Of LMA's closing, Klunk said, "there's a lot of sadness in terms of letting go."

At the same time, he said, after 30-plus years of helping people in Lancaster County, "there's a real sense of accomplishment."

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