THE SENATE

S.R. NO.

64

THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2019

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

SENATE RESOLUTION

 

 

requesting the Board of Psychology to create a five-year pilot program to allow clinical psychologists licensed pursuant to chapter 465, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to prescribe psychotropic medications only to patients treated by the psychologist at a federally qualified health center.

 

 


     WHEREAS, the Health Resources and Services Administration of the United States Department of Health and Human Services has officially designated much of the State, including isolated rural locations and urban areas with high population densities, as a mental health professional shortage area, highlighting the critical need for expansion of available mental health services and development of a corps of mental health professionals to serve the currently unmet needs of Hawaii's population; and

 

     WHEREAS, delivery of comprehensive, accessible, and affordable mental health care has been demonstrably enhanced by collaborative practice among licensed clinical psychologists with prescriptive authority and medical doctors in federal facilities and programs, as well as states that have authorized prescriptive authority for psychologists; and

 

     WHEREAS, providing limited prescriptive authority to qualified, licensed clinical psychologists, subject to supervision by a licensed medical doctor, will make comprehensive mental health care more accessible to medically underserved residents of the State; and

 

     WHEREAS, since 2000, psychologists in Hawaii have received psychopharmacological training through the Tripler Army Medical Center psychology training program and have actively collaborated with primary care physicians to provide combined therapy and psychopharmacological care to a medically underserved patient population at eleven federally qualified health centers: Bay Clinic, Hana, Molokai, Kauai, Waianae, Kalihi-Palama, Waimanalo, Koolauloa, West Hawaii, Kokua Kalihi Valley, and Waikiki, as well as a native Hawaiian health care system clinic located in a federally designated medically underserved area on Molokai; and

 

     WHEREAS, the American Psychological Association has developed a model curriculum for a master's degree in psychopharmacology for the education and training of prescribing psychologists, which is currently available within the State at Argosy University and the University of Hawaii at Hilo's College of Pharmacy; and

 

     WHEREAS, independent evaluations of the United States Department of Defense psychopharmacological demonstration project by the United States General Accounting Office, now known as the Government Accountability Office, and the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, as well as the experiences of Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, and New Mexico, have demonstrated that appropriately trained clinical psychologists can prescribe psychotropic medications safely and effectively; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirtieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2019, that the Board of Psychology (Board) is requested to create a five-year pilot program to allow clinical psychologists licensed pursuant to chapter 465, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to prescribe psychotropic medications only to patients treated by the psychologist at a federally qualified health center; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the pilot project is requested to allow a licensed clinical psychologist to be eligible to apply to participate in the pilot program if the psychologist:

 

     (1)  Meets the requirements for licensure set forth in section 465-7, Hawaii Revised Statutes;

 

     (2)  Completed specialized education and training in preparation for prescriptive practice approved by the American Psychological Association and the Board;

 

     (3)  Passed the Psychopharmacological Examination for Psychologists or an equivalent national examination relevant to establishing competence for prescriptive practice approved by the Board;

 

     (4)  Is employed by, including as a contract provider, a federally qualified health center in this State; and

 

     (5)  Meets any other requirements established by the Board; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the five-year pilot program is requested to allow participating psychologists to prescribe psychotropic medications under the supervision of a licensed physician as follows:

 

     (1)  In the first two years, participating psychologists shall practice only at Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center and shall receive training and be directly supervised by a physician at that location;

 

     (2)  After the first year of the pilot program, the supervising physician at Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center shall continue to train and supervise participating psychologists and may recruit additional physicians at other federally qualified health centers in the State to train and supervise participating psychologists at those locations;

 

     (3)  Participating psychologists shall be directly supervised by supervising physicians at a federally qualified health center for the first two years of the psychologists' participation in the pilot program; and

 

     (4)  After completing two years of direct supervision, participating psychologists shall maintain a collaborative and collegial relationship with a supervising physician and with the medical doctors who oversee the general medical care of the participating psychologist's patients at a federally qualified health center and shall exercise prescriptive authority only for patients treated by the psychologist at the federally qualified health center; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that at the end of the fourth year of the pilot program, the Board is requested to prepare a report, under the direction of the supervising physicians of the pilot program and with input from participating psychologists and the physicians and administrators of participating federally qualified health centers, to be submitted to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2025 that includes:

 

     (1)  The number and type of patients served by participating psychologists;

 

     (2)  Treatment services outcomes of patients treated by participating psychologists;

 

     (3)  Whether and how the pilot program improved access to mental health care; and

 

     (4)  Patient satisfaction with mental health care provided by participating psychologists; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Division Administrator of the Professional and Vocational Licensing Division of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, and Chair of the Board of Psychology.

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Board of Psychology; Pilot Program; Clinical Psychologists; Prescriptive Authority