Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Mental Health Telehealth topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Senate concurs in psychology interstate compact to ease cross-state telepsychology; proponents stress access, opponents raise concern
Summary
The Senate concurred in House Bill 241, adopting the psychology interstate compact to facilitate telepsychology and temporary practice across states, by a 46-4 vote. Supporters said it improves continuity of care, particularly for rural and mobile patients; some senators expressed constitutional objections to compacts or preferred in-person care.
Senator Novak urged concurrence in House Bill 241, which would adopt the psychology interstate compact and allow licensed psychologists to provide telepsychology services across member states while recognizing a provider’s home-state licensure and setting conditions for temporary practice.
Novak said the compact increases access to care during an ongoing mental-health crisis and that 42 other states have enacted the compact or similar legislation. She added that psychologists practicing under the compact would be licensed in Montana and therefore subject to Montana mandatory-reporting duties and other obligations. "They would actually be licensed in Montana. So they're under all the same parameters of every other licensee in Montana," Novak said in response to a question about mandated reporting.
Some senators voiced broader objections to interstate compacts in principle and expressed a preference for in-person care. Senator Emmerich said compacts are problematic and argued Montana should rely on locally trained providers; Senator Fuller questioned teletherapy’s ability to capture nonverbal cues.
Supporters stressed continuity of care when patients move across state lines and the utility of telehealth for specialty care that is otherwise scarce in rural areas. Senator Novak added that telehealth is already widely used in Montana and that the compact would allow continuing care when a patient moves.
The clerk recorded 46 yeas and 4 nays; the Senate concurred in HB 241 on second reading.
