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Lawmaker introduces bill to allow limited prescribing by psychologists
Summary
A committee member introduced a bill (referred to as 8237) to create a prescribing psychologist role with strict training, supervision and prescribing limits and a new Board of Psychological Examiners to set rules and oversee the program.
Representative Francis Chopper McPhomb introduced bill 8237 on February, describing measures to authorize a limited prescribing authority for psychologists.
The bill would create a prescribing-psychologist pathway that requires specialized training, passing a national certification exam, and two years of supervised practice in a clinical setting under a collaborating physician, Representative Francis Chopper McPhomb said. "They have to complete 2 years of supervisory supervised practice," McPhomb said, and the supervising arrangement must be for at least 20 hours per week in a clinical setting.
Under the proposal the new prescribing psychologists would not be allowed to dispense, administer, or distribute medications themselves; they would be able only to prescribe. The bill would also create a Board of Psychological Examiners to adopt rules, set continuing education requirements, regulate clinical rotation lengths and oversee collaborative agreements between prescribing psychologists and the supervising physician, McPhomb said.
The measure includes limits on who may be prescribed by the new providers — committee members raised concerns about children — and places additional limits on controlled substances. As McPhomb described it, prescribing psychologists would be barred from administering controlled substances by injection and may be permitted to prescribe some schedule II and schedule V drugs in limited circumstances "if the collaborating psychiatrist has gone through it with them, they make decisions together, and then they can prescribe those title 2 or title 5 drugs," McPhomb said.
The bill sets a timetable for implementation: the board would be established July 1, 2025, with the remaining sections taking effect July 1, 2026, giving state regulators time to set rules and oversight structures, McPhomb said.
Committee members asked clarifying questions about the definition of "collaborating practitioner" in the draft and whether that term would include psychiatric nurse practitioners as well as physicians. One committee member noted the draft's definition reads "collaborating practitioner means a physician licensed to practice medicine ... or other prescribing provider as approved by the board," and suggested the committee invite stakeholders to explain how the collaborating-practitioner relationship would work in practice.
McPhomb framed the measure as an access solution in regions facing long waits for psychiatrists. "We have an access problem," a committee member observed during the discussion, and McPhomb said the proposal grew out of constituent requests and the experience of other jurisdictions.
The bill was introduced for committee consideration; committee members indicated they would request stakeholder testimony before taking further action.
