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Assembly committee hears bill to allow provisional licensure for advanced psychology trainees
Summary
Senate Bill 251 would permit advanced psychology trainees who have completed doctoral coursework and internships to apply for provisional licensure so they can bill insurance and expand behavioral-health capacity. Universities and professional associations supported the change as a workforce measure.
Sen. Schiavo introduced Senate Bill 251 to the Assembly Commerce and Labor Committee on May 9, explaining the measure would allow certain advanced psychology trainees to apply for a provisional license and thereby bill insurance for supervised clinical work. The sponsor said the change is intended to expand Nevada's behavioral-health workforce by making clinical training more sustainable for trainees and agencies.
Dr. Lauren Chapple-Love, who testified for the Nevada Psychological Association, described the class of trainees targeted by the bill as individuals who have completed required doctoral coursework and predoctoral internship and are completing postdoctoral supervised experience. "Essentially, SB251 ensures that advanced psychological trainees ... are able to provide and obtain provisional licensure, and that's going to allow them to be billable under their insurance," she told the committee.
Supporters, including the University of Nevada, Reno and the Vegas Chamber, said provisional licensure and a lower fee structure (sections cited were 13 and 14 in the reprint) would increase training sites, help retain trainees in-state and expand access to care in urban and rural areas. University representatives said the change would allow doctoral programs to offer additional supervised placements and increase the number of insured providers in communities that currently lack services.
Committee counsel and staff described section 13 as the crux of the bill, which changes statutory language from registration to an application for provisional licensure; conforming edits in other sections would fold the new license class into discipline and fee provisions. Witnesses emphasized the bill does not change supervision requirements but instead changes how those supervised providers are recognized and reimbursed under insurance.
No opposition testimony was recorded in the hearing. Supporters asked the committee to advance the bill to address workforce shortages in behavioral health, particularly in underserved and frontier areas of Nevada.
