House Health Care Committee reviews H237 to allow specially trained psychologists to prescribe psychotropic drugs, delays straw poll

The House Health Care Committee on April 15 reviewed H237, an act to authorize limited prescribing by specially trained doctoral-level psychologists as a tool to address Vermont’s mental-health provider shortage. The committee heard a section-by-section walkthrough of Senate changes, Office of Professional Regulation (OPR) rationale and competing views from medical stakeholders and patients, and agreed to postpone a straw poll until the next meeting.

The bill would create a prescribing specialty for licensed doctoral psychologists who complete a designated postdoctoral psychopharmacology program, pass a national certifying examination, complete at least 14 months of clinical rotations in specified practice areas and enter a written collaborative agreement with a collaborating practitioner. "To be clear, this bill is not going to solve the problem. It's just one tool in the toolbox to ease the potential harms of provider shortage," a Senate bill reporter told the committee.

Why it matters: supporters say H237 can shorten delays in medication management by allowing the clinician who sees a patient frequently to make timely adjustments; critics say it may not materially improve overall access to care and worry about overprescribing without sufficient safeguards. The Office of…