Provides for the certification of psychologists to prescribe drugs

BILL NUMBER:S7488 REVISED MEMO 05/27/2014

Title of bill

An act to amend the education law, in relation to granting licensed psychologists prescriptive authority

Purpose

To allow certain licensed psychologists to prescribe medication.

Summary of provisions

Section 1 amends section 7601-a of the Education Law to include prescription of appropriate drugs as within the definition of the practice of psychology.

Section 2 adds a new section 7601-b to the Education Law.

Section 3 provides that this act shall take effect on the first of January next succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law; provided, however, that effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized and directed to be made and completed on or before such effective date.

Justification

Doctor shortages and inadequate care options have created a very dangerous mental healthcare crisis in New York State. With resources stretched to the limit, psychiatrists and other prescribing mental health professionals are in short supply and the demand far exceeds the capabilities of the existing network.

Under this legislation, prescribing psychologists will work collaboratively with their patients as well as with all of the other healthcare providers in the community and conduct a thorough review of a patient's history and symptom presentation. If they determine that medication may be appropriate for treatment, they will prescribe that medication but may also recommend a combination of psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy.

Due to shortages in these types of healthcare providers, more people will be able to get the care they need.

RxP has been an unequivocal success in New Mexico and Louisiana where psychologists are prescribing. Overwhelmingly, primary care physicians report working with prescribing psychologists to be of great benefit to them. It is of note that United States military and civilian psychologists, who are currently permitted to prescribe, have written hundreds of thousands of prescriptions without a single complaint or malpractice case in 20 years of work.

Prescribing psychologists are dedicated to the highest professional standards. They spend four times as many didactic hours on the study of Clinical Psychopharmacology than primary care physicians.

The prescriptive authority of psychologists is limited to the medications that treat the mental illnesses and the behavioral

disorders. The history of prescribing psychologists is that they prescribe 60-70% fewer medications than other health prescribers. Moreover, they will be more likely, than other health prescribers, to "unprescribe" medications because they are aware of behavioral therapeutic strategies that can be more effective than medications, thus reducing side effect complications.

Legislative history

New Bill.

Fiscal implications

None.

Effective date

This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law; provided, however, that effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized and directed to be made and completed on or before such effective date.