Meetings
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[Senator Martine Larocque Gulick (Vice Chair)]: Good morning, everyone. It is February 26. It's Thursday. This is the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, and Senator Lyons is not here at the moment, but she will be soon. We are going to go ahead and dive into our work while we await her return. We're starting today with age two thirty seven. We have legislative counsel here to take us through some changes and sort of quickly high level go over the bill with us. Sure.
[Katie McGinn, Office of Legislative Counsel]: Katie McGinn, Office of Legislative Counsel. Here is the latest draft of the bill. It's 2.1. And there are some changes that I believe the committee has already looked at. Let's run through them again, they're highlighted. So just to remind you where we are, this is the bill about prescribing by a doctoral level psychologist. In section one, we have a general definition section for the licensure of all psychologists, and then we're adding specific terms about collaborating practitioner, prescribing psychologist, prescriptive authority. In section two, this is a section that governs the responsibilities of the board of psychologists, and there are some new responsibilities that the board would have, including some language. So the board would have to regulate prescribing psychologist licenses pursuant to 3019, the next section, including the settings of clinical rotations, the minimum requirements for the curriculum of a post doctoral psychopharmacological program, and also prescriptive authority, including the designation of conditions and drugs excluded from all authority, as well as requirements for prescribing particular drugs. And also to regulate collaborative practice agreements, again pursuant to the next section, including collaborating practitioner qualifications and annual competency evaluations. And then section three adds a whole new section to the chapter in title 26 on psychologists, and this is specific to doctoral level psychologist prescribing. So this creates a specialty, and we have language about the requirements to hold this specialty. One of the requirements is that the person has completed clinical rotations over a total of not less than fourteen months, and not less than five practice settings to include psychiatry, geriatrics, family or internal medicine, emergency medicine, and neurology.
[Senator Martine Larocque Gulick (Vice Chair)]: That's a good question. What was there before five? Means like it. So, Previous stuff.
[Katie McGinn, Office of Legislative Counsel]: No. That's okay. It was
[Senator Martine Larocque Gulick (Vice Chair)]: higher. Okay. No. But sounds like it would Okay. Okay. You wanna know
[Katie McGinn, Office of Legislative Counsel]: what the other specialty is worth? Sure. Okay. It's taking me a minute. Everybody behind me, I know it. Okay. So it had been psychiatry, pediatrics, geriatrics, family medicine, internal medicine, emergency medicine, obstetrics, gynecology, surgery, and one elective. Okay. Thank you. So section C we have the criteria necessary for prescribing medication. Language about the specialty by endorsement, and then there is a new report that the Senate would be adding. This report would come back to the policy committees from OPR on 11/15/2032, and it would be specifically about the number of psychologists with a prescribing specialty pursuant to this new section, the status of available collaborative practitioners, and whether any updates to the qualifications of prescribing psychologists are necessary to expand access to care while also ensuring public protection. In terms of effective days, effective date section itself and section two of the bill, which is the board responsibilities, that takes effect this July. But then the actual prescribing by psychologists doesn't take effect until 07/01/2029. So that's three years out.
[Senator Martine Larocque Gulick (Vice Chair)]: So, OPR one, like, chime in at all on this section or on the effective date section? The effective dates and also just the report. General and laws, professional regulation. The report sounds fine to us. The effective date is 07/01/2029. We had requested to push it out a little bit just because we're going to have to do rule making. We appreciate having the time to be able to do that to implement. Thank you. Thank you. Does anyone have any comments for budget counsel or anyone in the room? No? I was wondering if that makes you good? Yes. Yeah. Just one question. With the bill, but okay. And then you can go back
[Senator John Benson]: to the section because I recall the psychologist has to consult with physician before they're actually prescribing. Is that So is my my memory correct there?
[Katie McGinn, Office of Legislative Counsel]: Yeah. Pull the language back up. Okay. So we have this section on the actual criteria for doing the prescribing. So there has to be a written assessment that all prescribing psychologists have to practice under prescribing psychologists.
[Senator Martine Larocque Gulick (Vice Chair)]: And then,
[Katie McGinn, Office of Legislative Counsel]: having prescriptive authority by the prescribing practitioner and giving that to a prescribing psychologist is only to include the drugs for treatment of mental health conditions that the collaborating practitioner, meaning the psychiatrist, generally provides patients in
[Senator Martine Larocque Gulick (Vice Chair)]: the normal course of their practice. Alright. No other questions or comments? Had What would the committee like to do? Take a break until Senator Cummings? Sorry, Senator Lyons. Till Sunday Girl Lyons gets back or meets his vote and that then include her vote when she gets back. But either way, we're gonna have to take a break until. Okay. Let's go ahead and take a vote then. You've got your sheets?
[Senator John Benson]: I do.
[Senator Martine Larocque Gulick (Vice Chair)]: Okay. Well, first, we have to have a motion. Yes. I
[Senator John Benson]: hope that we change the go on reversal.
[Senator Martine Larocque Gulick (Vice Chair)]: Do that. That's
[Senator John Benson]: not done before. No. I will make a motion that he forward the bill as favorable.
[Senator Martine Larocque Gulick (Vice Chair)]: Thank you. Any discussion? Okay. Seeing none, I will let the cert Our vote.
[Senator John Benson]: Senator Benson? Yes. Senator Cummings? No. Senator Gulick?
[Senator Martine Larocque Gulick (Vice Chair)]: Yes. Senator Morley? Yes. And you wanna be open for senator Lyons, or what do want me to do?
[Senator Martine Larocque Gulick (Vice Chair)]: Yeah. Think we Okay. Shift out chairs, and include Uh-huh. Tally. So thank you.
[Senator John Benson]: Thank you. I'm just curious Yeah. If we can ask this. I'm just curious.
[Senator Martine Larocque Gulick (Vice Chair)]: I'm just not ready to go there. K. I'm concerned about whether or not they have access to the complete medical records that would allow them to know what all the other things I might be on. If they're not disconnected in with a mainstream hospital.
[Senator John Benson]: Yep. I don't disagree with you on that at all. You know, I look at it too, though, on the sense I put it back into my own profession that letting people who do work under me, and then my stamp goes on. Yeah. But I always review whatever they're doing. So I looked at it from that aspect if the individual already has the authority who's over And I'm relying on them to do their job to be sure that they've done the oversight before they give me okay to prescribe. So that's how I work
[Senator Martine Larocque Gulick (Vice Chair)]: in go either way.
[Senator John Benson]: Same concerns. So this is age, Bill.
[Senator Martine Larocque Gulick (Vice Chair)]: Age two thirty seven. Great. Thank you very much, Katie. And we will take Brandon from Library, which is our next round.