NAMI Montana is opposing SB 272 which would allow psychologists to prescribe medication if they complete an online course and see a set number of patients. NAMI Montana's people who live with mental illness and their family members do not believe that this is enough medical-specific training to allow psychologists to jump into a dramatically different and critically important field.
Please call the Legislative administrative offices at (406) 444-4800 and leave messages for the members of the House Health and Human Services Committee asking them to oppose SB 272.
There are three main reasons to oppose this legislation:
1. The limited training required by the bill is not comprehensive enough to safely address the health needs of people with serious mental illnesses or complex medical conditions. NAMI Montana's position is consistent with our national organization's in-depth analysis of the topic, the group Psychologists Opposed to Prescription Privileges for Psychologist, some Montana psychologists, and other research. (Report One) (Report Two)
2. This legislation is unnecessary, because psychologists can already participate in the prescribing process by telling a patients general practitioner what they believe the diagnosis is so the general practitioner can use that information to help them choose an effective and safe medication.
3. This legislation is unlikely to either decrease the cost of care or significantly increase access to mental illness treatment because the recently established the Montana State Psychiatric Nursing program is going to annually graduate proven psychiatric prescribers that will cost-effectively fill the gaps left by Montana's psychiatrist shortage. Unsurprisingly, NAMI Montana has yet to find a psychologist who is willing to go to school for two more years to make less than an advanced practice nurse.
If psychologists didn't already have input into the prescribing process and if Montana didn't have a psychiatric nursing program or if , then this legislation may be worth giving more consideration. But since those options do exist, then there is no reason to potentially endanger patient care by allowing a type of care that isn't even legal in a handful of other states.
If you would like a more in-depth analysis of this issue, the Hawaii legislature conducted a full 95 page analysis of the costs and benefits of giving psychologists' prescriptive authority. Here is that report.
Please take a few minutes to take a stand against this dangerous legislation.