Setting the stage for another legislative battle that puts mental health patients in the middle, a bill seeking to give licensed psychologists prescribing privileges for dangerous medications is scheduled to be heard on April 23, 2007 in the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee.
The bill, SB 993, is the fifth legislative attempt since 1995 to broaden psychologists' scope of practice.
At issue is whether psychologists who would be trained under SB 993 lack the medical education and clinical experience needed to diagnose and effectively treat disease, manage side effects from medications and appropriately integrate medications into patients' overall health management.
"Who would seriously entertain the notion of allowing psychologists to treat cancer with chemotherapeutic agents?" asked Barry F. Chaitin, M.D., past president of the California Psychiatric Association. "Being biologically- based, genetically-influenced diseases of the brain, mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia and depression, are medical conditions."
Under this measure, psychologists would have less education and training than nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs), who have prescribing authority, and would not be subject to direct supervision by a medical doctor. NPs and PAs generally have at least six years of study in a science-based curriculum. In contrast, psychologists' undergraduate and graduate education is generally based on liberal arts coursework.