Granting psychologists authority to prescribe medication [psychotropic drugs] was the goal of a bill submitted in the 2007 Oregon Legislature. This video describes last year’s proposal. A revised measure may be proposed in 2009.
Treatment Delayed. Lives in Chaos.
Building on Legislative efforts in Oregon.
An innovative health care proposal known as RxP made progress last year but fell short of state legislative adoption.
Yet, backers of an expansion of the mental healthcare network remain optimistic about changing legislators’ minds in 2009, ultimately gaining authority for certain qualified psychologists to prescribe medication [psychotropic] as part of a patient’s mental health treatment options. Psychiatrists, family doctors and some nurses can write these prescriptions. But psychologists can’t.
RxP is shorthand for our proposal to grant appropriately trained, already licensed psychologists the right to prescribe. “The legislators began listening to us,” says Lynnea Lindsey, a Hood River psychologist.
Physical health care and mental health care providers also worked out many, but not all, issues that separated them at the beginning of 2007. “Definitions of how relationships would work were tightened.”
Why RxP was proposed:
Every day people we personally know – friends, neighbors, coworkers and even family members – struggle to overcome the fog of depression or other mental health disorders.
Just as frustrating and life disrupting is their battle to get timely and consistent professional care. Tens of thousands of Oregonians are affected by the complexity of Oregon’s mental health care system.
Appointments are made with a family doctor (primary care physician), a counselor or a psychologist. The doctor may recommend medication or make a referral to a psychiatrist, perhaps located in distant city if the patient lives in a rural community. That’s the evaluation phase.
Treatment and follow-up is more complicated, as told by Stephanie and Steve, two patients who in 2007 bravely told their stories in the video at the top of this page. When prescriptions were recommended, repeated and time-consuming trips were made for brief med checks. Then it was back to the psychologist, who spent the most time with each providing therapy.
More back and forth over a period of months. It’s the same story throughout Oregon.
Adding to the challenge is the increasing number of veterans who return to Oregon from war zones with mental health issues, such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Military officials report that since 2003 more than 40,000 Iraq and Afghanistan vets nationally are afflicted with PTSD. That number falls short of the actual total, the military says, because vets are encouraged to get private help if the Veterans Administration can’t respond to their immediate needs. The VA may not count privately treated vets, the Associated Press reported (May 28, 2008).
We can restore severely disrupted lives:
What if we break this cycle, expanding the quality of Oregon’s mental health care and relieve stress on the current overburdened system at the same time? We can.
The power to prescribe medications also is the power to unprescribe, providing psychologists with the ability to quickly modify or change prescriptions in a more timely way if those drugs aren’t working. The prescriptive authority for psychologists could cut days or weeks from the time a patient waits to have medication adjusted.
Let’s put more hands on the problem:
We know patients get better, and stay better longer, with a combination of psychotherapy and medication. Granting RxP will benefit all Oregonians – especially those in rural communities.
The challenge is that adults seeking help often visit a counselor or psychologist, and then see their primary care physician to get medication, or vice versa. Some patients drive to distant cities for brief visits with a psychiatrist. Parents of young children find the system more complex and frustrating.
Let’s continue what we started:
We can’t truly have mental health parity – the right to equal access to treatment under our system of care – if quality care isn’t as readily available. Oregon lawmakers passed landmark legislation in 2005 granting parity. But, if our network of care isn’t expanded, the dream of parity remains in the distant future.
And the lives of many Oregonians remain at risk.
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