New Jersey Council for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Legislative Alert!
February 11, 2011

In This Issue:
Get Active
NJ Bill A-3745
Talking Points
Further Information & Resources

Dear NJCCAP Members:
On January 20th a bill (A-3745) was introduced into the NJ Assembly which would give prescribing privileges to psychologists who take an on-line Masters degree in Psychopharmacology and have some supervised clinical experience.

Let's Be Active!
I would like to invite you to participate in Advocacy Day on March 14th in Trenton, NJ-please save the date!

In addition, AACAP is offering a webinar, free to NJCCAP members, during the first week of March to help us prepare for Advocacy Day. This webinar will also be later archived and accessible for all AACAP members. Please continue to check your email for further details about this event.

A-3745
The proposed bill is available at the legislative website:
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/bills/BillsByNumber.asp

It is a DANGER TO OUR PATIENTS and we all need to educate our legislators.

Press Release
Gordon Urges Establishment Of Hub For Children In Need Of Mental Health Services

Below are the talking points to prepare you in educating the public and speaking to your legislators. Wait to contact legislators until we send more information.

APA Talking Points
Scope of Practice
(This document can be downloaded here)

General:

• Giving psychologists the right to prescribe psychiatric medications puts patients at risk.


• Patients and families struggling with mental illnesses will be subjected to substandard care.

Differences between Psychiatrists and Psychologists:

• Psychologists are not medical doctors and, under A3745 (Diegnan) - Provides for certain psychologists to prescribe medications, would not be required to get the training necessary to safely prescribe powerful medications.


• Psychiatrists are medical doctors with up to 12 years of medical training in biology, anatomy, chemistry and the other sciences, plus clinical training to diagnose disease and prescribe medication(s) to treat illnesses.


• Psychiatrists have extensive, specialized postgraduate training in the treatment of mental illness and substance use disorders.


• Psychologists, like social workers, mental health counselors, and marriage and family therapists, should be proud of their training in human behavior, but they do not have the basic medical education and supervised post-graduate training necessary to prescribe medications safely and effectively

Training:

• A crash course in prescribing cannot substitute for the comprehensive knowledge and skills physicians achieve through medical education and rigorous clinical experience.


• Non-physician professionals who do prescribe (e.g., nurse practitioners, physician's assistants, podiatrists and dentists) have medical training.

Psychotropic Medications:

• The psychotropic medications are among the most powerful available to modern medicine. They don't just affect the brain, they affect the entire body.


• A medical degree is required to properly diagnose psychiatric illness and to prescribe medications safely and effectively.


• Psychotropic medications are highly effective in treating serious mental illness, but if not appropriately prescribed and monitored, they can result in drug addiction, more severe illness, or even death.


• Knowing when not to prescribe is as important as knowing when to prescribe.

Patient Safety Is At Risk:

• Mental illnesses are real, diagnosable and treatable.


• Often, patients with mental illness also have other serious medical complications. Without a medical background, psychologists could miss potentially fatal medical conditions. Psychiatrists have the diagnostic knowledge and medical training to treat the patient as a whole person, not just from the neck up.


• Psychologists are asking for the right to practice medicine without going to medical school. That's dangerous for patient safety.


• Patients with mental illnesses have the right to be treated by the best-qualified professional - a medically trained physician.


• Lowering costs should never lower the quality of care.


• Giving psychologists the prescription pad is bad medicine - a risk we can't afford.

Access to Care:

• There is no shortage of prescribing professionals. This legislation is promoted as a way to provide greater access to care in rural areas. Psychologists are not any better geographically situated to serve rural populations than psychiatrists.


• The needs of underserved areas can best be met by improving the mental health training of general physicians and other medically trained practitioners who are more widely distributed than psychologists.


• Other solutions include: collaboration with primary care physicians and telepsychiatry service

Information:
Contact Christy Zilinski at the NJPA office -(908) 719-2222 or njccapoffice@optonline.net to obtain any of the documentation.

General Information:
Attached is an article American Journal of Law and Medicine entitled "Fools Gold," which lists five common arguments used by psychologists to explain why they should be given prescriptive authority and rebuttals to all of them.

The document labeled "Key Points" is an excellent resource as it gives quite a few counter-arguments to what it refers to as "crash course prescribing."

Education:
Click here for an excellent chart illustrating the Biomedical Education and Training for Prescribing Practitioners.

Click here for an article entitled "Psychopharm for Dummies" which talks about the potential dangers of psychologist prescribing privileges.

Facts about Prescription Drugs:
There are several resources available on the complexity of prescription drugs used to treat mental illnesses. "Myths" -specifically prepared for Wyoming-containing some common myths about psychologist prescribing, and pays specific attention to the facts on prescription drugs themselves, is available on request.

We also have an entire portion of the website dedicated to information regarding Primary Care and Psychotropic Medications that would be useful. Click Here for more information.

Please continue to check your email for more important updates regarding this matter and in the meantime, please become familiar with the material and resources provided.

Sincerely,

Debra E Koss, MD
President
New Jersey Council of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry