Bill > SB847

This bill establishes a three-year pilot program on the island of Kauai to address limited access to mental health care by allowing qualified, licensed clinical psychologists to prescribe psychotropic medications, which are drugs used to treat mental and emotional disorders, to patients under their care. To participate, psychologists must meet specific educational and training requirements, including passing a national examination in psychopharmacology (the study of psychoactive drugs), and be employed by a federally qualified health center, which is a healthcare facility that serves underserved areas. These psychologists will prescribe under the supervision of a licensed medical doctor, who accepts professional responsibility for their prescribing. The Board of Psychology will create rules to implement this program, and the State Health Planning and Development Agency will report to the legislature at the end of the three years with recommendations on whether to expand the program statewide, make it permanent, or end it. The bill also amends existing law to include these psychologists as "practitioners" authorized to prescribe controlled substances within the scope of this pilot program.

Business and Industry, Health and Social Services

https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=SB&billnumber=847&year=2026