The Colorado RxP Success & Legislative Update
Presented by Jin Lee, PsyD, MSCP, BCB
Recorded on Thursday, March 14th, 2024
Access provided upon registration on “My Courses” page
Colorado has been in a serious mental health crisis – the lowest in the country for adult mental health problems and access to care, suicide being the leading cause of death among youth, and significant shortage of psychiatric providers available. Over the past three years, Dr. Jin Lee has been working with lobbying teams, legislators, and stakeholders to resolve the crisis by granting specially trained psychologists to prescribe psychotropic medications, just like five other RxP states and the Department of Defense have been implementing for the past 30 years.
In this webinar, Dr. Lee will discuss the legislation process in Colorado and key elements in succeeding the passage of the prescriptive authority (RxP) bill where strong oppositions from the medical society and psychiatry society have been present. Dr. Lee will also discuss lessons learned from the legislation process given she had limited knowledge in the political field prior to exploring the prescriptive authority initiative. Recommendations for a successful RxP legislative initiatives will be provided.
When attended in full, this program offers 1.0 APA CEs for Psychologists.
Colorado has been in a serious mental health crisis – the lowest in the country for adult mental health problems and access to care, suicide being the leading cause of death among youth, and significant shortage of psychiatric providers available. Over the past three years, Dr. Jin Lee has been working with lobbying teams, legislators, and stakeholders to resolve the crisis by granting specially trained psychologists to prescribe psychotropic medications, just like five other RxP states and the Department of Defense have been implementing for the past 30 years.
In this webinar, Dr. Lee will discuss the legislation process in Colorado and key elements in succeeding the passage of the prescriptive authority (RxP) bill where strong oppositions from the medical society and psychiatry society have been present. Dr. Lee will also discuss lessons learned from the legislation process given she had limited knowledge in the political field prior to exploring the prescriptive authority initiative. Recommendations for a successful RxP legislative initiatives will be provided.
After attending this intermediate-level program, participants will be able to:
- List several barriers to pharmacotherapy access that underrepresented populations are negatively impacted by.
- Explain at least two key strategies that have been successfully used in passing state legislative approval for psychologist prescriptive authority.
- Explain the key elements of the CO legislative bill HB23 – 1071.
This program meets APA’s continuing education STANDARD 1.2: Program content focuses on ethical, legal, statutory or regulatory policies, guidelines, and standards that influence psychological practice, education, or research.
This program meets APA’s continuing education GOAL 2: Program will enable psychologists to keep pace with the most current scientific evidence regarding assessment, prevention, intervention, and/or education, as well as important relevant legal, statutory, leadership, or regulatory issues.
Jin Lee, PsyD, MSCP, BCB; Independent Practice
Dr. Jin Lee is a licensed psychologist in the state of Colorado and New Mexico. She specializes in treating children and adolescents who suffer from chronic pain and functional neurological disorder (FND) through her private practice at Your Pediatric Psychologist, where she uses evidence-based treatment approaches, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy, biofeedback, hypnosis, and parenting education. Given a high prevalence of adolescent chronic pain and FND, especially since the pandemic, Dr. Lee founded an online psychoeducation program, Teen Chronic Pain Academy, to help adolescents and their parents resolve chronic pain and FND. Dr. Lee earned a PsyD degree in Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine University in 2015. She also graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson University with a master’s degree in Clinical Psychopharmacology and is in the process of becoming a prescribing psychologist. Dr. Lee is chair of the Colorado prescriptive authority task force and has been a central figure in championing the successful passage of the CO RxP legislative effort into law, making Colorado the sixth RxP state in the United States.
Gordon, J. A. (2020). Addressing disparities: Advancing mental health care for all Americans. National Institute of Mental Health. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/director/messages/2020/addressing-disparities-advancing-mental-health-care-for-all-americans.shtml
Linda, W. P., & McGrath, R. E. (2017). The current status of prescribing psychologists: Practice patterns and medical professional evaluations. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 48(1), 38-45. https://doi.org/10.1037/pro0000118
National Alliance on Mental Illness. (2017). The doctor is out: Continuing disparities in access to mental health and physical health care. https://www.nami.org/parityreport
National Council for Behavioral Health. (2017, March 28). The psychiatric shortage: Causes and solutions. https://www.thenationalcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Psychiatric-Shortage_National-Council-.pdf?daf=375ateTbd56
Sammons, M. (2019). What does the collapse of Argosy University tell us about the state of graduate education in psychology? National Register of Health Service Psychology. https://www.nationalregister.org/eo-desk-mar-2019/
Target Audience: Psychologists, social workers, other mental health care providers.
Psychologists. This program, when attended in its entirety, is available for 1.0 continuing education credits. The Chicago School of Professional Psychology is committed to accessibility and non-discrimination in its continuing education activities. The Chicago School of Professional Psychology is also committed to conducting all activities in conformity with the American Psychological Association’s Ethical Principles for Psychologists. Participants are asked to be aware of the need for privacy and confidentiality throughout the program. If program content becomes stressful, participants are encouraged to process these feelings during discussion periods.
Non Psychologists. Most licensing boards accept Continuing Education Credits sponsored by the American Psychological Association but non-psychologists are recommended to consult with their specific state-licensing board to ensure that APA-sponsored CE is acceptable.
*Participants must attend 100% of the program in order to obtain a Certificate of Attendance.
If participants have special needs, we will attempt to accommodate them. Please address questions, concerns and any complaints to [email protected]. There is no commercial support for this program nor are there any relationships between the CE Sponsor, presenting organization, presenter, program content, research, grants, or other funding that could reasonably be construed as conflicts of interest.