Colorado Senate committee advances bill allowing psychologists to write prescriptions

Psychologists could soon be able to write prescriptions for anti-depressant, anti-anxiety, and anti-psychotic medications in Colorado. 

A bill that passed the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services Thursday would allow psychologists to prescribe mental health medications if they get a master's degree in clinical psychopharmacology, pass a board exam and work under a licensed prescriber for a year. 

Right now, patients have to see a psychiatrist or other medical doctor if they need a prescription.

"To get a psychologist up to speed and require an abundance of education and it's patterned after four or five other states that do this already and have demonstrated it over more than a decade that it produces positive results and really no unintended consequences," said Senator Cleave Simpson of Alamosa, one of the bill's sponsors.

He says the bill will increase access to care, especially in rural parts of the state where suicide and overdose rates are particularly high.

The bill has passed the House and is headed to the floor of the Senate.