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AMA Scope of Practice Partnership Grant Boosts IMA and IPA Advocacy Efforts
The Idaho Medical Association and Idaho Psychiatric Association (IPA) thank the AMA Scope of Practice Partnership (SOPP) for awarding grant funding to assist in advocacy efforts to protect Idahoans from erosion of quality and training standards in healthcare. The grant made it possible to contract an additional lobbyist to bolster the IMA lobby team's opposition to SB 1088, a bill which would have significantly lowered education and supervision standards for psychologist prescribing.
IMA recognizes that psychologists are well-trained behavioral experts, and vital and respected members of the healthcare team. However, given that psychotropic medications affect the entire body and eighteen of the 30 most prescribed psychotropic medications carry FDA "black box" warnings, patient safety concerns prompted IMA to oppose the bill.
Thanks to the SOPP grant, IMA's lobbying team was able to effectively communicate the potential unintended consequences of the bill to legislators; ultimately the bill was held in the House Health & Welfare Committee without a hearing.
Idaho's physician workforce shortage makes our state particularly vulnerable to attempts to expand scope of practice for non-physicians in the name of enhanced access to care. IMA supports consideration of thoughtful approaches to such expansion where necessary, but never at the expense of patient safety. We thank the AMA for its partnership in preserving quality care for Idahoans.
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