Bill Allowing Psychologists to Provide Telehealth, Temporary In-Person Services to Certain Out-of-State Patients Passes Committee

Legislation Sponsored by Greenwald, Lampitt & Conaway Would Enter New Jersey into Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact

(TRENTON) – To allow New Jersey psychologists to provide certain services to out-of-state patients, Assembly Democrats Louis Greenwald, Pamela Lampitt and Herb Conaway sponsor a bill that would enter the state into the Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact (PSYPACT).

PSYPACT is an agreement between participating states allowing licensed psychologists to provide services to patients in other states and jurisdictions via telehealth/telemedicine or limited in-person appointments. The compact is currently comprised of 15 other states, including Pennsylvania and Delaware.

The bill (A-4205) would enter New Jersey into PSYPACT, which would allow psychologists within the state to provide telepsychology services to patients in any of the other 15 states. New Jersey psychologists would also be allowed to offer in-person services to patients in those states, as long as their treatments did not go on for longer than 30 days.

New Jersey psychologists would need to meet certain additional requirements, such as possessing an active ‘E.Passport’ issued by the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards (ASPPB) in order to provide telehealth services or possessing an active Interjurisdictional Practice Certificate (IPC) from the ASPPB.

Upon the legislation passing the Assembly Health Committee on Monday, Assembly sponsors Greenwald, Lampitt (both D-Camden, Burlington) and Conaway (D- Burlington) issued the following joint statement:

“If a person who moves to another state has already established a rapport with their therapist and trusts their treatment methods, they may prefer to continue their sessions virtually rather than start all over again with a new provider. Entering New Jersey into this agreement would give our psychologists the freedom to treat their patients if they move to another state in this compact.

“Especially now that this past year has shown us that helpful and reliable services can be provided remotely, there’s no reason professionals should be unable to continue helping their patients across state borders.”

The bill now heads to the Assembly Speaker for further consideration.