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Pennsylvania State Senate
06/01/2024 03:34 PM
Pennsylvania State Senate
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?SPick=20230&chamber=S&cosponId=41800
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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

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Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2023 - 2024 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: November 30, 2023 12:59 PM
From: Senator Patrick J. Stefano
To: All Senate members
Subject: Licensure for Associate Marriage and Family Therapists and Professional Counselors
 
Recently, you may have heard from mental health providers in your area that they will not be able to receive insurance reimbursement for their services due to licensing issues. Given the current strain on the mental health system and the need for qualified and caring providers, we must keep this pathway to services open for Pennsylvanians. One way to alleviate this burden is to provide licensure to master’s and doctorate-level marriage and family therapists and professional counselors while receiving their supervised clinical hours. 
 
Therefore, I am introducing legislation allowing practitioners who have already completed their educational requirements to receive an associate license while working towards meeting their clinical counseling hours. Currently, between 2,400 and 3,000 hours of clinical experience are needed before these therapists and counselors are licensed. The associate license these practitioners will receive while completing these hours will ensure patients have access to quality care.
 
Under my legislation, those practitioners with an associate license must work under the direct clinical supervision of a licensed provider. With this associate license, these counseling professionals may be eligible to receive insurance reimbursement while working towards their full license. 
 
As Chairman of the Senate Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee, I am deeply concerned about the loss of these services and want to ensure we do not prevent Pennsylvanians from receiving the counseling service they desperately need. We need to make every option available to provide quality mental health services. I ask that you please join me in helping to meet this need by co-sponsoring this important piece of legislation.
 


Introduced as SB1019