A Victory for Psychology Education and Training

Thanks to APA's intense advocacy, for the first time ever, legislation to authorize the Graduate Psychology Education Program (GPE) has been introduced in the U.S. House and Senate.

The legislation would amend the Public Health Service Act (PHSA) to specifically provide federal support for graduate education and training in psychology by allowing the Secretary of HHS to award grants, cooperative agreements and contracts to accredited doctoral, internship and residency programs in psychology for the development and implementation of programs to provide interdisciplinary training in integrated health-care settings to psychology doctoral students with a focus on the needs of underserved populations.

Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) introduced the Senate Bill (S. 811) and Reps. Gene Green (D-Texas) and Tim Murphy (R-PA) introduced the House bill (HR 2066). Nina Levitt, EdD, Associate Executive Director for Education Government Relations says, “We are grateful for the leadership shown by Senator Inouye and Reps. Green and Murphy. Their work puts Congress on record in support of psychology and the critical role that psychologists can play in our efforts to improve the overall health and wellness of our nation’s most underserved communities.” In addition, this is perfect timing for introducing a bill to authorize the GPE Program because with effective advocacy, the legislation is likely to be included in Congress' Health Care Reform legislation. We are working on the workforce section of the Health Care Reform legislation with staff of Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) of the Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions (HELP) Committee and of Representatives Henry Waxman (D-CA), Chair of the House Energy & Commerce Committee and Representative Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Chair of its Health Subcommittee.

The GPE Program is the nation's only federal program solely dedicated to psychology education and training and this authorizing legislation would give the GPE program permanent legal standing as part of the PHSA, the guiding legislation for the nation’s public health programs. Support in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate puts GPE further along down the path to success as both legislative bodies must agree for a bill to become a law. If successfully authorized, the GPE program will have its own line item within the Bureau of Health Professions. The proposed bill would authorize the program for 5 years.

Over the past eight years, APA has advocated for increased funding for the GPE Program. As part of that campaign, early this year APA's Education Government Relations Office launched a grassroots initiative of one-on-one meetings with all key members and staff of the U.S. House and U.S.Senate Appropriations Labor-Health & Human Services-Education Subcommittees, during which APA members and staff emphasized the need for more training for the provision of psychological services in integrated health care settings in underserved communities. APA is continuing to following up on these meetings with a call-in and letter writing campaign to demonstrate the strong support that exists for GPE throughout the country. Since 2002 the GPE Program has received nearly $24 million and awarded 70 grants in 30 states. Currently there are 18 grants in 15 states. About 900 universities, professional schools and hospitals nationwide are eligible for funding.