FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 21, 1999

Tricia Alvarez (APA)
202-336-5910
E-mail

(Washington, DC) ? According to a recent report released by the Government Accounting Office (GAO), specially trained military psychologists can safely and effectively prescribe psychotropic medications. The GAO report evaluated the performance of graduates of the Psychopharmacology Demonstration Project (PDP), a Department of Defense (DOD) initiative that trained ten military psychologists to prescribe psychotropic medications in the Army, Navy and Air Force.

"This report echoes what we've believed to be true. Psychologists with the proper training can safely and effectively prescribe psychotropic medications and have a positive impact on patient treatment," says Russ Newman, Ph.D., J.D., APA's executive director for professional practice.

According to the 26-page GAO report: "Without exception [prescribing psychologists'] supervisors ? all psychiatrists ? stated that the graduates' quality of care was good." The report also notes that a panel of external evaluators hired by the DOD indicated that the "graduates had performed well in all locations where they were assigned, that they had performed safely and effectively as prescribing psychologists, and that no adverse outcomes had been associated with their performance." Despite initial difficulties prescribing psychologists had being accepted by physicians, nearly all the physicians interviewed stated the "psychologists' performance subsequently convinced them that the graduates were well trained and knowledgeable. Several physicians also told [the GAO] that they came to rely on the graduates for information about psychotropic medications."

The report also states that the prescribing psychologists improve military medical readiness at their peacetime locations by reducing the time that patients must wait for treatment and by increasing the number of patients who can be treated. The report notes that officials at the graduates' facilities stated that "patients who needed to see two providers for treatment could wait up to three weeks to get an appointment with a psychiatrist. Prescribing psychologists, however, can treat some patients needing drugs who otherwise would require an appointment with a psychiatrist. Since these patients see only one provider ?their prescribing psychologist ? the time and effort needed to receive treatment is reduced."

In addition, the report noted that combat medical readiness is minimally affected because psychotropic drugs are generally not the treatment of choice in combat situations, and granting prescribing privileges to only ten psychologists is unlikely to affect system-wide combat readiness.

The GAO report also stated that the DOD spent somewhat more on its ten prescribing psychologists than it would have spent on providing mental health services using the traditional mix of psychologists and psychiatrists. But the report acknowledged that the GAO's analysis included one-time start-up costs of the training program.

"The purpose of the demonstration project was to find out whether psychologists, when properly trained, could safely and effectively prescribe psychotropic medications. Not only did this evaluation answer the question, but answered it with very conclusive, positive findings," states Dr. Newman.

Visit the GAO website to download the report http://www.gao.gov/new.items/he99098.pdf or contact Tricia Alvarez at APA, 202-336-5910.