HB 776 Summary

• Establishes provisional or associate-level licensure for marriage and family therapists, mental health counselors, and psychologists to expand access to mental health services in Hawaii.

• Allows associate practitioners (marriage and family therapists, mental health counselors, and psychologists) to practice under direct supervision of licensed professionals while completing remaining requirements for full licensure.

• Authorizes insurance reimbursement for services provided by supervised associate practitioners if the supervising licensed professional is a contracted provider and billing rates are commensurate with training level.

• Permits psychologist license applicants to sit for the licensing examination before completing post-doctoral supervised experience requirements, allowing earlier exam eligibility.

• Replaces the "marriage and family therapy intern" and "mental health counselor intern" designations with new "associate" licensure categories to create a more formal provisional licensing framework.