Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, Vol 54(6), Dec 2023, 389-402; doi:10.1037/pro0000536
The U.S. Constitutional structure creates ethical conflicts for the cross-jurisdictional practice of professional psychology. The profession has chosen to seek interstate agreements to overcome such barriers, and such agreements now include almost 80% of American jurisdictions. Although an improvement over a patchwork of state laws regarding practice, the structure of this agreement and the exclusion of the remaining states continue to pose barriers to the principles of beneficence and nonmaleficence. It creates a system that is extraordinarily difficult to change and places an unrealistic burden on professionals to know, address, and act under complex legal mandates. As psychological services have moved increasingly to remote platforms, cross-jurisdictional business models, and a nationwide mental health crisis emerged alongside the pandemic, it is time to consider a national professional licensing system more seriously, both to further reduce barriers to care and complexity and permit the best interests of patients to prevail. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)