How PSYPACT Helps

How PSYPACT (H.2528 / S.1487) Helps Massachusetts Residents

The Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact (PSYPACT) substantially reduces existing logistical barriers to safe, regulated, high-quality mental health care for Massachusetts residents.  It improves access to skilled providers, supports continuity of care, maintains legal oversight, and aligns Massachusetts with the 43 other states which have already implemented it successfully.

PSYPACT improves access and continuity of care for Massachusetts residents.

• Modern life involves frequent mobility — short- and long-term, planned and unplanned.  Even positive changes can be stressful.  Common examples include:

Students who travel to attend school, go on internships, or return home between semesters.

Adults who travel or relocate for work, training, military service, family caregiving, relationship changes, retirement, economic pressures, or other life transitions.

Children who move with their families or live in cross-state shared-custody arrangements.

Whether a Massachusetts resident is going out of state, or a resident of another state is coming here, under present law, they are forced to interrupt or terminate their treatment, precisely when they may most need support.  

Decades of psychotherapy research show that that the therapeutic relationship is one of the strongest predictors of treatment effectiveness, across all modalities.  PSYPACT allows them to maintain those relationships.

• PSYPACT especially benefits underserved and specialty-care populations.

Over 25% of PSYPACT credential holders report serving clients in rural areas.

CMS recognizes PSYPACT authorization, providing access for Medicare beneficiaries.

Clients who are immigrants or from cultural or linguistic minority backgrounds, especially those whose relocation might have further isolated them from their communities, have experienced trauma within their communities of origin, are LGBTQ+, are neurodivergent, are dealing with rare and serious medical issues, have aspects of personal or professional identity which may be niche or even stigmatized, are able to seek out and maintain ongoing connections with culturally-competent psychologists.

PSYPACT protects Massachusetts residents by expanding access to lawful, regulated care.

• When residents cannot find therapists licensed in MA, they may turn — often unknowingly — to unlicensed or out-of-scope providers.  Although such providers are technically bound by MA law, in practice, licensing boards have limited ability to exercise jurisdiction over unlicensed individuals or to intervene even when they have caused harm.

• Under PSYPACT, all psychologists treating clients in MA remain under the full jurisdiction of the MA Board of Registration, whether they hold a full MA license or practice legally in MA under PSYPACT. 

• PSYPACT allows qualified psychologists to serve clients without the prolonged delays and enormous financial and administrative burdens involved in establishing and maintaining full licenses in every state where a client might be located, and allows clients to access care without the nonsensical workarounds of driving across state lines to sit in parking lots.

Prepared December 2025, by Aimee Yermish, Psy.D (aimee@davincilearning.org), on behalf of the Massachusetts Psychological Association Advocacy Committee.  Supplemental briefs (overview, fiscal/administrative, juridictional/disciplinary) and other information available on request.