Establishes the child psychiatry access project; provides that the office of mental hygiene shall establish regional child psychiatry access projects across the state to provide primary care providers with timely access to child psychiatry consultations in order to assist such primary care providers in meeting the mental health needs of the children and adolescents and their families; establishes a gift for the child psychiatry access project on state personal income tax forms, the proceeds from which shall be deposited into a child psychiatry access fund for the funding of such projects.
Directs the office of children and family services to conduct a statewide needs assessment to identify any unmet needs, including, but not limited to, housing, mental health access, financial assistance, childcare, and respite care access for kinship caregivers.
Creates a Rhode Island specialty license for physician assistants who earn the NCCPA psychiatry CAQ, formally recognizing advanced behavioral health qualifications and supporting appropriate insurance reimbursement.
Creating the specialty practice student loan program and the specialty practice student loan repayment fund, allowing for the transfer of funds from the OBGYN and psychiatry medical student loan repayment funds to the specialty practice student loan repayment fund and abolishing the OBGYN and psychiatry medical student loan repayment funds.