Principles for Expanding Access to Medical Care for People with Mental Illnesses:

1. The medical treatment of mental illness is the practice of medicine.
2. It remains good public policy to insist upon a fundamental medical education and uniform standards for individuals who practice medicine.
3. California provides medical skills certification and oversight for several levels of practice: Physician & Surgeon, Nurse/ Nurse Practitioner and Physician Assistant.
4. California does not need to create a new authority for medical licensure. Indeed, creation of a new authority would diffuse control and fragment standards for the practice of medicine.
5. Psychotherapists who wish to add medical treatment to their armamentarium must train for skills and licenses already established in law and regulation.

These Principles lead to the following solutions.

1. Improve collaboration and continuing education for non-psychiatric physicians, who provide the vast majority of medical care for people with mental illnesses. 
2. Improve collaboration and continuing education for non-psychiatrist psychotherapists, who provide the vast majority of psychotherapy for people with mental illnesses. 
3. Develop a telemedicine consultation network (including getting the state Medi-Cal program to cover telemedicine psychiatric consultations, Medicare is now covering them).
4. Train more psychiatrists, and expand combined residency programs, such as family practice/psychiatry combined residencies.
5. Train more psychiatric nurse practitioners and psychiatric physicians assistants.

We only insist upon a proper education and a license that ensures public safety.