Credentials, Clinics, and Costs: Stakeholders Respond to HRSA’s Psychedelic Therapy RFI

The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has received 59 comments in response to its request for information (RFI) regarding ‘training and care delivery models for safe administration of potential FDA-approved psychedelic therapies in ambulatory settings.’

HRSA, which is housed in the Department of Health and Human Services is, in some respects, a lesser-known federal agency. It focuses on improving access to healthcare for Americans who live in rural areas or are medically or economically vulnerable.

It issued the RFI on July 14th, with a closing date of August 13th; last Thursday.

The 59 comments, which ranged from one-paragraph submissions through to 20+ page tomes, were submitted by drug developers (well, Definium Therapeutics and the Association for Prescription Psychedelics), care delivery companies, operators in state-regulated models like Oregon and Colorado, advocacy groups and nonprofits, professional associations, training providers, and others.

In its RFI, HRSA asked for public comments across three topics:

1. Workforce training
2. Federally Qualified Health Centers, Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics, Rural Health Clinics, and Other Ambulatory Clinic Settings
3. Technology-Enabled Scalability

As such, we organise our non-exhaustive review of the comments along those lines.

1. Workforce Training

In its RFI, HRSA asked questions about training requirements associated with each of the three phases it identified as pertaining to psychedelic therapies: pre-dosing elements such as screening and counselling, in-clinic on the day of administration, and post-administration ...