24.189.301 DEFINITIONS

(1) "APA" means the American Psychological Association.

(2) "Asynchronous store-and-forward" means the transmission, via store-and-forward technology as defined in 33-22-138, MCA, of a patient's medical information from an originating site to a health care provider at a distant site without the presence of the patient.

(3) "BACB" means the Behavior Analyst Certification Board, a nonprofit corporation whose credentialing programs for behavior analysts and assistant behavior analysts are accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies.

(4) "Behavior technician" means a supervisee primarily responsible for the direct implementation of behavior analytic services. The behavior technician does not design intervention or assessment plans.

(5) "Defined professional relationship" means a relationship in which a licensee or license applicant provides diagnostic, assessment and/or therapeutic services to a client. A defined professional relationship shall be initially established in a context where services are provided:

(a) in person and face-to-face; or

(b) transmitted via electronic or related methods. If provided under this subsection, the context must also be:

(i) two-way;

(ii) interactive;

(iii) real-time;

(iv) simultaneous;

(v) continuous; and

(vi) providing for both audio and visual interaction.

(6) "Distant site" means a site where a health care provider who provides health care services is located while providing these services via a telecommunications system.

(7) "Health care provider" means health care provider as defined in 33-22-138, MCA.

(8) "In-person encounter" means that a licensee and the patient are in the physical presence of each other during the licensee-patient encounter.

(9) "Licensee" means the holder of a current license issued under 37-17-302 or 37-17-403, MCA.

(10) "Licensee-patient relationship" means that:

(a) the licensee agrees to undertake diagnosis and/or treatment of a person seeking services from the licensee; and

(b) the person agrees to be diagnosed and/or treated by the licensee whether or not there has been an in-person encounter between the licensee and the person.

(11) "NCCA" means the National Commission for Certifying Agencies.

(12) "One year's academic residency" means continuous, full-time, active engagement by the student in the elements of the training program while the student is physically present during one academic year at the educational institution granting the doctoral degree.

(a) Critical components of the residency must include:

(i) adequate opportunity for the resident to:

(A) concentrate on required coursework;

(B) obtain professional training and scholarship;

(D) acquire the habits, skills, knowledge, and insights necessary for attaining a doctoral degree in psychology; and

(ii) adequate time for faculty, training staff, supervisors, and administrators to adequately assess all elements of the student's competence including, at a minimum:

(A) emotional stability and well-being;

(B) interpersonal competence;

(D) personal fitness to practice psychology.

(b) The year of residency that uses face-to-face contact for shorter durations throughout the year or that uses video teleconferencing or other electronic means is not acceptable.

(c) The year of acceptable academic residency experience shall consist of two semesters or three quarters with continuous experience on campus, in no less than three month increments, and be accrued in no more than 18 months.

(d) Full-time experience shall consist of at least 30 hours on campus per week, but no more than 45 hours per week each contiguous week of the semester or quarter. The board will consider situations that are not full-time on a case-by-case basis.

(e) Active engagement in the elements of the training program shall be fully documented by a log of residency activities on a form prescribed by the board and signed by the student's academic advisor. Such residency activities must:

(i) include both faculty-to-student and student-to-student face-to-face (personal) interaction;

(ii) be conducted by the psychology faculty of the institution at least 90 percent of the time;

(iii) be fully documented by the institution; and

(iv) relate substantially to the program and course content.

(f) An internship requirement cannot be used to fulfill the academic year requirements of the residency.

(g) Video conferencing will not be allowed to satisfy the requirements of the academic residency.

(h) The institution must clearly document its assessment and evaluation of the applicant's performance.

(13) "Originating site" means a site where a patient is located at the time health care services are provided via a telecommunications system or where an asynchronous store-and-forward service originates.

(14) "Psychological resident" means a supervisee following board approval of a supervised postdoctoral supervision proposal. This title shall be:

(a) used only in conjunction with activities and services of the postdoctoral supervised training to fulfill the experience requirements;

(b) used for a maximum of five years; and

(15) "Synchronous interaction" means a real-time interaction between a patient located at an originating site and a health care provider located at a distant site.

(16) "Telehealth" means the mode of delivering health care services via electronic information and communication technologies while a patient is at an originating site and a licensee is at a distant site, with or without an intervening health care provider. Telehealth includes synchronous interactions and asynchronous store-and-forward transfers delivered over a secure connection that complies with the requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, 42 U.S.C. 1320d, et seq. The term does not mean an audio-only telephone conversation, an e-mail or instant messaging conversation, or a message sent by facsimile transmission.

History: 37-1-131, 37-17-202, 37-17-406, MCA; IMP, 37-1-131, 37-17-101, 37-17-302, 37-17-402, 37-17-403, 37-17-404, 37-17-406, MCA; NEW, 2003 MAR p. 307, Eff. 2/28/03, AMD, 2004 MAR p. 1474, Eff. 7/2/04; TRANS, from Commerce, 2004 MAR p. 2282; AMD, 2007 MAR p. 348, Eff. 3/23/07; AMD, 2010 MAR p. 1508, Eff. 6/25/10; AMD, 2017 MAR p. 1656, Eff. 9/23/17; AMD, 2020 MAR p. 45, Eff. 1/18/20.