For most of the history of our profession, a psychologist’s market ended at the state line. If you practiced in Lake County, Illinois and a family in Kenosha, Wisconsin (which is right over the border, for non-Midwesterners!) needed an evaluation, the answer was a referral list, or a second license with its own application, fees, jurisprudence exam, and continuing education rules. For a general psychology practice, that limit was an inconvenience. For an evaluation practice it shaped everything, because evaluators are fewer, more specialized, and often booked months out.
The Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact, or PSYPACT, changed that math. Illinois enacted the compact in 2018 and it took effect July 1, 2020. Wisconsin’s took effect February 6, 2022. The PSYPACT map lists the participating states and their dates, and it is worth checking directly because the list keeps growing.
What the compact allows
PSYPACT offers two authorizations. The Authorization to Practice Interjurisdictional Telepsychology (APIT) lets a psychologist licensed in a compact “home state” provide telepsychology to clients physically located in other compact states. The Temporary Authorization to Practice (TAP) covers in-person work while you are physically in another compact state, for up to 30 calendar days per year, per state.
Two details are important to remember. First, the client’s physical location during the session decides which state you are practicing in. A family that lives in Illinois but joins a feedback session from a relative’s house in a non-compact state is outside the compact for that session. Second, you practice under the receiving state’s scope of practice, and you are subject to that state’s rules on things like mandated reporting, informed consent, and record keeping.
Where it changes the business
The obvious change is reach. A practice near a border can now see families on the other side for intake, history gathering, parent interviews, and feedback without a second license. For practices with a narrow specialty, such as adult autism assessment or evaluations for twice-exceptional kids, a wider catchment can be the difference between a full calendar and a half-empty one.
The less obvious change is in how you structure an evaluation. Many practices now split the process. Interviews, rating scales, record review, and feedback happen by video. Direct testing happens in the office. Or, in some situations, the process can take place entirely online! Either way, this can shorten the number of in-person visits a family has to make, which matters a lot for busy families or clients who live far from their providers.
It also changes your competition. Families searching for an evaluator are no longer limited to practices within driving distance for every step. A strong evaluator three hours away who does intake by telehealth is now a real option. Your families have more choices, and so do the families you hope to reach. That raises the value of being findable by the specific evaluation you do well.
What doesn’t translate
The compact solves a licensing problem. It does nothing about whether a given test can be validly administered remotely. Some types of testing translate well to online evaluations, while others may require in-person assessment.
Insurance is a separate question too. Payer rules on telehealth and out-of-state services vary by plan, so a family’s coverage in one state doesn’t tell you much about another. Verify benefits before you schedule, not after.
A few practical steps
If you are interested in PSYPACT and haven’t applied, the process is mostly paperwork: E.Passport first, then APIT, with a verified transcript. The Commission estimates three to four weeks to a decision once the application is complete. Renewals are conducted annually.
And then what next?
This is why we built Find My Psychologist. Each profile shows the evaluation types you offer and whether you provide telehealth across state lines through PSYPACT, so a family in Wisconsin searching for an ADHD evaluation can see that your Illinois practice is an option. If you do something specialized, you will show up for clients who are searching for your area of specialty. If you do psychological evaluations, we’d like to have you listed. You can create your profile at findmypsychologist.com.