Pennsylvania HB 1993: An Act amending the act of November 21, 2016 (P.L.1318, No.169), known as the Pharmacy Audit Integrity and Transparency Act, further providing for title of act; in preliminary provisions, further providing for short title, for scope of act and for definitions and providing for regulations; in pharmacy audits, further providing for limitations; in registration, further providing for PBM and auditing entity registration; providing for pharmacy benefits manager contracts; in PBM cost transparency requirements, providing for PBM transparency report required, repealing provisions relating to regulations and providing for PSAO reporting requirements; in enforcements, further providing for scope of enforcement authority; providing for pharmacy services; and making repeals.

Bill Text

PRINTER'S NO. 2515
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No. 1993
Session of
2025
INTRODUCED BY SHUSTERMAN, PROBST, PIELLI, HILL-EVANS, RIVERA,
HOHENSTEIN, FRANKEL, SANCHEZ, HADDOCK, GREEN, SCOTT, SMITH-
WADE-EL AND WAXMAN, OCTOBER 24, 2025
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON PROFESSIONAL LICENSURE,
OCTOBER 24, 2025
AN ACT
Providing for the use of artificial intelligence in mental
health therapy and for enforcement.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Short title.
This act shall be known and may be cited as the Artificial
Intelligence in Mental Health Therapy Act.
Section 2. Definitions.
The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Administrative support." A task performed to assist a
mental health professional with the logistics of an appointment
that does not involve therapeutic communication, including:
(1) managing appointment scheduling and reminders;
(2) processing billing and insurance claims; and
(3) drafting general communications related to therapy
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logistics that do not include therapeutic advice.
"Artificial intelligence." As follows:
(1) A machine-based system that can, for a given set of
human-defined objectives, make predictions, recommendations
or decisions influencing real or virtual environments,
including the ability to:
(i) perceive real and virtual environments;
(ii) abstract perceptions made under this paragraph
into models through analysis in an automated manner; and
(iii) use model inference to formulate options for
information or action based on outcomes under
subparagraph (i) or (ii).
(2) The term includes generative artificial
intelligence.
"Consent." As follows:
(1) A clear, explicit affirmative act by an individual
that:
(i) unambiguously communicates the individual's
express, freely given, informed, voluntary, specific and
unambiguous written agreement, including a written
agreement provided by electronic means; and
(ii) is revocable by the individual.
(2) The term does not include an agreement that is
obtained by the following:
(i) The acceptance of a general or broad terms of
use agreement or similar document that contains
descriptions of artificial intelligence along with other
unrelated information.
(ii) An individual hovering over, muting, pausing or
closing a given piece of digital content.
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(iii) An agreement obtained through the use of
deceptive actions.
"Generative artificial intelligence." The class of
artificial intelligence models that emulate the structure and
characteristics of input data in order to generate derived
synthetic content, including images, videos, audio, text and
more.
"Mental health professional." An individual who is licensed,
certified or otherwise authorized to administer or provide
professional mental health care or counseling under:
(1) the act of May 22, 1951 (P.L.317, No.69), known as
The Professional Nursing Law;
(2) the act of March 23, 1972 (P.L.136, No.52), known as
the Professional Psychologists Practice Act;
(3) the act of October 5, 1978 (P.L.1109, No.261), known
as the Osteopathic Medical Practice Act;
(4) the act of December 20, 1985 (P.L.457, No.112),
known as the Medical Practice Act of 1985; or
(5) the act of July 9, 1987 (P.L.220, No.39), known as
the Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists and
Professional Counselors Act.
"Peer support." Services provided by individuals with lived
experience of mental health conditions or recovery from
substance use that are intended to offer encouragement,
understanding and guidance without clinical intervention.
"Permitted use of artificial intelligence." Administrative
support or supplementary support in therapy or psychotherapy for
which the mental health professional maintains full
responsibility for all interactions, outputs and data use
associated with the system.
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"Religious counseling." Counseling provided by clergy
members or pastoral counselors or other religious duties if the
services are explicitly faith-based and are not represented as
clinical mental health services or therapy or psychotherapy
services.
"Supplementary support." A task performed to assist a mental
health professional in the delivery of therapy or psychotherapy
services that does not involve therapeutic communication and
that is not administrative support, including:
(1) preparing and maintaining client records, including
therapy notes;
(2) analyzing anonymized data to track client progress
or identify trends, subject to review by a mental health
professional; and
(3) identifying and organizing external resources or
referrals for client use.
"Therapeutic communication." A verbal, nonverbal or wri