Ohio board rewrite would expand telehealth for behavioral-health workers

Ohio would recast its Chemical Dependency Professionals Board as the Behavioral Health Professionals Board, bringing peer supporters and qualified mental health professionals under the same umbrella. That is more than a name change. It shifts the state’s focus from a narrow addiction-licensing role to a broader system for behavioral-health credentials.

For people looking for care, the stakes are practical. Credentials decide who can legally work, what title they can use and how the state organizes the people who help clients through recovery, treatment and other behavioral-health needs.

Who the state would certify

The proposal would amend multiple Ohio Revised Code sections tied to the board and the professions it oversees. That would give the state a cleaner way to sort peer supporters and qualified mental health professionals into one regulatory structure, instead of leaving them in separate silos.

The change matters because a board does not just stamp paperwork. It sets the rules around who can enter the field and, by extension, how easy or hard it is for Ohioans to find someone licensed or certified to help them when they need support.

Telehealth gets a place in statute

The bill also reaches into telehealth. It says health care professionals under a board’s jurisdiction may provide their services as telehealth services in accordance with the section, which means remote care would be written into the same legal framework as in-person practice.

That matters in a field where distance, transportation and provider shortages can shape whether a patient gets help at all. By tying telehealth to the board’s rules, the measure would make the delivery method part of the profession’s ordinary legal setup, not an afterthought.