The main thing I like about PCSAS is that I think they actually have a vision for psychology careers that goes beyond "You can be a professor or you can do 1:1 therapy 40 hours/wk." Historically....those were our choices. If you stepped outside those, you did it of your own volition and largely despite your graduate training and not because of it. That said, they are definitely playing the long game - it is being done to fundamentally reshape what psychology as a field looks like 20-30 years down the road, not what happens to medicare reimbursement next year. Long-term, I do think they are going to have a substantial impact. That doesn't mean medicare reimbursement for psychotherapy is going to triple. I do think it will mean psychologists in a wider variety of better-paying roles across different settings (insurance, hospital administration, hybrid clinical/leadership roles, government, certain technology sub-sectors, etc.). Right now, PCSAS programs have still had to carry APA accreditation concurrently to keep folks eligible for licensure, which limits their flexibility on the curriculum. That is starting to change and I think once that happens it is going to open the floodgates for far more innovation on the educational front.
I've said it before here, but I really don't view professional school PsyD grads as being much different from mid-levels and in many cases actually seem to get worse training than the quality LCSW/LPC/etc programs. It will obviously take time to shake out, but I do think we're on a trajectory to eventually have a two-tier system where PCSAS grads have options for higher pay and APA grads are closer to mid-level roles. Obviously this could change, but that is where I see it going right now. Definitely not ideal, but I fear without that we'd just be seeing the entire field pushed towards mid-level roles.
I'm sympathetic to concerns about further fracturing the field. At the same time, it was largely championed by people shouting from the rooftops that APA was doing a terrible job for quite literally decades while the powers that be played musical chairs. No one did **** and in fact actively tried to stop others from doing ****. Eventually, you have to cut your losses and do what you think is right.