Tuesday, July 8 | 8 - 9 p.m. ET

Join APA for this virtual info session to learn more about what it means to serve on the APA Board of Trustees. Dr. Ramaswamy Viswanathan, Chair of the Nominating Committee, and a panel of current and former Board members will share important insight into serving on the Board of Trustees. Panelists include:

• Sarah El Halabi, M.D., M.S., Immediate Past RFMTE
• Richard Summers, M.D., Past Treasurer

Learn more HERE

Register here

or at psychiatry.org/lookingbeyond.

The brief survey will take around 10 minutes to complete. 

Your answers are anonymous and will only be used to look at interest in developing a registry. Your answers will not be shared.

Complete The Survey

This webinarwill cover new and revised billing codes and review how to select the most appropriate code.It willaddress documentation considerations to help craft notes that serve multiple purposes: supporting billing requirements based on telehealth policies for 2025, enhancing patient care, and effectively communicating critical information to third-party readers.Learn more and register

Join APA’s Division of Advocacy, Policy, and Practice Advancement for our inaugural Advocacy Update webinar of the year on Feb. 10 at 12:30 p.m., where APA's Division of Advocacy, Policy, and Practice Advancement will provide a review of our 2024 advocacy successes and an outlook for 2025.

REGISTER HERE

Ring in the new year with APA’s next “Insider Session.” APA’s president, CEO and medical director, and members of the Elections Committee will discuss how Board of Trustee decisions directly impact psychiatric practice, patients, and professional growth. Learn why every member’s vote is crucial and how to use it wisely.

Learn more and register for the event HERE.

While not finalized yet, the APA is monitoring the situation and will be sharing more as it becomes available. In early September,  APA advocated for an extension of the tele prescribing rules, allowing time for the DEA to propose and finalize rules that protect patients while ensuring access to quality mental health care.

View the recording here:

Psychiatry.org - Introduction from APA’s CEO & Medical Director

Join on on Thursday, September 12 at Noon ET to learn about different strategies for integrating care, practical how-tos for integrating mental health and physical health care and the impacts of integration on patients, psychiatrists, and other clinicians.  For more information and to register, please see the APA Website. 

Click HERE to read the full article. Below are a collection of excerpts from the article.

Experts say some doctors, nurses and other health workers on the frontlines will have to face a mental health reckoning after being in the trenches fighting the global pandemic.

...

Health care professionals like Copely and Robinson have forged forward amid unparalleled obstacles as they've fought to save lives. Too often over the last year, they've been the bridge in heart-wrenching moments when families are forced to say goodbye to loved ones -- sometimes over the phone.

...

Dr. Susan R. Bailey, president of the American Medical Association, told ABC News in a statement: “Acute stress among physicians, which was already significant before the pandemic, has increased dramatically for many physicians during the last several months as the pandemic has brought new challenges and exceptional demands.”

...

Prior to the pandemic, an estimated 300 to 400 physicians died by suicide annually, which equates to one physician per day, according to research presented at the 2018 American Psychiatric Association meeting.

At this time, experts say there is still not enough data to assess the psychological toll COVID-19 has had on physicians in the past year.“It was very clear that physicians did not know how to reassure themselves or take care of their mental health,” Mona Masood, D.O., an outpatient psychiatrist working in Philadelphia, told ABC News.

In March, 2020, Masood created the Physician Support Line, a free, confidential service to give doctors a mental health outlet during the pandemic. To date, Masood said a team of 700 volunteer psychiatrists has already provided support to more than 2,000 physicians and medical students.

“For me, as a psychiatrist, it became the writing on the wall that if we are not able to keep our heads above water, how are we going to be able to take care of the many people that would eventually need us," Masood said.

...

“Almost every call into the physician support line starts with an apology and that should speak to how it is received that there is an inherent reluctance among physicians to admit they’re struggling and to seek help for that struggle," she said.

Masood also says anonymity helps protect physicians from potential professional repercussions. “I knew that if anyone was going to be using the Physician’s Support Line

...

"It had to be made clear that this was not going to be reported to any systemic entity,” she said.

https://alert.psychnews.org/2021/01/hhs-takes-steps-to-encourage-more.html

Physicians with a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) registration number may no longer be required to apply for a separate waiver to prescribe buprenorphine to patients with opioid use disorder (OUD), according to new practice guidelines by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). This waiver is referred to as X-waiver of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

Physicians who dispense narcotic drugs to individuals for maintenance treatment or detoxification treatment have been required to complete additional certifications under Title 21 of the CSA.

“The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health in HHS has determined that the need for physicians to make all of the certifications under 21 U.S.C. 823(g)(2)(b) represents a significant perceived barrier to prescribing buprenorphine in the United States, and removing the certification requirements would dramatically improve access to buprenorphine and save lives,” according to the guidelines.

The Practice Guidelines for the Administration of Buprenorphine for Treating Opioid Use Disorder outlines the following changes:

• A physician who is licensed under state law and possesses a DEA registration under 21 U.S.C. 823(f) is exempt from the certification requirements under 21 U.S.C. 823(g)(2)(b) when prescribing such medications as buprenorphine. (Physicians utilizing this exemption may treat only those patients who are located in states where those physicians are authorized to practice medicine.)
• The exemption applies only to the prescription of drugs or formulations covered under the X-waiver of the CSA, such as buprenorphine, and does not apply to the prescription, dispensation, or use of methadone for the treatment of OUD.
• Physicians utilizing this exemption will be limited to treating no more than 30 patients with buprenorphine for OUD at any one time. (This cap does not apply to hospital-based physicians, such as emergency department physicians).
• Physicians utilizing this exemption must place an "X" on the prescription and clearly identify that the prescription is being written for OUD.
• An interagency working group will be established to monitor the implementation and results of these practice guidelines, as well as the impact on diversion.

“With this change,” said psychiatrist and immediate past AMA President Patrice Harris, M.D., M.A., in a statement, “office-based physicians and physician-led teams working with patients to manage their other medical conditions can also treat them for their opioid use disorder without being subjected to a separate and burdensome regulatory regime. Ensuring physician-led teams for treating patients with opioid use disorder is critical to ending the opioid epidemic. Removing the waiver requirement can also help lessen the stigma associated with this treatment and the persistent health disparities in treating substance use disorders.”

For related information, see the Psychiatric News article “Patients and Psychiatrists Alike Face Hurdles in Buprenorphine Prescribing.”

Learn More.

“We are no longer at a place where those with mental illness and addiction are hidden and ignored, but we are not yet at a place where mental disorders are viewed without stigma and truly integrated into health care,” said long-time APA member Patrice A. Harris, M.D., M.A., in her address last night after her inauguration as the AMA’s 174th president.

Harris, a former member of the APA Board of Trustees, was sworn in during a ceremony at the AMA’s House of Delegates meeting in Chicago. Administering the oath of office was Jack Resnick, M.D., chair of the AMA Board of Trustees.

Harris, who is the first African American woman president of the AMA, said during her address that diversity and inclusion are critical to closing the gap in health disparities and that a focus of her presidency will be on health equity and increasing the diversity of the physician workforce.

“We face big challenges in health care today, and the decisions we make now will move us forward in a future we help create,” she said. “We are no longer at a place where we can tolerate the disparities that plague communities of color, women, and the LGBTQ community. But we are not yet at a place where health equity is achieved in those communities.”

Harris also vowed to elevate mental health as a part of overall health and to increase the understanding of the impact of childhood trauma on health.

During her presidential year, Harris will continue to chair the AMA’s Task Force to Reduce Opioid Abuse, which she has chaired since its inception in 2014.

Harris served as director of health services in Fulton County, Ga., and head of the Fulton County Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. As chief health officer for Fulton County, she spearheaded efforts to integrate public health, behavioral health, and primary care.

First elected to the AMA Board of Trustees in 2011, she has held the executive offices of AMA board secretary and AMA board chair. In addition to her leadership of the opioid task force, Harris has been active on AMA task forces and committees dealing with such issues as health information technology, payment and delivery reform, and private contracting. She also chaired the influential AMA Council on Legislation and co-chaired the Women Physicians Congress.

She served as trustee-at-large on the APA Board of Trustees from 2001 to 2004. In addition, she was president of the Georgia Psychiatric Physicians Association and founding president of the Georgia Psychiatry Political Action Committee.

APA leaders hailed her election as an important indication of the strength of psychiatry within the House of Delegates. “We look forward to the opportunity to continuing to work with Dr. Harris on many issues, including further collaboration within the house of medicine to improve the quality of care for our patients,” said APA President Bruce Schwartz, M.D.

APA CEO and Medical Director Saul Levin, M.D., M.P.A., said, “We are honored and delighted to have a psychiatrist and long-time APA member leading the house of medicine as president of the AMA. Her work over the years at APA and the AMA will add value to her new role as the face of the AMA.”

For related information, see the Psychiatric News article “APA Member Patrice Harris Chosen AMA’s President-Elect.”

2019 Fellowship Program Now Accepting Applications

If you are interested in experiential learning, training, and professional development to further your career in psychiatry, consider applying to the APA/APAF Fellowship Program. The application deadline for all fellowships is January 31, 2019. LEARN MORE

The grant will continue the work of APA’s MFP.  The charge is the following: 1) to reduce health disparities and improve behavioral health care outcomes for underserved populations and 2) encourage more racial and ethnic minorities to join the behavioral health workforce.  While racial and ethnic minorities make up more than 28% of the nation’s population, less than 20% of America’s mental health workforce consists of racial or ethnic minorities.

APA will expand and deploy robust programs that enable SAMHSA to continue its MFP mission and help APA with its goal of ensuring mental health equity for all. Leveraging APA technology and resources, MFP Fellows will be provided individualized support for their projects on mental health disparities as well as mentorship from fellow MFP recipients, MFP alumni and APA leaders. APA resources include national/state advocacy, media training, cutting-edge research, education, health disparities, telepsychiatry and use of APA’s PsychPro registry.

Since 1974, APA has had more than 500 MFP graduates. Today, these alumni serve racial/ethnic minority and underserved populations and are leaders in their respective communities, institutions and APA. 

APA MFP will be led by APA Deputy Medical Director Ranna Parekh, M.D., M.P.H., and the Division of Diversity and Health Equity in collaboration with the American Psychiatric Association Foundation.  All involved APA staff will work closely with MFP Fellows and other MFP grantee organizations (e.g., American Psychological Association, National Association of Social Workers, etc.) to execute SAMHSA’s mission. 

APA members have formed seven Minority and Underrepresented (M/UR) Caucuses, which provide networking opportunities, advance treatment of minority patient populations, advocate for minority mental health issues, provide representation in APA governance, and foster communication among members who share interests. To vote in the upcoming elections of the leaders of these caucuses, APA members must join their desired caucus and select their voting caucus by April 30, 2018.

These caucuses are free and open to all APA members who are interested in topics concerning psychiatrists or patients belonging to the following seven groups: American Indian/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiians, Asian Americans, Blacks, Hispanics, LBGTQ members, International Medical Graduates, and Women.

While APA members may join more than one caucus, APA members can vote for the leadership of only one caucus. If you are an APA member who is already a registered caucus member, you must still select the caucus in which you wish to vote. To join a caucus or update your caucus membership, please log in to your member profile. Details on the nominations and election processes will be provided to caucus members who register by April 30, 2018.

For more information on the caucus leadership positions that will be open for election, check out the Minority and Underrepresented (M/UR) Caucus Elections webpage or contact Omar Davis of the APA Division of Diversity and Health Equity at odavis@psych.org.

Patient satisfaction is acknowledged as an important part of patient-centered care; however, some controversy exists regarding how honoring patients’ requests fits into this paradigm. A study published yesterday in JAMA Internal Medicine found that denial of several types of patient requests is associated with lower patient-satisfaction ratings of the physician. Specifically, denials of requests for referral, pain medication, other new medications, and laboratory tests were associated with significantly worse patient satisfaction.

“In an era of satisfaction score–driven compensation of clinicians, the findings suggest the need to explore the utility of training clinicians to better handle patient requests, potentially optimizing the patient experience while also enhancing clinician career satisfaction,” Anthony Jerant, M.D., and colleagues at the University of California Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento wrote.

For the study, Jerant and colleagues asked 1,141 patients to rate their satisfaction immediately after 1,391 office visits with 56 family physicians. Patient satisfaction was measured using a scale composed of six items from the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Clinician and Group Adult Visit Survey, which included questions about whether the patients felt the physician communicated in a way they could understand, spent enough time with them, and whether they would be likely to recommend the physician to their family and friends.

Study participants were also asked whether during the appointment they had made requests for the following services and, if so, whether they perceived that the physician had fulfilled or denied these requests: referral to another clinician; new medications; or follow-up tests, including laboratory and radiology tests.

Among 1,319 visits, 897 (68.0%) included at least one request; 1,441 (85.2%) were fulfilled. Compared with fulfillment of a request in the respective category, denials of requests for pain medication, referral, other new medication, and laboratory tests were associated with a significantly worse patient satisfaction rating of the physician. In contrast, denials of requests for antibiotics and referrals for imaging tests were not associated with worse patient satisfaction.

“[I]t is no coincidence that antibiotic prescription and imaging test referral were not associated with lower satisfaction,” JAMA Internal Medicine Associate Editor Joseph S. Ross, M.D., M.H.S., wrote in a comment reflecting on the findings. He noted that “substantial attention has been devoted to preparing physicians to avoid frequently requested, low-value care such as these. We can train physicians to say no to other types of clinically inappropriate requests, while still reassuring patients and paying attention to their needs.”

For related information, see the Psychiatric Services article “Association Between Quality Measures and Perceptions of Care Among Patients With Substance Use Disorders.”

The APA Nominating Committee, chaired by APA Immediate Past President Maria A. Oquendo, M.D., Ph.D., today announced the candidates for the Association's 2018 election.

President-Elect
Glenn A. Martin, M.D.
Bruce J. Schwartz, M.D.
Stephen M. Strakowski, M.D.

Treasurer
Brian Crowley, M.D.
Gregory W. Dalack, M.D.

Trustee-at-Large
Robert E. Feder, M.D.
Richard F. Summers, M.D.

Early Career Psychiatrists Trustee-at-Large
Héctor Colón-Rivera, M.D.
Mark A. Haygood, D.O., M.S.
Ayana Jordan, M.D., Ph.D.

Area 1 Trustee
John M. De Figueiredo, M.D.
Eric M. Plakun, M.D.

Area 4 Trustee
Ronald M. Burd, M.D.
Cheryl D. Wills, M.D.

Area 7 Trustee
Annette M. Matthews, M.D.
James A. Polo, M.D., M.B.A.
Joshua Sonkiss, M.D.

Resident-Fellow Member Trustee-Elect
Anne Clark-Raymond, M.D.
Rana Elmaghraby, M.D.
Helena Winston, M.D.

The deadline for candidates who wish to run by petition is November 15. All candidates and their supporters are encouraged to review APA's Election Guidelines. For more election information, please visit the Election section on APA's website or email election@psych.org.

The slate of candidates who have been nominated is considered public but not official until it is approved by the APA Board of Trustees at its December meeting. APA members may cast their ballots from January 2 to January 31, 2018.

The publicly accessible portal on the APA website for submitting proposed revisions to the text of DSM-5 will turn a year old soon, and past APA President Paul Appelbaum, M.D., chair of the DSM Steering Committee, wants to be sure clinicians, researchers, and members of the public know they have a role to play in making DSM a “living document.”

The portal, which was launched in December 2016, was the first step in a process meant to allow incremental updates to the text as new research evidence accumulates. Instead of engaging in an extremely expensive and time-consuming process that characterized the development of past editions of the diagnostic manual, the DSM Task Force wanted to seize on the opportunity afforded by digital communication by creating a process for changes to be made incrementally, as they become warranted by the weight of new evidence. Since the portal opened late last year, however, proposed revisions have been very few and relatively minor—for example, an editorial correction to the criteria for acute stress disorder and the addition of ICD-10-CM codes for substance use disorder in remission.

Appelbaum said he believes it is most likely that clinicians and researchers are not sufficiently aware that the process exists. "We want to make an effort to spread the word and publicize the existence of this process before we conclude that the criteria are too strict,” he said.

Visitors to the portal are guided through steps to submit proposals for the following specific kinds of revisions:

• Changes to an existing diagnostic criteria set that would markedly improve its validity.
• Changes to an existing diagnostic criteria set that would markedly improve reliability without an undue reduction in validity.
• Changes to an existing diagnostic criteria set that would markedly improve clinical utility without an undue reduction in validity or reliability.
• Changes to an existing diagnostic criteria set that would substantially reduce deleterious consequences associated with the criteria set without a reduction in validity.
• Addition of a new diagnostic category or specifier.
• Deletion of an existing diagnostic category or specifier/subtype.
• Corrections and clarifications, including changes aimed at improving the understanding and application of an ambiguous diagnostic criterion, specifier, or text.