With increased advocacy efforts becoming a hallmark of APA and its partners in the psychiatric community, APA and the American Association of Chairs of Departments of Psychiatry (AACDP) recently held their first joint meeting focusing on legislative and public-policy advocacy.

"Today, every conceivable group has advocates; even bicyclists have an advocacy group in Washington," noted APA President Allan Tasman, M.D., in his opening remarks to the meeting, which was held February 23 and 24 in Miami Beach. "And make no mistake about it, strong advocacy makes a difference. Last year, the number of states with parity laws increased from 19 to 28. . . . And over the last 14 years, NIH funding to academic departments of psychiatry rose fivefold. During this time departments of psychiatry moved from being the 10th-ranked academic department to number 2 in overall NIH funding." He urged the department chairs to continue their advocacy work "to build on these successful efforts."

Tasman, who is a past president of the AACDP, said that "expertise, respect, and credibility" that psychiatry department chairs bring to legislative debates will go a long way to helping their organization and APA "convince legislators to support psychiatry and our patients."

Underscoring the need for strong legislative advocacy, AACDP President James Stevenson, M.D., described the unprecedented pressure confronting medical schools.

"Managed care has eroded the ability of many medical schools to perform research. Many hospitals are reducing collaborations with medical schools, further straining the fiscal pressure we face. And finally," he stressed, "possible cuts in Medicare. . .still cloud our future, as does the uncertain outlook for continued strong federal support for graduate medical education."

The combined efforts of the AACDP and APA will heighten the impact their advocacy efforts have on policymakers, commented APA Medical Director Steven Mirin, M.D. Mirin emphasized that members of both organizations "must stretch ourselves beyond the considerable demands of our already hectic professional lives. But our patients, our field, and the general public will benefit from our activism."

Meeting presentations focused on how changes in health care economics will continue to affect academic psychiatry, the impact of medical procedure coding issues on academic medical centers, the future of graduate medical education, and the ways in which the federal agenda will shape the future of medical care and research.