APA Makes Its Voice Heard in AMA's House of Delegates
APA presented new faces at the American Medical Association House of Delegates meeting in December in Atlanta.
Joseph T. English, M.D., newly appointed APA delegate to the House of Delegates, teamed up for the first time with newly appointed alternate delegate Wayne Blackmon, M.D.
English, a former president of APA, has pledged to work vigorously to increase psychiatry's influence within the "house of medicine."
At APA's Board of Trustees meeting in December following the House of Delegates meeting, he reflected the renewed enthusiasm of the AMA Section Council on Psychiatry in his comments to Trustees.
"In advance of our section council meeting, I personally met with our staff to gain insight into AMA operations, discuss section council issues, and begin the process of developing and implementing a new vision for our future with the AMA," English said. "The basis of our discussion and our focus was on how APA may become more influential in AMA processes and how we may restructure our activities to achieve that overall goal."
English reported that the House of Delegates, reference committees, and other AMA groups heard 43 separate presentations from psychiatry.
In addition to English and Blackmon, the Section Council on Psychiatry includes Albert John Allen, M.D., Ph.D., Patricia Leebens, M.D., Saul Levin, M.D., Judy Linger, M.D., John McIntyre, M.D., Clifford Moy, M.D., Jo-Ellyn Ryall, M.D., and Eva Szigethy, M.D.
House Actions
These were among the issues relevant to psychiatry confronting English and Blackmon at the House of Delegates meeting:
Recognition and Treatment of Depression. The AMA resolved to inform physicians and the public of the serious nature of depression, an illness that the AMA says deserves targeted treatment whether occurring alone or in conjunction with another illness; to review the barriers to awareness, diagnosis, and treatment of clinical depression; and to support full reimbursement and payment, without prejudice, for physician services related to the diagnosis and treatment of clinical depression.
The American Medical Accreditation Program (AMAP). The House of Delegates adopted a recommendation that as the American Medical Accreditation Program is implemented, the AMA Board of Trustees continue to include county, state, and specialty medical societies and related organizations in every phase. AMAP is an AMA initiative to provide a physician-sponsored mechanism for credentialing and office-site review.
- Television Rating System. The AMA resolved to work in conjunction with APA, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and other appropriate medical societies to support and participate in the design, development, and implementation of a television program rating system that is practical, developmentally appropriate, and based on existing research and scientific knowledge.
- Task Force on Alzheimer's Disease. In cooperation with appropriate medical societies, including APA, the AMA resolved to study Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, with particular emphasis on their diagnosis and treatment, issues relating to patient and caregiver education, the financing of care of affected individuals, the identification of research needs, and consideration of issues pertaining to the quality of life of individuals with these conditions.
- Health Care for Incarcerated Teens. The AMA House of Delegates recommends that federal, state, and county correctional and juvenile detention centers provide an examination of the physical, mental, social, and educational needs of incarcerated youngsters. The AMA resolved to push for this recommendation by encouraging the National Commission on Correctional Health Care to include the examination as an item in the annual survey of correctional facilities.
- Medicare Practice Expense Relative Value Changes. The AMA resolved to reaffirm its support for a one-year delay in the implementation of the new resource-based practice expense value units to be used in reconfiguring physician payments under the Medicare program. The AMA further resolved to support a 20 percent limit on practice expense value reductions per CPT code that are liable to result from using the new values.
(Psychiatric News, February 7, 1997)
