Richard K. Harding, M.D.
Our patients and members are hurting. Discrimination continues relentlessly. Scope-of-practice issues and denigration of professional values frustrate and infuriate our members. There is talk of unions. Sweeping changes in APA priorities and governance are coming online. It is now time to move the national health agenda for our patients.
Let us rededicate ourselves to universal access to quality psychiatric care, professional integrity, the doctor-patient relationship, and medical-record privacy. We must demand full funding for research and training. We have the skills, the science, the moral high ground, and the will to set new benchmarks for patient care and professional conduct. As your president, my agenda will include the following goals:
Patient Care Goals
• Universal access to quality care. Can we try for less?
• Nondiscrimination for treatment of mental illnesses including substance abuse
• Health services research for outcomes and education of corporate executives
• Stop allowing the mentally ill to be the "profit center" for managed care organizations’ stockholders
Membership Goals
• District branch and state associations as full partners with National APA
• Clear and seamless communications and financial accountability throughout the Association
• Reduce national dues 10 percent by reallocating governance spending and end duplications
• Campaign reform rules and expense limits that encourage all members to seek office
• Promote diversity by creating a caucus system at national meetings
Medical Education Throughout the Professional Life Cycle
Goals
• Stable funding for training and research infrastructure
• Discipline our dependence on pharmaceutical money
• Support the RRC’s commitment to making psychodynamic principles a core competency of training
• Board preparation as a subsidized benefit
• Recruit 5 percent of medical students into psychiatry
I am an effective clinician, teacher, public administrator, and, yes, a medical politician. I believe in the wisdom of our members and agree with demands for an efficient, effective, and accountable organization that will allocate scarce resources and make the tough decisions that are before us. My term will end in May of 2002. At that time I will return to my district branch activities to continue to make a difference where the action is and increasingly will be. I ask for your vote and advice in the months ahead.