Area 5 Council Meeting, American Psychiatric Association
February 15-17, 2024
By John P.D. Shemo, MD, DLFAPA
Medical Director,
Psychiatric Alliance of the Blue Ridge
Associate Clinical Professor,
University of Virginia
The Area meeting was held virtually as APA reportedly did not have the funding to support in-person Area meetings due to limited annual meeting revenue and publications revenue. This past year, APA has also been the victim of cyber-crime, but we are told these funds are currently being recovered. As has been addressed in prior newsletters, the quality of the output of virtual council meetings is negatively impacted compared to in person meetings.
Issues related to the consideration of the restructuring of APA central office positions and the selection of Dr. Marketa Wills as the new APA CEO and Medical Director were discussed.
The council also discussed and endorsed Action Papers that will be presented at the next full assembly meeting in May. This included an Action Paper entitled “Coordination to Reduce the Burden of Prior Authorizations” and another entitled “End Binding Arbitration for Denied Medical Claims.” In addition, an Action Paper involving promoting psychiatry rotations as core rotations for other specialties was discussed.
As is usual at the Area meetings, representatives from various states did present brief reports on activities in their state which others would find either interesting or disturbing. For example, in Kentucky there is an anti-crime bill being considered that could criminalize homelessness, thereby jailing individuals with mental illness. It also contains a provision allowing individuals to use force to defend themselves if they feel “reasonably threatened” by an individual experiencing homelessness.
As usual, I end this report with the reminder that Drs. Kaul, Moideen, and I are your representatives to the APA Assembly and we are always open to input on issues and concerns you would like to see addressed by the Assembly and/or APA administration.
