May 16-18, 2025 | Los Angeles, CA
By John P.D. Shemo, MD, DLFAPA
Medical Director, Psychiatric Alliance of the Blue Ridge
Associate Clinical Professor, University of Virginia
This will apparently be the last three-day, in-person Assembly meeting for the foreseeable future. Upcoming meetings will either be virtual or will require only a one-night stay in whatever location is selected. I assume, therefore, that even for the live meetings, a lot more work will need to be done virtually.
In this meeting, ultimately about 60 items were deliberated upon and voted on by the Assembly – some on “consent calendars” such as those presented by the reference committees.
Of particular controversy in this meeting was the issue of an amendment to the APA bylaws. In the bylaws, it was specified that, on the board of trustees, one position was designated as the “M/UR trustee.” M/UR, in this context, stood for minorities and under-represented constituencies. The APA’s legal counsel advised that this phrase would be unacceptable in the current political climate and could lead to very problematic consequences if not changed and done so rapidly. A change was, therefore, made to “Community Engagement and Access Trustee.” We were told that this title change would not impact how this trustee was selected or their role on the board.
In the new business portion of the assembly meeting, a further action paper was approved to establish a group to change the above name change “Community Engagement and Access Trustee”, in consultation with the Assembly M/UR committee, to a more “collaboratively agreed upon name” and to consider amendments to the eligibility criteria specified in Section 3.6 of the bylaws.
Since I have just been appointed chair of the APA Bylaws Committee, I suspect I will be busy with this as the Action Paper specifies that they want these changes voted on during the fall 2025 Assembly Meeting and then forwarded directly to the Board of Trustees for action.
The Assembly took 60 or so other actions, outlined below.
The APA has a rather extensive array of Position Statements, on various topics relevant to our profession, our patients, and various policies that affect both. These Position Statements are reviewed, updated, and sometimes retired on a regular schedule. A variety were reviewed by this Assembly. These Position Statements are available on the APA website.
A sample of the APA Position Statements revised and reviewed were:
- Revised Position Statements on Controlling Drug Prices
- Discriminatory Disability Insurance Coverage
- Hospital Privileging of Psychologists and Other Non-Psychiatric Mental Health Professionals
- Leadership of State Behavioral Health Services
- Use of Opioid Medications with Terminally Ill Patients
- Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs
- Substance Use Disorders in the Criminal Justice System
- Insanity Defense
- Peer Review of Expert Testimony
- Psychiatric Participation in Physician Assistance in Dying
- The Care of Medically Vulnerable Migrants in the United States
- Statement on Firearms Access
Several revisions of Position Statements were not approved due to concerns about the potential impact of the revisions.
Among the Assembly initiated Action Papers passed, were ones entitled:
- Advancing Professionalism, Civility and Accountability in Peer-to-Peer Interactions with Managed Care
- Encouraging Transparency and Science-Based Evidence/Reviews in Coverage Policy Development
- Preserving the Fidelity of the Collaborative Care Model
- Access to Care for People with Neurodevelopmental and Neurocognitive Disorders
- Civil Commitment of Individuals with Neurodevelopmental and Neurocognitive Disorders
- Critical Review of Suicide Risk Assessments: Moving Beyond Traditional Low, Moderate, and High-Risk Categories
- Call for Transparent Labeling and Warnings on Non-Prescribed and Over-the-Counter Psychoactive Substances
- A Call to Implement the 2008 Action Paper on the Supervision of Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants
- Advocacy for Modified CPT and E/M Codes for Unsupervised/ Non-Physician Practitioners
- State Regulation of ECT for Minors with a Special Emphasis on Pediatric Catatonia
- Recommended Disuse of “Hallucinations” and “Delusions” specific to Artificial Intelligence (Al)
- Protecting the Term “Psychiatrist” as a Physician Specific Designation
- Integration of Dietary and Nutritional Education in Psychiatry Residency Training Programs, Medical Schools, and Psychiatric Practice
As always, there were Position Statement revisions and Action Papers not approved by the Assembly, either through reference committees or by full vote of the Assembly. It is noted, in this regard, that authors of Action Papers can call for a vote by the full Assembly, after discussion, of any paper not endorsed by and put on the consent calendar by their reference committee, part of the system of “checks and balances” within the Assembly.
As always, Adam, Sherin and I are available, as your Assembly representatives, to present and discuss your concerns or recommendations in the Assembly forum and to potentially craft Action Papers addressing those concerns.
