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CANDIDATES FOR SECRETARY-TREASURER

Donna M. Norris M.D.

Distinguished Fellow (Member Since 1973)

Member, APA Committee on Advocacy and Litigation Funding, 2002-05

Member, APA Finance and Budget Committee, 1994-2000

Private Practice of Child, Adolescent, Adult, and Forensic Psychiatry

Medical Staff of Beth Israel-Deaconess/Massachusetts Mental Health Center

Assistant Clinical Professor, Harvard Medical School

I am honored to be a candidate for the office of APA secretary-treasurer.

Major challenges continue to face psychiatry. The recent hurricanes have devastated many of our patients and members. The ensuing national crisis has highlighted the vulnerability of a previously hidden segment of our population, many of whom are children, the elderly, the mentally ill, and ethnic minorities who have limited access to medical care secondary to poverty. APA can be proud of our many members who have generously provided volunteer medical services to these individuals.

As a child, adolescent, and forensic psychiatrist in full-time private practice, I share the following challenges with members:

• SERVICE DELIVERY: Inadequate and discriminatory access to mental health services from childhood through old age.
  
• SPECTRUM OF CARE: Inadequate support systems for patients, severely restricted state formularies, and the uncertain impact of scheduled changes in Medicare benefits.
  
• PRIVACY: Compromised right to privacy and confidentiality.
  
• REIMBURSEMENT: Discriminatory payment rates for mental illnesses compared with other medical illnesses.
  
• STIGMA: The use of fear tactics to frighten our patients and to attack psychiatry.
  
• SCOPE OF PRACTICE: Encroachment by nonmedical professionals into the practice of psychiatric medicine.
  
• APA'S RELATIONSHIP WITH THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY: Psychiatry must clearly define the ethical boundaries for the industry's contributions for education, research, and donated patient medications.
  

My work in APA includes two years as the Area 1 Trustee to the APA Board of Trustees, speaker of the Assembly, six years on the APA Finance and Budget Committee, three years on the Assets Management Committee, four years on the APA Investment Oversight Committee, and 20 years on the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society's Ethics Committee.

APA continues to be financially strong. As your secretary-treasurer, balancing our fiscal strength with prudence, presenting a fully transparent budget, and keeping accurate Association records are my highest priorities. I will chair the Ethics Appeals Board with fairness and foresight for the protection of patients and members. As an officer, I will vote to support the APA mission and these goals:

• FULL PARITY for mental health services in collaboration with other allied mental health professional and patient advocacy organizations.
  
• INCREASED FUNDING for QUALITY MENTAL HEALTH services for all patients and their families, especially children and the elderly.
  
• PATIENTS' RIGHTS to PRIVACY/CONFIDENTIALITY.
  
• MEMBERSHIP RECRUITMENT/RETENTION efforts and REVENUE SHARING for our district branches/state associations.
  
• INCREASED FUNDING for GRADUATE MEDICAL EDUCATION and research training.
  
• FAIRNESS IN MANAGED CARE REIMBURSEMENT.
  
• COOPERATION AND ADVOCACY with our MEDICAL COLLEAGUES.
  
• An improved PUBLIC IMAGE for psychiatry and a reduction in the STIGMA and discrimination faced by our patients.
  
• Increased DIVERSITY in APA leadership and the ELIMINATION of DISPARITIES IN HEALTH CARE related to ethnicity.
  

You have my commitment to work collaboratively with you on these efforts to improve the lives of our patients and to advocate for our members and for our profession. I need your support and your vote.

PRIMARY PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES AND SOURCES OF INCOME

Professional Activities
100%—Child and adolescent psychiatrist

80%—Private practice

20%—Work related to education and clinical research through the Psychiatry and the Law Program, Beth Israel/Deaconess Hospital

Income
100%—Private practice

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