Psychiatric News April 1, 2005
Volume 40 Number 7
© 2005 American Psychiatric Association
p. 16
Advocacy at APA a Year Later: What Have We Achieved?
Eugene D. Cassel, J.D.
Eugene D. Cassel, J.D., is director and special counsel of the Division
of Advocacy.
APA's newest division, which integrates three departments involved in
various aspects of advocacy, is already yielding results that benefit
psychiatrists, their patients, and the public.
A year ago APA Medical Director James H. Scully Jr., M.D., announced the
creation of the Division of Advocacy. The move, he said, was to sharpen the
focus of three APA offices and departments—Government Relations,
Communications and Public Affairs, and Healthcare Systems and
Financing—as well as to strengthen our ability to advocate on behalf of
APA members, patients, and the profession.
A year later, Dr. Scully's vision is closer to being realized: our team is
strong and well integrated. Working on major public policy issues and
projects—the new Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit, the federal
budget, and psychologist prescribing, to name a few—has helped to meld
our team into a cohesive unit, too.
Today the advocacy team is fully staffed and is led by these
individuals:
- Nicholas Meyers, director of Government Relations, who was promoted
to that post when the division was established,
- Irvin "Sam" Muszynski, J.D., who has served as director
of Healthcare Systems and Financing for many years,
- Lydia Sermons-Ward, director of Communications and Public Affairs,
who joined APA in June 2004,
- And me, Eugene Cassel, J.D., division director and special
counsel.
APA members routinely identify advocating for patients and the profession
as their top priority. We are passionate about this work, and today at APA we
do it in a more synchronized way. But there's more to our unity as a division
than that: we strive to amplify APA's legislative and regulatory efforts,
psychiatric-practice and business initiatives, and media and public affairs
work. Let me give some recent examples.
The Department of Government Relations has worked tirelessly to inform
Congress and the Food and Drug Administration that antidepressants save the
lives of children and adolescents. Building on that effort, the Office of
Communications and Public Affairs joined with the Division of Research to
launch
ParentsMedGuide.org
(Psychiatric News, March 4).
The February press conference to publicize the new site caught the public's
attention—earning the site more than 150,000 hits in its first month of
operation. The Office of Healthcare Systems and Financing then shared that
success with several major businesses, which in turn shared the site with
their employees.
Another example: APA, through the Office of Healthcare Systems and
Financing and Department of Government Relations, partnered with patient
groups to address concerns regarding access to medications in the
implementation of the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit. The
government released the final regulations recently, and the program will begin
in January 2006. The Office of Communications and Public Affairs is working to
take the message of the other two departments directly to patients and the
public, helping build grass-roots support for an alternative
formulary—one that is the least-restrictive possible.
Each part of "Team Advocacy" also continues to forge ahead with
its area of specialization. For example:
- Following its 94 percent win rate in the November 2004 elections, our
political action committee, APAPAC, continues to build strong
relationships with members of the 109th Congress.
- The Department of Government Relations conducted an expanded Advocacy Day
Conference last month in Washington, D.C., bringing in nearly a hundred APA
leaders to advocate on APA issues before Congress. (More information on this
event will appear in a future issue. Information on federal legislation that
the Department of Government Relations is tackling this year appears on
page 10.)
- In collaboration with the Mid-America Coalition on Health Care's Community
Initiative on Depression, the Office of Healthcare Systems and Financing put
on a National Invitational Conference in March in Kansas City to explore a
model community depression program and to educate attendees in the "how
to" aspects of the program.
- In coalition with others, the Office of Healthcare Systems and Financing
asked for a reconsideration of Mutual of Omaha's Local Coverage Determination
(LCD) for Psychiatric Inpatient Hospitalization—an LCD that, as written,
is not consistent with expert medical opinion on the delivery of care and
would likely inhibit the delivery of medically necessary care to Medicare
beneficiaries.
- The Office of Communications and Public Affairs continues development of a
major public affairs campaign for National Mental Health Month in May to put a
fresh, factual, and patient-centered face on the profession and to tackle
stigma. Elements of the campaign will include public service announcements,
advertising, a campaign logo and tagline, and updated "Let's Talk
Facts" brochures (see page
3).
- The Office of Communications and Public Affairs has conducted seven media
training sessions over the past few months and will bring its program to
additional areas and district branches/state associations over the coming
year.
This is only a cursory review of the many good projects the division has
taken during its first year.
At the division's founding in March 2004, Dr. Scully said, "I believe
the profession of psychiatry and our patients will be well served by our
strategic move to increase coordination... and amplify our message."
Our team—some 30 staff across the three departments—is working
hard to make sure you agree. Thank you for helping make our first year a
success.
More information on the activities of the APA Division of Advocacy
can be accessed in Members Corner on APA's Web site at
<www.psych.org/members/index.cfm>
under "APA at a Glance" by clicking on "Medical Director's
Report." 
Related Articles:
-
APA Advocacy Agenda Focuses on Access Issues
- Christine Lehmann
Psychiatr News 2005 40: 10-11.
[Full Text]
-
APA Offers New Perspective On Psychiatry and Mental Illness
- Michelle Riba
Psychiatr News 2005 40: 3.
[Full Text]
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