Spring 1997 - Board of Directors' Report

xxAACP Newsletter, Volume 11, Number 2, Spring 1997

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Board of Directors' Report

The AACP Board of Directors' meeting and the annual winter conference took place in Louisville, Kentucky this winter, on March 14-15. It literally followed in the wake of the worst flood in that region's history. Despite this adversity, the meeting's organizers managed to produce one of the best meetings we have had so far. The Kentucky Psychiatric Association co-sponsored the meeting which featured many AACP Board Members as faculty on two days of the three day conference. The meeting was very well organized and brought together a variety of speakers addressing a range of topics relevant to current psychiatric practice, from both administrative and clinical persepctives. Participants were undaunted by the recent tragedies around them and the meeting was well attended. It took place in the historic Brown Hotel, which was fortunately spared from the damage by virtue of its occupation of "high ground" in downtown Louisville. In addition to an enjoyable and informative scientific program, the Board managed to do a great deal of business and the meeting highlights are summarized below.

Communications

Some time was spent at this meeting discussing the importance of communications for our organizations and its impact on several different facets of our operations. There was general consensus that facilitation of communication processes would enable us to be more productive and include a greater number of our members in tasks and committees. The use of electronic mail has already revolutionized the way the Board does business and has enabled the more rapid completion of several products such as LOCUS. Still, we have relied primarily on printed information for communication with members. Despite the development of an AACP homepage, some technical and design difficulties have limited its use and effectiveness. The develpment of a more sophisticated and interactive website was seen as imperative if we wish to continue our progress in achieving ongoing interaction among the membership and our ability to augment our recruitment and advocacy efforts. The Board passed a motion to use funds saved from a more economic publishing process for the newsletter over the past 18 months to develop an interactive webpage and to maintain it as needed. Mmost participants in the discussion felt that this was clearly one of the wisest inveltments that we could make as an organization.

Diversity

The Board continued discussions initiated at its previous meeting regarding our organization's commitment to diversity of its membership and leadership. Methods of enhancing our effectiveness in adequately reflecting and representing the interests and the make up of our constituents were discusses at length. The most appropriate procedures for maintaining cultural sensitivity as a high priority of the association were debated. A motion to mandate consideration of diversity issues in all committee reports was considered and created a great deal of controversy. In the end, the Board did feel that a formal declaration of these goals would concretize the discussion and it passed a motion committing the AACP Board to discuss diversity in all committee work and reports. Progress on this objective will be monitored by the Diversity Committee.

LOCUS Developments

The distribution and piloting of the Level of Care Utilization and Systems for Psychiatric and Addiction Services (LOCUS) had continued to create significant interest (see Community Psychiatrist, Volume 10, Number 2). At this time, several states have shown interest in using this document to guide level of care determinations for public sector clients. Michigan will implement its use across the state and Washington, Vermont, Maine, Texas and Pennsylvania have significant numbers of providers employing the instrument. Several allied organizations, including the APA, are currently reviewing LOCUS and will consider endorsement of this product. In addition, in line with initial hopes, there has been significant interests expressed from managed care organizations. One MCO has made preliminary inquiries regarding its use in their systems.

The copyright for LOCUS was recently granted and the Board discussed how permission for use would be handled. The possiblity of commercial applications of LOCUS was mede concrete by the presentations of two consulting firms wishing to market software versions of the document. This raised the possiblity of facilitating data collection from multiple sites in the formal testing of the instrument, and the possiblity of generating some revenue for the organization. This latter possiblity, while initially eschewed, is more attractive now that interest in LOCUS has been established and in the context of recent concerns about our organization's self-reliance for funding. It was decided that other commercial propositions would be solicited over the period prior to the Spring Meeting, and a task force would make a recommendation to the full Board at that time.

Meanwhile, a new set of possible revisions, based on piloting feedback, were presented to the LOCUS Subcommittee at this meeting for review, and an updated version will likely be presented for approval by the full Board at the Spring Meeting. The child and adolescent version of LOCUS remains on the drawing board but is not expected to be completed until the fall of 1997.

Health Care Systems

In addition to LOCUS, there has been a great deal of interest in other AACP products. The Guidelines for Formulary Management in Managed Care Systems has generated many requests. At this time when many public systems are under siege and antagonistic, conflicted relations sometimes prevail between providers and managed care organizations, the need to have nationally recognized standards for program development and continuums is paramount. While clinical guidelines can sometimes be useful, systems guidelines are necessary to prevent the most egregious abuses. The Board considered other methods to advocate for public mental health systems, and the development of additional instruments or documents to aid the management of care. These discussions will be developed further at future committee meetings. A motion was passed to develop position papers outlining the risks of public sector managed care and that "best practice guidelines" also be elaborated.

Programs

Several AACP presentations will be on the schedule at the APA Annual Meeting this May in San Diego. For the first time in many years, the AACP will have a booth in the exhibition hall and we hope to increase our exposure and membership through this effort. Volunteers from the membership to man the booth will be welcomed. The next Winter meeting will be held in Baltimore in early 1998. For more details regarding programming activities, see the article, "AACP's Educational Activites" in this issue.

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