xxAACP Newsletter, Volume 18, Number 1, Winter/Spring 2004
The AACP 2004 Winter Board Meeting was held February 19-20, 2004 in beautiful Honolulu Hawaii in conjunction with the Hawaii conference “Evolution of a Comprehensive Mental Health System: From Vision to Reality”, co-sponsored by the State of Hawaii Adult Mental Health Division and the Hawaii Consortium for Continuing Medical Education. Mahalo to Alan Radke, MD and Tom Hester,
MD for their leadership, and to Jennifer Miyasaki for her administrative support, in putting together an outstanding meeting in a spectacular setting.
Treasurer’s Report
Dr. McQuistion distributed and discussed a status report of AACP’s 2004 budget. He reported a current balance of $58,560.39, which is improved compared with the 1/31/03 balance of $57,943.49. Income analysis shows that 1) no corporate donations have been received this year; 2) dues income will likely fall $7000 short of $35,000 annual projection; and 3) LOCUS income of $23,510 is substantially ahead of $10,000 annual projection. Expense analysis indicates that 1) reassessment of Community Mental Health Journal expenses yields a $4,781 surplus; 2) LOCUS expenses of $3202
have been under $4,000 projection; 3) administrative expenses are $2000 under budget due to absence of Membership Directory publication this year; and 4) travel expenses are $4,289 over budget. Dr. McQuistion suggested that travel reimbursement for Board
Meetings should remain at its recent lowered rate of 25% for the time being. In summary, AACP is currently solvent, but without meeting income projections for this year, the treasury will suffer continued shrinkage.
Board discussion focused on implementing further cost saving initiatives. Dr. Goldfinger recommended that the printed Membership Directory be eliminated, and that we rely entirely on an electronic directory. While there was general support for this
idea, it was observed that not all members are able to access electronic media. Dr. Forster and other Area Representatives felt that access to an electronic directory would also help them monitor membership in their regions. The Board voted to refer the
recommendation to eliminate the printed membership directory to the Membership Committee. In the meantime, Ms. Roton will start sending an electronic version annually to Board members.
Liaison Reports
APA Assembly (Ronis) See IMF exclusion rule below.
NASMHPD Medical Director’ Council (Pollack)
Dr. Pollack updated the Board on NASMHPD activities. 1) A national survey of State medical directors’ roles and responsibilities is in progress. Only 30 States currently have a full time medical director. 2) The NASMHPD technical report on disaster mental
health has been completed, and will be disseminated to Board members. (http://www.nasmhpd.org/publications.cfm).
SAMHSA (Everett)
Dr. Everett updated the Board on SAMHSA activities. 1) There will be a 6% budget increase. 2) A struggle continues over the agency’s structure. 3) CSAT and CSAP are remodeling their objectives; CSAT objectives will now address aspects of recovery
beyond abstinence alone, and CSAP will expand its strategic prevention plan to include co-occurring disorders. Dr. Everett reported that she is organizing a SAMHSA in-service involving feedback from professionals working in the field.
APA Council on Advocacy and Public Policy (CAPP) (Pollack)
CAPP has formed a committee to re-examine universal coverage. APA assembly speaker, Prakesh Desai wishes for APA to take a stand on this issue. In its first teleconference one week earlier, the Committee displayed ambivalence about embracing a single payer system (vs. incremental reform). Dr. Pollack does not believe that
the committee will endorse a single payer approach, but hopes for a statement that will document pros and cons of each.
Community Campus Partnership for Health (CCPH) (Thompson)
Dr. Thompson reported that CCPH, which promulgates service based learning, would be meeting in Atlanta October 6-10, 2004. Additionally ‘Working with Unity for Health’, a WHO project, will also be in Atlanta around the same time as the IPS meeting.
CCPH will host a reception at Morehouse College on October 6. Dr. Thompson will pursue informal linkages with these groups during the 2004 IPS meeting.
AACP Lobbying (Ng)
Dr. Ng provided follow-up on AACP’s recent decision to develop a federal lobbyist function. He reports that he has had initial discussions with NASMHPD’s Washington-based lobbyist about coordinating resources and efforts. Dr. Pollack recommended that Dr. Ng also begin meeting with The Mental Health Liaison Group
(NASMHPD, Bazelon Center, and others). Dr. Ng hopes to utilize the 2005 AACP Winter Meeting in Washington to further establish AACP’s presence in the federal lobbyist community. (See below.)
CMHJ Publisher (Cutler)
Dr. Cutler reported that he has been unable to negotiate an increase in AACP’s Journal reimbursement. A planned merger has caused the current publisher to assume a conservative financial stance. He will attempt to re-negotiate our fee after the merger has been completed. The anticipated transfer in editorship from Dr. Cutler to Dr. McFarlane will provide a specific opportunity for renegotiation.
Old Business
2005 AACP Winter Meeting (Ng, Everett)
Dr. Ng updated the Board on plans for the 25th anniversary AACP winter meeting in Washington, DC. He is exploring the possibility of modifying the usual Winter Meeting structure in order to increase the opportunity for advocacy/political networking in DC’s unique environment. Rather than headlining Board members, his proposal is to assign primary speaking roles to DC-based decision-makers and advocates, who will be asked to address specific themes. Board members will serve as discussants and panel chairs. He reported that the University of Virginia has agreed to help with meeting
logistics. He said the next planning step is to identify meeting themes. Dr. Pumariega suggested obtaining a conference grant. The Board then discussed at length advantages and disadvantages of modifying the traditional winter meeting format of having invited speakers come from the Board itself. Dr. Goldfinger suggested that instead of an extensive modification, we might consider appending an additional ‘policy day’ to a traditionally formatted meeting. Dr. Osher observed that it might be more productive to ‘show off’ local DC community-based initiatives than to focus on Federal Government programs. Dr. Ng will consider suggestions and will proceed with meeting planning with the assistance of other Board Members in the DC region.
New Business
Review of Roton Contract (Feldman) Dr. Feldman reminded the Board that the
contract for Administrative Director Frances Roton was due for renewal. The
Board reviewed her work performance and reimbursement structure. There was
unanimous high regard for her work, and a strong desire to maintain her contract. The
Board voted to renew her contract, and that an increase in her reimbursement should be
considered when the budget allows.
Medicaid IMF Exclusion Rule (Geller/Ronis)
Dr. Jeffrey Geller joined the Board for a discussion of his proposal to the APA
assembly to recommend overturning the IMF exclusion rule that prohibits
Medicaid reimbursement to individuals in state hospitals and other state institutions.
Dr. Geller presented his reasoning: Allowing state hospitals to receive
Medicaid reimbursement for extended care might decrease recurrent short-term
acute care in general hospitals. The Board was divided in its opinion as to whether
to support this proposal. Some expressed concerns that reversing the rule would
lead state hospitals to ‘soak-up’ limited funds that might be used for community
based programs. Dr. Minkoff opined that giving states flexibility on the use of
Medicaid might be helpful. No action was proposed.
Change in Editorship of Psychiatric Services (Goldfinger)
Dr. Goldfinger reported to the Board that editorship of Psychiatric Services would
transition from John Talbot, MD to Howard Goldman, MD. He recommended that the
Board contact Dr. Goldman to encourage him to continue to support the broad
community psychiatry values that currently characterize this journal. Dr. Feldman will
write a congratulatory letter to Dr. Goldman expressing AACP’s appreciation of
Psychiatric Services’ current mission. She will also invite him to attend a future AACP
Board Meeting.
Changes in CALOCUS Agreement(Sowers)
Dr. Feldman received a letter from the President of AACAP announcing their
intention to terminate their collaboration with AACP on CALOCUS. Citing
differences with AACP on training, philosophy and marketing, AACAP stated in
the letter that they would relinquish royalties from CALOCUS software development, but would continue to develop and refine CALOCUS under a different name, and to provide training on its use. The Board spent considerable time exploring possible reasons for AACAP’s action, and discussing potential
implications and responses.
Awards Committee (Goldfinger)
Dr. Goldfinger asked Board members to contact him with nominations for the 2004 Janssen awards. He voiced concerns that AACP’s traditional policy of identifying awardees from the city where the APA meeting was being held excluded many worthy candidates from smaller locales. He therefore
suggested that Board members think in terms of regions rather than cities when making nominations. Dr. Thompson suggested changing the venue for presenting awards from the Annual APA meeting to the IPS meeting. Dr. Moltz reminded the Board that since it approved the policy of not naming awards after manufactures, the Janssen award must be renamed. Dr. Feldman will contact Janssen to
inform them of our policy.
Diversity Committee (Lim)
Dr. Lim circulated the revised version of the draft Position Statement on Diversity, and invited comments. The Board voted to accept the statement with further minor editorial changes at the discretion of Dr. Lim.
LOCUS Committee (Sowers)
The LOCUS Committee recertified the May 2000 version of LOCUS as the current and official version. The committee is currently considering some language changes in sections describing levels of care. Supplemental criteria for subtypes of residential treatment are also being considered.
Program Committee (Pollack)
Dr. Pollack reviewed the status of AACP related submissions for the 2004 APA and IPS meetings.
Future Meetings
The Board will meet May 1-2, 2004 prior to the APA Annual meeting in New York, NY. The membership forum and reception will follow.
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