DB Presidents Update Board On Local Concerns

At each Board of Trustees meeting, district branch (DB) presidents are invited to give a “state of the DB” talk to APA’s elected leaders. At last month’s meeting in Arlington, Va., one DB president departed from a commonly repeated refrain of DB presidents concerning declining membership by stating that his DB’s membership actually increased in the last year—albeit it only slightly.

Ohio Psychiatric Association (OPA) President Mark Munetz, M.D., who described his organization as “one of the most active and progressive” DBs, told the Board that despite that encouraging uptick in membership, the organization was still facing declining dues revenue and continuing budget deficits. For 2004, Munetz said, the OPA had to raise dues to compensate for recent budget shortfalls, and DB leaders are worried about the consequences.

He noted that he and his colleagues are keeping a close eye on the state legislature, where psychologists are working to have a prescribing-privilege bill introduced.

The issue of psychologist prescribing was not a “what if” for the other DB president who addressed the Trustees.

Bruce Hinrichs, M.D., heads the DB in New Mexico, the only state that has passed a law allowing psychologists to prescribe psychoactive drugs without first graduating from medical school.

He noted that a state-level committee is in the final stages of deciding on how to implement the prescribing law, which was passed two years ago. The state’s psychiatrists are troubled by the likely shape of the new law after the recommendations by the two psychiatrists on the committee were almost entirely rejected by the rest of the committee members. Only one of their 26 recommendations made it into the final series of implementation recommendations.

On the membership front, Hinrichs pointed out that his DB has seen a major reduction in its membership since 1995. Today its membership of 149 represents just 42 percent of New Mexico psychiatrists. ▪