Board Acts on Busy Agenda

APA President Vivian B. Pender, M.D., reported on the progress of the new APA Presidential Task Force on the Social Determinants of Mental Health (SDoMH) during her president’s report at the July meeting of the Board of Trustees.

Pender told Trustees that the task force, chaired by former APA President Dilip Jeste, M.D., began meeting in June to develop policies and programs that will address the social and environmental factors that impact health and mental health.

Specifically, the task force will develop a strategic plan for implementing APA’s 2018 Position Statement on Mental Health Equity and the Social and Structural Determinants of Mental Health.

“This is a core objective of my presidential year,” Pender said. “Lack of education, job insecurity, food scarcity, and structural racism—these and other social and environmental factors have a profound effect on mental health and on the ability of people, especially people of color, to access mental health care.”

The 2018 position statement indicates that APA:

• supports legislation and policies that promote mental health equity and improve the social and structural determinants of mental health and formally objects to legislation and policies that perpetuate structural inequities.

• advocates for the dissemination of evidence-based interventions that improve both the social and mental health of patients and their families.

• urges health care systems to assess and improve their capabilities to screen for, understand, and address the structural and social determinants of mental health.

• supports medical and public education on the structural and social determinants of mental health, mental health equity, and related evidence-based interventions.

• advocates for increased funding for research to better understand the mechanisms by which structural and social determinants affect mental illness and recovery.

The task force’s work groups focus on four areas: clinical (chaired by Francis Lu, M.D.), policy (chaired by Allan Tasman, M.D.), public health (chaired by Kenneth Thompson, M.D.), and research/education (chaired by Dolores Malaspina, M.D.). A hub for information and resources has been established on APA’s website here.

Trustees also approved the creation of the Board of Trustees Structural Racism Accountability Committee. The committee is responsible for ensuring that the recommendations of the APA Presidential Task Force to Address Structural Racism Throughout Psychiatry are carried out. Established last year by then-APA President Jeffrey Geller, M.D., M.P.H., in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, the task force formulated a range of recommendations designed to address structural racism throughout the APA governance, staff, and membership (see “What Has APA’s Presidential Task Force to Address Structural Racism Accomplished So Far?,” posted here).

The committee chair is Area 7 Trustee Mary Roessel, M.D., and the co-chair is Felix Torres, M.D., M.B.A. Members include Early Career Psychiatrist Trustee-at-Large Elie Aoun, M.D., Area 3 Trustee Kenneth Certa, M.D., immediate past APA President Jeffrey Geller, M.D., M.P.H., Area 2 Trustee Glenn Martin, M.D., Resident-Fellow Member Trustee-elect Urooj Yazdani, M.D., and Area 6 Trustee Mindy Young, M.D. Past APA President Altha Stewart, M.D., is a consultant.

Proposed MOC Standards

In other news, APA CEO and Medical Director Saul Levin, M.D., M.P.A., provided an update on proposed standards for maintenance of certification (MOC) issued by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) in April. APA submitted comments on the proposed standards in June; final standards are expected to be released next month. Coverage of the final standards will appear in a future issue of Psychiatric News.

“We appreciate the overall emphasis of the proposed new standards on making continuing certification relevant to day-to-day practice of medicine, as well as affirming that ABMS needs to work with specialty societies to meet the needs of the diplomates,” Levin said. “However, the new standards fail to address two important aspects—the lack of an evidence base informing several of the ABMS draft standards and the cost for physicians to participate in continuing certification.”

Levin said APA incorporated comments from members. APA also shared its comments with the American College of Physicians and Council on Medical Specialty Societies.

Other Actions

Finally, the Board also approved these items:

• Formation of an ad hoc work group on APA and its district branches to explore their fiscal and administrative relationships, respective roles and responsibilities, and future strategic concerns (including but not limited to membership trends). The work group will report back to the Board with recommendations for operations and policy changes.

• Position Statement on Orchiectomy or Treatment With Anti-Androgen Medications as a Condition of Release From Incarceration. ■