Board Approves Position Statements, Anticipates In-Person 2022 Annual Meeting

The APA Board of Trustee approved 14 new or revised position statements during its virtual meeting last December.

New position statements were approved on the following: Civil Commitment of Minors; Medical Supervision of Psychiatry Residents and Fellows; Moral Injury Among Healthcare Workers During a Public Health Crisis; Racism and Racial Discrimination in the Psychiatric Workplace; Mental Health Impact of Public Health Emergencies on Young People; and Immigration, Children, Adolescents, and Their Families.

Revised position statements include Location of Civil Commitment Hearings, Sexual Harassment, Psychiatric Services in Adult Correctional Facilities, Off-Label Treatments, Trial Sentencing of Juveniles in the Criminal Justice System, Telemedicine in Psychiatry, Core Principles for Alternative Payment Models for Behavioral Health, and College and University Mental Health.

Catherine Crone, M.D., chair of APA’s Scientific Program Committee, provided a high-level overview of the status of the in-person 2022 Annual Meeting to be held May 21 to 25 in New Orleans. The theme of the meeting is “Social Determinants of Mental Health.”

During the meeting’s submission period, 481 general session abstracts, 25 course abstracts, and 745 poster abstracts were received. Of these, the committee selected 119 general sessions, five courses, and 500 posters. New on the submission form this year was a question asking submitters how their proposal incorporates diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Well-known leaders in psychiatry have already been confirmed to present, including Nora Volkow, M.D., director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse; Charles Nemeroff, M.D., Ph.D., the Matthew P. Nemeroff Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School; and Joshua Morganstein, M.D., an associate professor and assistant chair in the Department of Psychiatry and assistant director at the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress at the Uniformed Services University.

The program will include a new, 20-session track of clinical updates for clinicians. The sessions will focus on tangible takeaways that attendees can apply to patient care in the domains of anxiety, mood, and personality disorders; schizophrenia; and substance use disorders, among others.

This year’s meeting will also be the first hybrid meeting. Select sessions will be recorded at the live meeting. Two weeks later, from June 7 to 10, the recordings will be streamed for virtual attendees, followed by live online Q&A sessions. Additional CME will be available for the online meeting.

Presidential Theme and Work

APA President Vivian B. Pender, M.D., gave an update on her Presidential Task Force on the Social Determinants of Mental Health (SDoMH).

In November and December 2021, the task force held two virtual town halls for APA members focused on education and awareness of the social determinants of health and mental health, available resources from APA and other organizations and agencies, and the work of the task force. The task force includes clinical, research and education, policy, and public health work groups. Almost 400 people registered for the town halls. The task force will submit a final report with recommendations at the March Board meeting.

Structural Racism Accountability Report

Mary Hasbah Roessel, M.D., and Felix Torres, M.D., M.B.A., co-chairs of the Board of Trustees Structural Racism Accountability Committee (SRAC), presented an update on the progress APA is making on the implementation of recommendations from the Task Force on Structural Racism Throughout Psychiatry. While there has been progress in some areas, the challenge is how to ingrain that progress for future years and how to measure success. An issue with which the SRAC is struggling is the need for underrepresented members to self-identify so that the success or failure of programs can be evaluated with data. SRAC will be spearheading a campaign along with Communications and the Division of Diversity and Health Equity (DDHE) to encourage members to self-identify.

Bob Ensinger, chief communications officer, and Ryan Vanderbilt, membership and marketing officer, presented a communications and marketing plan to ensure that members are aware of SRAC, its charge, and APA’s progress in implementing the task force’s recommendations.

APA Supports ABPN Proposals

To support the growth of the PsychPRO registry and continued access to high-quality and innovative continuing medical education (CME) products that participating members can use to satisfy Maintenance of Certification (MOC) requirements, the Board voted at a subsequent meeting to approve two contract funding proposals from the ABPN. The first contract will provide $1 million to help establish the PsychPRO registry by funding part of the cost of joining for institutions and individuals and help APA reach its goals of 1 million unique patients and 10 million patient encounters by 2025. The second contract provides $1 million to develop CME consisting of 36 hours, 16 of which can be used to satisfy MOC self-assessment requirements in 2022. These CME and MOC activities will be provided free to APA members and ABPN diplomates through the APA Learning Management System. More information on ABPN-funded activities is posted in the 2022 APA CME and MOC guide here. ■