APA Advocacy at State and Federal Levels Remains Strong and Vibrant

Advocacy is core to APA’s vision and mission. In our nation’s capital, APA advises Congress, the White House, and federal agencies on issues of significance to psychiatry. In addition, we work hand and glove with our district branches to advance issues at the state level. APA advocates for a wide range of legislative and regulatory initiatives representing the interests of psychiatrists, your patients, and their families.

In 2023 APA’s advocacy team scored a number of victories for patients and psychiatrists. They include the following:

• Securing House and Senate support for funding to increase the psychiatric workforce.

• Securing higher Medicare reimbursement for outpatient psychotherapy.

• Securing the continuation of Medicare reimbursement rates for outpatient telepsychiatry visits that are equivalent to in-person care.

• Support from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for continued virtual supervision of residents delivering telehealth.

• CMS support for allowing Medicare practitioners to report their practice address instead of home address when delivering telehealth from home.

• CMS support for maintaining audio-only delivery of periodic assessments in opioid treatment programs.

• FDA reevaluation of the Clozapine REMS (risk evaluation and mitigation strategy) to determine whether the REMS can be modified to minimize burden.

• Enactment of Collaborative Care Model legislation in several states.

APA’s Political Action Committee, APAPAC, is the engine that drives our advocacy work. It plays a vital role in APA’s advocacy efforts, giving psychiatry a seat at the table in the health care policy arena. Through APAPAC, we educate lawmakers about issues affecting psychiatry such as mental health parity, network adequacy, federal scope of practice standards, Medicare funding, physician payment levels, mental health research, telepsychiatry, and residency education. As can be seen from the successes listed above, APAPAC is advancing the interests of psychiatry at all levels of government.

I will be leading the Division of Advocacy, Policy, and Practice Advancement, newly created after recent changes to APA’s internal organizational structure. In this role, I will ensure continuity of APA’s success through the coordination of APA’s federal and state legislative and political staff teams and the regulatory and practice management teams. Mikael Troubh now serves as APA’s Government Relations Officer and will continue to be the lead lobbyist representing APA’s positions before Congress and state legislative strategic initiatives.

Looking ahead in 2024, we need APA member support more than ever. With the current political climate in Congress, along with the upcoming presidential election, there may be limited opportunities for Congress to move some of APA’s legislative priorities. We hope to get clarity in the regulatory space where many of the COVID-era flexibilities are extended until the end of 2024 and many other rules should be finalized, providing stability to clinical practice that has been in continuous change since 2020.

Although 2024 is likely to be a divisive year in politics, our elected officials understand the importance of a mentally healthy America, and I am optimistic that, with your support, our important advocacy work will continue and that we will build upon our recent successes at the federal and state levels.

To help members understand how policy changes are affecting their practice, in 2023 APA launched a series of webinars, the Policy and Practice Insight Series. These webinars allow members to engage with APA staff and other subject matter experts on issues such as telepsychiatry advances, e-prescribing, digital literacy, and collaborative care. ■

Kristin Kroeger is chief of the APA Division of Advocacy, Policy, and Practice Advancement.