Candidates for Area 5 Trustee: Gary S. Weinstein, M.D.

The practice of psychiatry has been under outrageous assault from forces larger than any individual. Unfair payment practices, bureaucratic demands, and scope-of-practice issues are not getting easier to combat. APA has acted to help with these problems for many years but at this critical time needs to do even more.

I have worked hard in leadership positions within APA to help members and their patients and am honored to be nominated for Area 5 trustee. My focus has always been on achieving results in practical ways. Being inclusive and promoting diversity while persistently pursuing goals has helped, along with the mutual efforts of many others, shape APA to be more responsive and effective.

My efforts have and will continue to include the following priorities:

General Member Needs

• ■ Work for equitable payment.

• ■ Support for psychiatric practice business needs.

• ■ Supply the best science for treatment decisions.

• ■ Continuing medical education and lifelong-learning opportunities as part of APA member benefits.

• ■ Expand a two-way communication process for information sharing and feedback.

Women and Minority Needs

• ■ Equality of appointments based on proportional representation.

• ■ Firm policy against any unfair practice related to gender or minority status.

Members-in-Training Needs

• ■ Expand leadership opportunity and training within APA.

• ■ Assist in the transition to early-career jobs and starting practice.

• ■ Communicate using the latest innovative technologies.

Patient Needs

• ■ Reduce barriers to access and quality care, and ensure full parity occurs.

• ■ Reduce stigma and discrimination.

• ■ Demand privacy controls be included in electronic health records.

Advocacy Needs

• ■ Work closely with the AMA and allied organizations for common professional goals.

• ■ Partner with primary care groups to enhance practice opportunities.

• ■ Partner with district branches to support grassroots work in state legislatures.

• ■ Lobby at all levels of government for the needs of psychiatry.

• ■ Keep psychologists and others from being “voted” psychiatric physician privileges.

• ■ Highlight the special needs of states in the Southeast region.

Even before starting private practice, I worked at the DB level, eventually serving in all executive positions including ethics chair, and have given continuous service to APA for over 30 years. In the APA Assembly, I was the Area 5 deputy representative (vice chair) for four years, then the Area 5 representative (chair) for four years. A main goal was helping each DB and component group in Area 5 become stronger and more capable of helping their members. As speaker of the Assembly, I facilitated this for all Areas. For two years, as speaker-elect and then as speaker, I served on the APA Board of Trustees, including 2009-2010, when I was also on the Board Executive Committee.

Close alliances at all levels of APA governance along with my significant leadership and committee work have prepared me to work effectively for Area 5 as trustee. I am excited about this opportunity and ask for your vote.

Primary Professional Activities and Sources of Income

Professional Activities

100%—Private practice

Income

100%—Private practice