Topic 2: Memo to District Branch Executives re Survey Request
District Branch Survey Request
To: District Branch Executive Directors
From: Nada Stotland, MD, Chair
Presidential Task Force on Underserved Areas
Re: APA Presidential Task Force
The purpose of this memo is to request your help with a survey being conducted on behalf of a new APA Presidential task force to review psychiatric needs in underserved areas. The task force is currently analyzing and gathering research on the shortage of psychiatrists in rural, semi-rural and poor urban areas. The new presidential task force has three key charges:
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To develop an outline of a strategic plan for addressing psychiatric needs in underserved areas;
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To include an assessment of "shortages" of psychiatrists in rural, semi-rural and poor urban areas, and an analysis of the mental health system and financing of care in these areas; and
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To make recommendations for addressing these issues with particular focus of those states "at risk" for scope of practice legislation
A preliminary report to the Board of Trustees is due in July, 2006.
A key first step in the Task Force's information gathering is to survey the APA's district branches to identify various private and public sector initiatives that address the psychiatrist shortage issue. Examples of the kinds of efforts that have been identified include:
The Maine Consultation Project
The Consultation Project is a collaborative project between psychiatrists and physicians created by the Maine Academy of Family Physicians and the Maine Association of Psychiatric Practice. The main function of the project is to link volunteer psychiatrists with primary care providers as needed, to provide advice, guidance and even conduct tele-psychiatry (face to face consultation) for more complicated cases. Currently eighteen psychiatrists are participating in this project.
New Mexico Rural Psychiatry Outreach Project:
The New Mexico Rural Psychiatric Outreach Project is an American Psychiatric Association (APA) grant funded program that provides support, recruitment and retention to rural New Mexico psychiatrists. The project is a collaborative effort between New Mexico Health Resources (NMHR), the University Of New Mexico Department of Psychiatry and the Psychiatric Medical Association of New Mexico. Project elements include developing needs assessments, recruiting and identifying psychiatrists to provide monthly clinical services to identified communities, matching identified communities with specific providers and establishing a database for match programs. The program has proven to be extremely successful in providing psychiatric care to those in underserved areas.
Value Options: Rural and Community Psychiatry Network of New Mexico
The Rural and Community Psychiatric Network of New Mexico is a collaborative effort between Value Options, the Psychiatric Medical Association of New Mexico, the University of New Mexico Rural Psychiatry program and NMHR. The network provides four hour training sessions with Primary Care Physicians in rural areas. Training topics include depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar, ADHD, Psychosis and substance abuse. The network also provides psychiatrists who travel to the rural areas 1-2 days a month where they discuss cases, answer questions, provide direction and help with administrative concerns.
New Directions Behavioral Health Group:
The New Directions Behavioral Health Care System in Shawnee Mission, Kansas is a full service behavioral health care program that provides managed behavioral health care and employee assistance programs. To increase availability of psychiatrists in rural areas of Kansas and Missouri, New Directions has set up a fee structure which increases reimbursement rates for psychiatrists who practice outside of the metropolitan Kansas City area.
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