Impact of APA Budget Cuts

APA Budget Cuts Hit Assembly and Components

This week in New Orleans the Assembly of the American Psychiatric Association will be in session just preceding the annual meeting of the APA. In certain ways this will be a momentous meeting  in that the APA  may be taking the first steps in a restructuring process which may significantly change how it functions.

Assembly

During the last Assembly Meeting which I attended in my capacity as Distant Past Speaker, the Assembly had a mandate from the Board of Trustees to cut it’s budget by $200,000.  This was due to a of  loss advertising revenue and  diminished income from the annual meeting. In addition changes made several years ago left  the APA unable to  utilize income from APPI publishing and the APA Foundation which are required to function independently of the APA.

Assembly of the APA In Session

After discussion and debate, the Assembly accomplished this task. The Board rescinded a request of another major cut. The result of the cuts that were made is that there are less representatives and alternative representatives will not have financial support to attend meetings. There are other cuts in staff and activities of the Assembly. Many are concerned about the diminution of alternate and younger representatives, as the Assembly is often the training grounds for APA leadership. There is also the question of whether these cuts are taking away the voice of under represented minorities as well as that of various sub-specialty groups which have been traditionally represented in the Assembly. These and future cuts are viewed by many as leading  to a less democratic process with increased executive functioning.

Components

The Assembly was not the only part of the APA to be cut. The Fall Components Meeting was essentially eliminated, as were most of the Components. This doesn’t mean that activities in the areas previously covered by the Components were destroyed. In some cases an individual was appointed as representative to a Council charged with the responsibility of an area previously handled by a Component. Some committees might meet at the annual meeting in reduced size or have conference call and in other cases staff were assigned duties previously handled by Components.

It is not clear how these changes will impact the APA. However, I would like to express my concern about two Components upon which I have been very active in the past.

Communications Committee

APA Public Affairs Broadcasting Live From APA New Orleans Meeting 2001

In the past each Area had a representative on what previously was called the  Joint Commission on  Public Affairs which also had s several knowledgeable members who were consultants. This was a vibrant vehicle of communication and exchange which brought back ideas and activities to the various Areas and local DBs, each of which had their own PA Committee. In addition, this APA Component arranged biannual Institutes where there were exhibits, demonstrations of programs and exchange of ideas. I learned about a clergy dinner that Kentucky was holding which I brought to my then DB in Westchester which now has  been running such a program  for more than 15 years. I participated in an education program about how to approach newspaper editorial boards, which led me to start a local newspaper column that ended up being syndicated for Gannett Newspapers. Training which occurred at these institutes in radio and television provided many others and myself with the confidence to pursue projects in these media . At these meeting we also were introduced to ideas how to establish our Area and DB web sites which were in a nascent stage. I can see reverberations in many public affairs activities of psychiatrists throughout the country, which can be traced to the interaction, and exchanges which came from this Component. I understand from some initial inquires that most of these activities have not been occurring recently and certainly not at the level which they occurred in the past.

Disaster Committee

Most psychiatrists (except those the military) become involved with this aspect of psychiatry because of some incident which occurs in their locale. That was the case with myself and I ultimately found myself on this committee with a group of remarkably experienced and dedicated psychiatrists. There were creative projects which  emerged from this group which included, awards and recognition for psychiatrists working in disasters, an emergency funding mechanism for district branches at the time of disaster, development of a manual for use in disasters which was translated into Japanese after a request during the Kobe earthquake, a special place on the APA website for disaster information, the development of disaster workshops for the DBs (in conjunction with the Assembly), the development of courses for the annual meeting which were conceived , discussed and developed at these meeting as well as  many other things. Last time I looked there was no Disaster Component and disaster activities are under the oversight of one very capable member) and staff. – Addendum- Since writing this I have learned that a Committee of the Board led by Dr. Sullivan and Bernstein have reinstated the Disaster Committee. I don’t know if it will meet in person and what resources it will have but that is a good piece of news. There still needs to be some indication what will happen to all the other activities of the Components.

Where Do We Go From Here

Realistic financial restrictions can’t be overlooked. A vibrant organization has to constantly reinvent itself. Some people have advocated cutting back the Assembly even further. It has been questioned whether APA  members want governance by a representative group. After all less than 25 % of APA members even vote in national elections. Utilizing members to be an active part of the governance is more expensive than just having paid full timestaff run the whole show.  Even though members donate their time, the fact is that travel and hotel are expensive and the deliberate process takes more time. On the other hand, there are other potential revenue streams and the  creativeness of members in the past has been very productive in finding new ways to do things. Some believe rather than limit participation, we should increase it, which could also expand APA membership.

APA Will Continue to Be Vibrant But Different

I have a confidence and optimism about the APA. We are fortunate in having a very talented Medical Director and have always been able to attract outstanding staff. However I believe that the he APA 10 years from now will be quite different than the APA of 10 years ago. What that difference will look like, will depend on the  priorities and values which we hold and what kind of governance we will choose .

I welcome comments on this topic . In next week’s blog I will offer some suggestions as to how I believe that  the APA can increase it’s income more than $1 million / year  and continue to support the Assembly, Components and new programs.

American Psychiatric Association - 2020