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• APA Strategic Goals

APA Strategic Goals

Advocating for Patients
Advocating for the Profession
Supporting Education, Training and Career Development
Defining and Supporting Professional Values
Enhancing the Scientific Basis of Psychiatric Care

Adopted by the Board of Trustees
American Psychiatric Association
October 1998

Advocating for Patients

1. Coverage for, and access to mental health and substance abuse treatment services by:
   
   1. Advocating for a positive, non-discriminatory public policy on the financing and delivery of mental health care.
      
   2. Promoting public understanding of mental illness and psychiatric treatment through the development of, and participation in, public awareness and anti-stigma campaigns.
      
   3. Developing and disseminating information, including actuarial and cost offset data, supporting the affordability of MH/SA care.
      
   4. Supporting state and federal parity initiatives.
      
   
   
2. Take the lead in defining the appropriate standards of care for patients by:
   
   1. Developing, disseminating, and working to ensure the adoption of practice guidelines, treatment algorithms, quality indicators and conformance measures by clinicians, care systems and accrediting bodies
      
   2. Supporting and carrying out research to assess the impact of these tools and measures on clinical practice and treatment outcomes
      
   3. Working with accrediting bodies, patient advocacy groups and others to ensure the development of standards that ensure high quality care
      
   4. Work to promote a biopsychosocial approach to understanding and caring for patients, in all aspects of health care, including illness prevention.
      
      
3. Support efforts to ensure early detection and the provision of culturally competent care to diverse populations including minorities, women, children, adolescents, the elderly, individuals with substance use disorders, the severely and persistently mentally ill, and others
   
   
4. Work to protect the privacy of patients' medical records in clinical settings, informational databases and other venues
   
   
5. Disseminate clinically relevant findings from basic, clinical and services research to psychiatrists, other healthcare professionals, and the general public
   
   
6. Develop and disseminate research-based assessments of critical issues in diagnosis and treatment.
   
   
7. Develop materials to improve linkages between psychiatry and other areas of medicine
   

Advocating for the Profession

1. Define the appropriate role and scope of practice for the psychiatrist in the delivery of mental health and substance abuse care.
   
   
2. Advocate for appropriate payment for psychiatric care.
   
   
3. Assist psychiatrists in developing and maintaining the capacity and tools needed to define and render high quality care, and to measure the effectiveness of that care
   
   
4. Take all necessary steps to preserve the continuity, confidentiality, and capacity to exercise one's best clinical judgment in the psychiatrist-patient relationship
   
   
5. Work to convey the value of psychiatric care and the appropriate role of psychiatrists in delivering that care to other professionals, policymakers, and the public
   
   
6. Advocate for the right of patients to contract privately with their psychiatrists and other physicians
   
   
7. Work to eliminate discriminatory practices in state licensing requirements, MCO provider panels, and other arenas
   
   
8. Work with other professional organizations and advocacy groups to develop reliable and appropriate estimates of workforce needs
   

Supporting Education, Training and Career Development

1. Collaborate with District Branches/State Societies to develop and provide high quality educational services and resources to members and other health care professionals.
   
   
2. Ensure the future availability of high quality psychiatric clinicians, teachers, and researchers by:
   
   1. Working to ensure appropriate federal and private sector support for psychiatric residency training
      
   2. Working with other organizations (e.g, ADMSEP, AACP, AMSA, SNMA, AAMC) to attract a diverse group of high quality trainees into psychiatry
      
   3. Working with the RRC, ABPN, AADPRT and other organizations to develop new standards for assessing the quality of residency training programs and assuring the clinical competence of individual residents.
      
   4. Promoting the recruitment and training of psychiatrists to deliver high quality care to diverse patient populations
      
   
   
3. Work to reshape residency training curricula to meet the educational and training needs of young psychiatrists in a changing health care environment by:
   
   1. Influencing revisions of the RRC special requirements to reflect current trends in care delivery, the latest scientific knowledge, and psychotherapeutic skills essential to the delivery of quality care
      
   2. Collecting and disseminating data on trends in psychiatric education including best practices and innovative curricula
      
   3. Promoting the use of new educational technologies
      
   
   
4. Establish and maintain APA activities designed to address the career development needs of members, particularly MITs, ECPs, women, IMGs and minorities
   
   
5. Work with AADPRT, AACDP and other organizations to further the career development and academic stature of teaching faculty and educational administrators
   
   
6. Promote and develop postresidency fellowships in health policy, services research, the care of specialized populations and other areas
   
   
7. Develop educational programs addressing the treatment needs of special populations (e.g., AIDS Education Project)
   

Defining and Supporting Professional Values

1. Continue to define and enforce the ethical standards of the profession in health care environments
   
   
2. Play a key role in developing and maintaining standards for the protection of human subjects in psychiatric research
   

Enhancing the Scientific Basis of Psychiatric Care

1. Advocate for continued public and private support for basic, clinical and health services research and the infrastructure needed to support these activities
   
   
2. Create and update a classification of mental disorders based on scientific research and clinical experience
   
   
3. Establish an APA institute to serve as a national center to promote and support health services research, policy development and education
   
   
4. Attract, encourage, and assist talented young people in entering psychiatric research careers and in obtaining research support
   
   
5. Support and carry out research directed toward improving the quality of psychiatric care and expanding the scientific basis for clinical practice