If you have been active in dealing with employers, insurance companies, or government officials, or have been working within the psychiatric and medical organizations on economic and legislative issues, the American needs to know it! The Committee on Government Relations and Insurance has established a Network to pool information and experience for the mutual benefit of all psychoanalysts who have been working to improve the climate of psychoanalytic practice.
The first meeting of the Network in New York in December brought out representatives of 12 of the 26 affiliate societies. Several others were unable to be there but placed their names on the mailing list.
The Network will address such issues as third-party coverage for psychoanalysis, utilization review and “managed care”, and confidentiality and privacy of treatment. In addition, we may need to concern ourselves with psychiatry's
response to the Resource-Based Relative Value Scale and the demand for changes in the CPT codes. Also on the horizon are the impacts upon psychoanalysis of standardized psychiatric treatment approaches, sub-specialization, re-certification, the duty to warn potential victims of violence, and legislated mandatory assignment with prohibition of balanced billing.
The Network will operate on the assumption, already proven by a number of our members, that analysts can accomplish more when they work together than in isolation. An effective response on these cogent issues will have to take place both at the national level and in each section of the country. Much to be preferred is to work as members of the larger psychiatric and medical communities, but if necessary, we need to be ready to speak out on our own. The Committee on Government Relations and Insurance, as well as the Committee on Public Information and its Network, and the Task Force on Research and Information, are trying to maximize the American Psychoanalytic Association's capacity to do so. More about that in the next issue of the Newsletter.
What can you do? First, as an individual or as a representative of your Affiliate Society, write the Central Office at 309 East 49th Street, New York, NY 10017, and add your name to the Government Relations and Insurance Network mailing list. Second, plan to attend a meeting of the Network on Sunday afternoon, May 7, 1989, in San Francisco, details to be announced later. For further information, please contact the Central Office or call me at (216) 381-4850 (office) or (216) 371-4373 (home).