Insight Matters
Winter, 2004

Candidate for APA Representative
Melodie Morgan-Minott, M.D.

For the past 20 years, thanks to your continued support, I have participated in and experienced the evolution of health care in this country as both a provider and a consumer. I have, through various offices which I have held in the OPA, shared my experiences with you, either directly through the newsletter or through your chapter councilors. We began in the 1980s with the importance in psychiatry in your professional organization, because changes were-a-coming and our practice patterns were never going to be the same again. This took the form of managed care, or "alphabet soup" as we naively referred to it at that time. The nineties brought about our realization of the gravity of these changes. During my presidency, I urged our members to participate in grass roots lobbying of our legislators, to report managed care abuses as well as for mental health parity. Now, in the 21st century, we are facing the loss of our medical privacy in the name of protecting that same privacy. Out sourcing private medical date has resulted in our most intimate disclosures be held for ransom by strangers willing to disclose our personal data on the internet if they don't get paid. During my tenure as an APA representative, I have brought you a close-u look at how our national organization has represented us during these times. These crises have forced us all to re-evaluate and re-prioritize our representative organizations. As in a personal crisis, we humans tend to gather our resources and go home. When our professional life as we know it is challenged, we choose the organization which most closely represents us, the one closed to home. We have seen the hemorrhage of members from the AMA and the OSMA. The APA has lost members to specialty societies. But the eyes of the country still look upon our national psychiatric organization as our representative. We must not abandon our connecting support of the organization most positioned to champion the needs of our patients or of our profession. As your APA representative, I will serve as a conduit for the needs of your patients. I appreciate your vote of confidence.

Editor's note: there is no opposing candidate.

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