APS COMMITTEES

FOR 2012-2013

Following are the Committee members for Arizona Psychiatric Society for 2012-2013.  If you are interested in contributing by serving on one of these Committees, please contact the administrative office.  Your input is welcome.

Communications

  Tariq Ghafoor, Chair

  Edward Gentile (Public Affairs)

  Bennett Blum (Public Affairs)

  Don Fowls (Public Affairs)

  Amie Kafer (Facebook)

  Tariq Ghafoor (Website)

  Robin Reesal (Newsletter Chair)

  Betsy Kohlhepp (Newsletter)

  Gretchen Alexander (Newsletter)

Legislative

  Jack Potts, Chair

  Betsy Kohlhepp

  Carol Olson

  Michael Brennan

  Don Fowls

  Roland Segal

  Jay Bastani

  Edward Gentile

Forensic

  Jack Potts, Chair

  Betsy Kohlhepp

  Jay Bastani

  Bennett Blum

  Roland Segal

Nomination

  Carol Olson, Chair

  Jack Potts

  Betsy Kohlhepp

  Gretchen Alexander

Member-in-Training

  Felicitas Koster, Chair

  Mona Amini

Ethics

  Tariq Ghafoor, Chair

  Jack Potts

  Betsy Kohlhepp

  Robin Reesal

  Bennett Blum

  Carlos Carrera

  Sami Ahad

Early Career Psychiatrist

  Thomas Cyriac, Co-Chair

  Carlos Carrera, Co-Chair

  Payam Sadr

  Martin Kassell

  Joanna Kowalik

  Laura Harrington

  Amie Kafer

  Edward Gentile (Recruitment/

     Training/Outreach)

  Gretchen Alexander (R/T/O)

Education

  Tariq Ghafoor, Chair

  Gretchen Alexander

  Michael Brennan

  Payam Sadr

  Emerson Bueno

  Joanna Kowalik

  Amie Kafer

  Ole Thienhaus

Membership

  Payam Sadr, Chair

  Jay Bastani

  Tariq Ghafoor

  Joanna Kowalik

  William James

  Martin Kassell

  Matthew Klein

Events and Programs

  Gretchen Alexander, Chair

  Gurjot Marwah

APA Assembly

  Jay Bastani, Representative

  Joanna Kowalik, Deputy

     Representative

ArMA Representatives

   Mike Stumpf

   Elizabeth Kohlhepp

Bylaws (Governance Documents)

  Gretchen Alexander, Chair

  Roland Segal

  Joanna Kowalik

  Teri Harnisch, Staff

Community Liaison

  Max Dine

APS Staff:

Teri Harnisch, Executive Director

(602-347-6903, teri@azmedassn.org)

INSTITUTE PSYCHIATRIC SERVICES

 2012 IPS MEETING

REGISTER NOW FOR NEW YORK 2012! 

The Institute on Psychiatric Services is APA's leading educational conference on clinical issues and community mental health to meet the service needs of people with severe mental health. This four-day event will feature more than 100 expertly-led educational sessions on a variety of topics, popular networking activities, and exhibits that complement the educational program.   The 2012 IPS meeting qualifies for approximately 27 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™.

The American Psychiatric Association is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians. The APA designates this live activity for a maximum of 27 AMA PRA category 1 credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

• Register online at 
• www.psychiatry.org/learn/institute-on-psychiatric-services
• Register by fax at 703-907-1097
• Register by mail by sending registration form with payment (payable to APA) to:

American Psychiatric Association IPS Meeting

1000 Wilson Blvd, Suite 1825

Arlington, VA 22209

Mailed and faxed forms will not be accepted after September 14, 2012.

Early Bird Registration Deadline:  JULY 27

Advance Registration Deadline:  SEPTEMBER 14

Registration is accepted online only after September 14 and considered "onsite".

ARIZONA PSYCHIATRIC SOCIETY NEWSLETTER

Summer 2012

APS Member,

After considering feedback from the ECP Committee on the importance of feeling connected as a Society, the Executive Council voted to continue mailing and e-mailing the Newsletter to our membership.  We will continue to assess the best way to improve member communications, and always appreciate your feedback on the same.  As you will note from the headlines "In This Issue," there are a wide variety of news items in this Summer Newsletter.  We hope you enjoy the update. 

At the conclusion of the 2012 session of the APA Annual Meeting, my term as President of the Arizona Psychiatric Society came to an end.  It was a pleasure and a privilege to have served the APS membership this year, and I feel confident that the Society is moving forward into a new year with resources and momentum that will serve us well.  Our accomplishments in the last year include hiring a new Executive Director, creating a template for addressing scope of practice issues, updating the Society's Bylaws, and starting the process of transitioning our website host to a platform that will better serve our membership.  Our Members' Social this winter and our Annual Meeting this spring were both well-attended, and we hope to make the Members' Social an annual event.   In all of these endeavors, we were very ably assisted by our Executive Director, Teri Harnisch, as well as the leadership of the Arizona Medical Association.

It is my hope that the APS will continue our trend of increasing member engagement in the coming years.  We are practicing during a time of significant change in the health care field. These changes have the potential to profoundly affect our patients' care and how we are able to deliver that care.  We have potential opportunities to affect how change occurs in our profession, but only if we, through organizations such as the APS, stay engaged with each other and organized to advocate for our patients and our profession.

In the coming year, our Society will be in good hands under the leadership of our new President, Tariq Ghafoor, who has been a constructive presence on our Executive Council for several years. I encourage all APS members to stay engaged by attending APS events, volunteering to serve on committees, and most importantly, reaching out to each other.

Respectfully, 

Gretchen Alexander, M.D., Past President

It is with great sense of honor and humility that I initiate my tenure as the elected leader of the District Branch of our parent organization, American Psychiatric Association. As President of the Arizona Psychiatric Society for the next twelve or so months, I am committing to try my level best to serve the needs of our professional organization, and even more importantly, you, the members, the lifeline of our Society. Many, if not most, of us are so busy in our respective work and lives that we tend to lose touch with our professional colleagues, and often we are not well informed as to what's going on in the world of economics, politics, and legislative/legal arenas that can have significant impact on the way we practice psychiatry. Most of us have already seen major changes, depending on our years in the career, in the way (mental) health care delivery reimbursement systems have evolved over the last couple of decades. But, we also well know that what we are going to witness in the coming months and years will probably pale in comparison to anything else we have experienced.  Here, we are obviously talking about the sea of change in the national health care delivery system that is already well underway. Specifically relevant to our field is the talk that health care delivery will be under the umbrella of a medical setting and the psychiatrist role will be a consultant or coordinator to such settings. It goes without saying that resources are extremely strained and market forces may leave the role of psychiatrist in such a setting poorly or not fully defined as the models are evolving. As such, we as members need to be keenly aware of and active in these coming changes since it will impact the way we practice psychiatry.  I believe the best way to be aware of professionally relevant activities and challenges and ready for timely action is to stay connected. As such, it will be my first and foremost focus to stay in touch with the membership, and in return I ask you do the same. Be involved, stay in touch. 

Tariq Ghafoor, M.D., President 

Our thanks to Dr. Gurjot Marwah for agreeing to be featured in the Society Newsletter feature, "Meet your Fellow APS Member."  Dr. Marwah is in private practice, and she has recently agreed to serve as an ECP Mentor and also to participate on the Events Committee.  If you have a suggestion for a member to profile, please contact teri@azmedassn.org. 

Dr. Gurjot Marwah is a psychiatrist practicing for the last 10 years in Tempe, Arizona. Her private practice is named Healing Minds PLC.  When young and growing up in India, she wanted to pursue a degree in English Literature but, when she won the honor of being her high school valedictorian and scored among the top .1% in India her parents, realizing her potential gently prodded her to consider pre-med studies. Her father, S.S Misha was a much celebrated poet who wrote in her native language, Punjabi, and was bestowed the highest literary award of the nation by the government of India. Her mother is a retired dean of a college. When Gurjot was seventeen, her father's sudden demise made her decide to pursue her father's dream. At the age of 23 she received her M.B.B.S degree from Government Medical College, Amritsar which is one of the oldest medical schools of India and was established in 1864. At 24, she moved to America and has been an Arizona native since 1996.

Dr. Marwah may be reached at healingmindsplc@aol.com. 

Korn/Ferry International Futurestep is conducting a Medical Director search on behalf of a leading Behavioral Health Services organization in Arizona. We are looking for a board certified or board eligible psychiatrist to lead our client's Utilization Management function. This is a highly visible and critical role that will impact patient care in the region. Past experience with utilization management is preferred but not required. Psychiatrists interested in exploring this opportunity should contact Kevin Palisi at 203.406.8733 or email Kevin.palisi@futurestep.com.   

At the March 31, 2012 Annual Meeting of the Arizona Psychiatric Society, the following officers were elected by the membership to serve as Executive Officers of APS for 2012-2013:

President:  Tariq Ghafoor, M.D.

President-Elect: Joanna Kowalik, M.D., M.P.H.

Vice President: Payam M. Sadr, M.D. 

Treasurer: Emerson B. Bueno, M.D., F.A.P.A.

Secretary: Roland Segal, M.D.

Felicitas Koster, D.O. - MIT Representative

Gretchen Alexander, M.D. will automatically move from President to Past President.

These officers began their terms at the close of the 2013 Annual APA Meeting (May 2013).  The term of the APA Assembly Rep., Jehangir B. Bastani, M.D., D.L.F.A.P.A., automatically continues for an additional year, ending at the close of the 2013 Annual APA Meeting (May 2013).  Joanna Kowalik, as President-Elect, automatically serves as the APA Deputy Rep.  We thank these members for their contributions to the Society, on behalf of the membership, in serving as the Executive Officers. 

The new deadline for paying APA membership dues is JUNE 30.  Your membership will automatically lapse that date unless you are enrolled in the APA Scheduled Payment Plan.  Exceptions will be made for members whose employers will pay with funds that are not available until July.  If questions, visit the APA website under the Membership link or call the APA directly at 1-888-357-7924.  

MIT - 100% Club

Residency program directors will receive information in June regarding the benefits of the APA 100% Club.  Any program with 100% membership (new and renewed) by October 31st will receive numerous recognition and benefits, including a free "Focus" subscription, which runs on a calendar year.

ECP - Dues Restructure

To support and encourage membership in APS during early career years, effective with the 2012 dues billing, APS enacted a dues restructure of local dues for Years 1 through 3. Local dues for Years 1 through 3 will be $50, $100, and $150, respectively, with full local APS dues of $250 dues in Year 4 and thereafter. 

Mentors for MIT/ECP Members

The ECP Committee recently reached out to current Council and APS members, and several of them have volunteered to be available to our early career members as mentors to answer questions and lend a personal insight to the psychiatry career track.  Please call or e-mail Teri at 602-347-6903 or teri@azmedassn.org with the nature of your mentor question (public or private psychiatry, academic, etc.) and the best way for a mentor to contact you.  If you are an APS member interested in serving as a mentor, please contact Teri.  Your support of our early career members is valued greatly.

Medical Transcription:  34 years' exp in Psychiatry, Forensic Psychiatry, and Psychology ▪  140 wpm ▪ Accurate, dependable ▪  HIPAA compliant encryption used to send and receive data. Current AZ references available ▪ Laura Arntz, 503-260-6506, oregonbranch@gmail.com  

Mental Health America, Arizona Chapter closed its doors about two years ago.  There has been an interest by community advocates to revive the Chapter and to promote development of a recognized community voice on behavioral health issues in Arizona.  In order to promote a community voice on behavioral health issues, we will meet on Wednesday, July 11, at 4 pm with the location under development.  The goal is to meet on a regular basis, perhaps quarterly, with interested groups to determine what policy agendas have been developed and to ascertain what issues can be worked on together.   Should you wish to participate in the upcoming meeting, please contact Eddie Sissons at 602-712-9200 x204 or by e-mail at eddies@azabc.org.