Former APA president Joseph T. English, M.D., has been appointed by the American Medical Association (AMA) to serve as a commissioner on the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). English, who served as APA president from May 1992 to May 1993 and has been APA’s senior representative within the AMA’s House of Delegates for the last several years, will be the first psychiatrist to sit on the JCAHO board.
“This is a tribute to Joe’s skills and recognition of his high standing and respect within the AMA,” APA President Richard Harding M.D., told Psychiatric News. “It is also indicative of an increasing awareness in the House of Medicine of the importance of psychiatric issues within JCAHO. This represents a unique opportunity for a psychiatrist to represent our patients and our specialty on the governing board of the joint commission.”
“This really is a historic and momentous time for American psychiatry,” said English. “I am indeed proud to be able to participate in any way I can to represent the best interests of our patients and our profession.”
English is chair of the department of psychiatry and behavioral health sciences at St. Vincent’s Catholic Medical Centers of New York and is professor and chair of psychiatry and associate dean at New York Medical College, as well as adjunct professor of psychiatry at Cornell University School of Medicine.
“The appointment of Dr. English by the AMA,” APA Medical Director Steven Mirin, M.D., told Psychiatric News, “will allow him to lend his psychiatric perspective to the policymaking at JCAHO. It further demonstrates just how much progress APA has made in building solid relationships and credibility within the AMA.”
JCAHO commissioners generally serve renewable three-year terms. The board consists of 28 members, including members of the medical and allied health professions, administrators, insurance industry representatives, educators, ethicists, and health care consumers.
Corporate members of the board are allotted seats to which they make appointments and include not only the AMA, but also the American Hospital Association, the American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine, the American College of Surgeons, and the American Dental Association.
The AMA holds seven of the 28 seats, four of which are held by members of the AMA’s Board of Trustees, with the remaining three being appointed from nominations that the AMA board invites from member state and specialty societies. English was unanimously chosen from a group of nine nominees for the open seat. His term will begin in January 2002.
More information on JCAHO is posted on the Web at www.jcaho.org. ▪
