Members of the Mid-Hudson Psychiatric Society came together at a meeting last fall to learn more about topics essential to the practice of psychiatry and discuss a plan to inspire a new generation of people to enter the profession.
Approximately 80 district branch members gathered at the Mariner’s Harbor restaurant in Highland, N.Y., to hear information on topics ranging from depression treatment and screening to Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations—subjects that are crucial to psychiatrists’ professional lives.
Mid-Hudson District Branch President and Program Chair Randy Pardell, M.D., organized the meeting. “As program chair,” he told Psychiatric News, “I try to engage our members by offering stimulating lectures at our meetings.”
Members heard how to file an extension to the new electronic transmissions standards set forth by HIPAA. By late September, fewer than 200,000 entities covered by HIPAA had filed for the extension to the October 15 compliance deadline, according to the October 7 issue of American Medical News.
Pardell also spoke about an initiative by the Island Peer Review Organization (IPRO) to link cardiologists with psychiatrists across the United States. IPRO is a not-for-profit corporation that seeks to assess and improve the value of health care services in a number of settings. IPRO receives funding from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to implement quality-improvement initiatives with Medicare providers, practitioners, managed care plans, and beneficiaries.
The plan now under development, called the Detection and Treatment of Depression in the Cardiac Rehabilitation Setting, would teach cardiologists to recognize depression in patients recovering from heart disease at cardiology centers across the nation and refer the patients to psychiatrists for treatment. Psychiatrists would also assist cardiologists in the detection of depression in patients with heart disease. Pardell encouraged district branch members to register for the project.
In addition, members of the Mid-Hudson district branch learned of the opportunity to inspire high school students to consider a career in the mental health field by contributing to the Herman B. Snow, M.D., Scholarship Fund.
The fund, named after the former president of the district branch and director of the Hudson River Psychiatric Center in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., would provide two high school students a year with a modest sum of money to be used for college tuition.
To compete, students must have a parent who works in the mental health field and submit an essay to the scholarship committee, chaired by Leon Krakower, M.D., on any number of mental health topics. The essay contest is scheduled to begin in January. ▪
