Delegates from these states believed these issues could be better addressed on a local level. Rather, he said the AMA relies on preliminary figures developed by the Congressional Budget Office. Psychiatrists have been hit hard by managed care and often marginalized when it comes to allocation of health care dollars. A nationwide collective bargaining unit solely comprising psychiatrists could restore financial losses that have accrued over the years, while at the same time improving patient access to quality care. William Glazer, M.D., president of Glazer Medical Solutions, which is based in New York and Massachusetts, is clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and has been involved with concerns over quality of health care since 1978.
Psychiatry can empower itself and regain the authority that it deserves.
This should be thought about and executed as soon as possible. Nevertheless, Glazer questions whether the profession will successfully grasp the current opportunities. Although he acknowledges that psychiatrists are more ready now than before to collaborate, they still hesitate when it comes to taking on the system. There are reasons to be skeptical. When the AMA House of Delegates took on the issue, the psychiatry delegates voted their consciences in the absence of policy directives from the APA or the Section Council on Psychiatry.