APA dues

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F0nzie

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Resident 2013 : $195. alright
Attending 2014: $300. ok I get it
Attending 2015: $460. wtf???

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It is expensive, although sitting in on courses in my PGY-IV year about advocacy I have come to realize that state and national advocacy organizations are actually pretty important. The people writing the laws that matter a great deal to our and patients' daily lives are lawmakers who have likely never set foot in a psychiatric unit and know pretty much nothing about mental health. There are plenty of competing interests out there trying to erode the profession and we need voices like the APA to, at the very least, put a check on these interests. And a lot of what is up for debate right now (the role of NPs, prescribing for psychologists, mental health parity including in insurance and reimbursements, mass imprisonment of the severely mentally ill, on and on) can make a direct difference to our lives.

So basically since I'm not dedicating hours each week to go testify to my state legislature, write to congress, follow threatening new legislation etc. I plan to support the state and national organizations that are doing that for me as a kind of "least I can do" thing.
 
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It is expensive, although sitting in on courses in my PGY-IV year about advocacy I have come to realize that state and national advocacy organizations are actually pretty important. The people writing the laws that matter a great deal to our and patients' daily lives are lawmakers who have likely never set foot in a psychiatric unit and know pretty much nothing about mental health. There are plenty of competing interests out there trying to erode the profession and we need voices like the APA to, at the very least, put a check on these interests.

I have to disagree. The relevancy of the APA diminishes as you get further and further from training, especially if you are a "boots on the ground" clinician (which most docs are) and not a full time academic or researcher. Also, if you really look at who is "writing the law" it's not the law makers - it's the lobbyists and APA can't financially compete with the pharmaceutical and insurance company industry. It's probably to APA's advantage to work with those competing interests, but they won't advertise that part of their political work. Also, look at the ABMS MOC nonsense as a prime example of how APA is failing it's members. APA backed down from that pretty quickly once the current president took over (she has ties to the current ABPN CEO, so does the recent AACAP president), and much of MOC was pushed into the Affordable Care Act by ABMS' own lobbying (which they're not supposed to do since they are technically a non-profit). It's gross from all sides. Even on the local level, I tried to participate but it ends up just feeling like a bunch of adults playing student government to see who is the most popular. The APA isn't there for you, they're there for themselves, struggling to stay relevant in any way possible. This will become clearer once you are out of training 2 or 3 years and are board certified.
 
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Agreed. There are a few attending at my old institution who are not board-certified (they were initially but just didn't get re-certified). As a resident, I was outraged. And now I understand why.
 
I have to disagree. The relevancy of the APA diminishes as you get further and further from training, especially if you are a "boots on the ground" clinician (which most docs are) and not a full time academic or researcher. Also, if you really look at who is "writing the law" it's not the law makers - it's the lobbyists and APA can't financially compete with the pharmaceutical and insurance company industry. It's probably to APA's advantage to work with those competing interests, but they won't advertise that part of their political work. Also, look at the ABMS MOC nonsense as a prime example of how APA is failing it's members. APA backed down from that pretty quickly once the current president took over (she has ties to the current ABPN CEO, so does the recent AACAP president), and much of MOC was pushed into the Affordable Care Act by ABMS' own lobbying (which they're not supposed to do since they are technically a non-profit). It's gross from all sides. Even on the local level, I tried to participate but it ends up just feeling like a bunch of adults playing student government to see who is the most popular. The APA isn't there for you, they're there for themselves, struggling to stay relevant in any way possible. This will become clearer once you are out of training 2 or 3 years and are board certified.

Agreed.
 
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