New Hampshire Psychiatric Society
Newsletter
Fall 2012
We exist to bring together psychiatrists to work for the benefit
of our patients and our profession.
In This Issue
President’s Message
Jeffrey C. Fetter, MD
President’s Message
Letter from the Editor
Refugee Psychiatry
Call for Award
Nominations
Vice President
NH Parity and ACA
Announcements
Contact Us
President
Jeffrey C. Fetter, MD
Now that the election is over, politicians begin to turn to the work of governing
and lawmaking, and NHPS will be working with them to advocate for our
patients and our profession.
This biennium the legislature will make weighty decisions on Medicaid
managed care, mental health center budgets, the NH Hospital budget, and many
other issues that impact your daily practice. Several bills likely to affect mental
health have not yet been made public.
There are many ways you can help. Join the NHPS Advocacy Interest Group.
Contribute to the NH Medical Society Political Action Committee. Write a
letter to your state senator with a brief story illustrating the difficulties
providing quality mental health care in the current environment. This is a small
enough state where your voice matters. Together, we can make a difference.
jfetter@crhc.org
NHPS Advocacy Day was October 18.
Kate McAllister, APA State
Legislative Liaison, trained
psychiatrists on effective mental
health advocacy strategies. Events
were held at Concord Hospital and
Dartmouth Hitchcock in Lebanon.
Newsletter Co-Editor
Len Korn, MD
Lenkorn.md@gmail.com
Executive Director
Joy Potter
Joy.potter@nhms.org
.
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Letter from the Editor
Len Korn, MD
Finally, the election is over. It seemed to go on forever. For a supporter of the Affordable Care Act
(“Obamacare”), the results are downright favorable. The NHMS, the AMA and many specialty societies were
in full support of ACA. I presume most physicians and health care workers were in favor of ACA, although I
don’t think we really know. In terms of health care in general, the results from November sixth are very
positive. The political climate in NH and the nation has changed dramatically, or has it?
We’ll have to learn to live with the many changes to come. First we’ll have to learn what the changes are, then
adapt to them. I keep hearing of the whole health care system going from fee-for-service to coordinated
systems where outcome is the key word.
The new codes for psychiatric services starting on January 1, 2013 are I think going to be positive for
psychiatry. We’ll now be able to more fully characterize the services we render and we’ll be able to get
reimbursed for the extra work we do on certain cases.
Let us hear from you.
Refugee Psychiatry Support
Any psychiatrists seeking support in managing a difficult
case with a patient in the refugee community may
participate in a monthly multidisciplinary refugee case
conference held by the DHHS Office of Minority Health in
Concord. Contact Joni Haley at jhaley@crhc.org for more
information.
Nominate a Leader
Any NHMS member may nominate a psychiatrist or a friend of mental health care for the annual NHMS
Leadership Award. Last year’s awardees were Robert M. Vidaver, MD and Judge Robert Boyle. Please see
the application page attached to this newsletter. Nominations may be sent by regular mail or by email to
joy.potter@nhms.org by December 1. Awards are presented at our annual Spring Meeting.
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Grassroots Advocacy Training 101
Hun Millard, MD
NHPS Resident Liaison
What is advocacy? In short, it is the political process by which an individual/group aims to influence public
policy. Kate McAllister, state legislative field representative of the American Psychiatric Association (APA),
came to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) to present on grassroots advocacy training – speaking
largely about advocacy in the form of directly approaching legislators. Topics covered included - how to
effectively communicate with legislators, importance of building coalitions and education on the available APA
resources.
Why should you advocate? Legislation affects patient care and the practice of medicine – your career. And
advocacy works, it makes a difference and the decisions made will affect you so this is a way to have your voice
heard. There are multiple ways to communicate with your legislators - letter writing, emails, phone messages
and face-to-face visits.
Effective writing is important to get your message heard – focus on a single issue, get to the point as soon as
possible, include the bill number if applicable and make sure to identify yourself as both a physician and a
constituent. For additional information and help with how to deliver your message, check out the APA action
center online at www.psychiatry.org/CAN.
Advocacy is a tool to educate elected officials, get your message out and to tell your story – anyone can do this
and the APA is available to support you in this endeavor.
Doug Noordsy Elected NHPS Vice President
Congratulations to Doug Noordsy, MD, on his election as Vice President of
NHPS. Doug is well known to Dartmouth medical students and residents as an
excellent teacher, and to psychiatrists across the state as a top-notch researcher
and clinician. He is Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Dartmouth, where he
also serves as the Director of Psychosis Services.
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The Affordable Care Act and Mental Health Parity in NH
Julie Clements, JD
APA Director of Regulatory Affairs
This autumn Representative John B. Hunt, who serves as Chairman of New Hampshire’s Joint Health Care
Reform Oversight Committee, sent a letter to Secretary Sebelius informing her that New Hampshire has
selected the Matthew Thornton Blue, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield plan as the state’s benchmark plan. This
means the benefits included in the Qualified Health Plans to eventually be sold on NH’s health care exchange
will largely mirror the benefits in this plan. Given this is a small group insurance plan, it is not yet required to
comply with the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008.
Now that NH has selected this plan, it’s the task of the federal Department of Health and Human Services to
evaluate the plan’s compliance with what is required of essential health benefits in the Affordable Care Act
(including coverage of ten types of health services, including mental health and substance abuse disorders, and
the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008). Where there are deficiencies, HHS will ask NH to
supplement its benchmark plan with coverage that when coupled with the existing benchmark plan, will make
the plan compliant with the ACA, and therefore, ready to be sold, but November 2013 (Enrollment would start
in November 2013 at the latest; the essential health benefits of the Qualified Health Plans must be ready for sale
by January 1, 2014). HHS intends to have a public comment period after it evaluates all states’ EHB
benchmark plan submissions.
APA will be drafting regulatory comments on behalf of the APA in response to the recommendations HHS
makes regarding the states’ selection choices. As of now, most concerning is HHS’s recommendations for the
EHB prescription drug benefit which will allow patients the choice of one drug per class. We think this is much
too limiting, especially since psychiatric patients are a very heterogeneous population.
NHPS will be working closely with APA’s Office of Governmental Relations to monitor the implementation of
ACA in New Hampshire in terms of compliance with mental health parity.
We encourage any NHPS member who has comments on the Matthew Thornton plan to write a public comment
letter directly to HHS, and to send us a copy as well. Currently APA recommends submitting any comments to
www.regulations.gov. HHS will set up a special address for these comments as the date of implementation
approaches, and we will notify you of any changes.
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Announcements
Welcome
Welcome to new NHPS members … Paul Bryant, Sibylle Delahoye, Muhammad Qureshi, Timothy Breitholtz,
Nicole Montgomery and Vijay Phalgoo
NHMS Inauguration
NHPS Members were invited to attend the NHMS Inaugural Ball on October 27th. Dr Travis Harker, a family
physician at Concord Hospital Family Health Center began his term as President and we look forward to
working closely with him. The theme of his presidency and next year’s NHMS Annual Scientific Meeting will
be “Mental Illness: A Hidden Comorbidity.”
Save the Date: Medical Student Career Roundtable
Help medical students understand the career possibilities in psychiatry, both inside and outside academia. The
Dartmouth Medical School Psychiatry Interest Group is undergoing an incredible resurgence, with over 50
members. NHMS will cosponsor a Career Roundtable on January 3, 2013 in Hanover. If you would like to join
us for dinner and discussion, please RSVP to steph.rolin@gmail.com.
Advocacy Interest Group
Join the Advocacy Interest Group and help shape the practice environment in New Hampshire. You will receive
periodic notifications of NHPS position statements, and we will help you connect to the APA’s advocacy
resources. Members are encouraged to use these tools to directly contact their state representatives and senator
in order to advocate for our patients and our profession. Please respond to joy.potter@nhms.org to learn more.
Career, Leadership, Mentorship Program
Get involved in mentoring the next generation of psychiatrists. The NHPS Career, Leadership and Mentorship
program is an exciting approach, initially pioneered by the Washington DC District Branch, to promote
meaningful mentorship relationships among psychiatrists at different stages of their careers. It will start this
Winter with an event in January, with the specific date and time to be announced. We anticipate monthly
meetings through the Spring. For more information contact Kavitha Kittu, MD at kkittu@crhc.org.
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Upcoming Meetings
NHPS Executive Council: January 2, 2013 – N.H. Medical Society Building, Concord
NHPS Executive Council: March 6, 2012 - N.H. Medical Society Building, Concord
Annual Meeting and Awards dinner in May - watch future newsletters for further information.
Did you know you can join us by videoconference? We are set up to videoconference each meeting with
Dartmouth. We can add another site close to you. You can also conference call by speaker phone. Email us at
joy.potter@nhms.org.
PRIVATE PRACTICE OPPORTUNITY IN PORTSMOUTH, NEW HAMPSHIRE
I have a practice opportunity in the lovely Seacoast New Hampshire community of Portsmouth for a
psychiatrist wanting to work privately and lease space in my office suite. I have been practicing in
Portsmouth for 38 years and am looking to share my office suite and my referral base with the right
candidate. There are opportunities to share on-call with a group of seven other psychiatrists as well
as an association with Portsmouth Regional Hospital and its inpatient psychiatric unit. I have a very
eclectic practice myself, seeing children, adolescents and adults for both psychotherapy and
psychopharmacology. I work with many other therapists in “split treatment” but also do much
individual and family treatment myself. I am active in professional issues and recently completed four
years as president of the New Hampshire Psychiatric Society. If you would be interested in exploring
this private practice opportunity, please contact Len Korn at lenkorn.md@gmail.com or 603-431-5350.
NHPS Fall Newsletter