The federal holiday honoring King is annually held on the third Monday in January.
The executive body of a prominent nationwide healthcare organization has issued a formal apology for what it described as a history of racism, the announcement coinciding with the federal holiday honoring the life and work of civil-rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The American Psychiatric Association (APA) Board of Trustees made the announcement on Monday, citing a historical track record of “enabling discriminatory and prejudicial actions within APA, and racist practices in psychiatric treatment for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC).” The apology was addressed to APA members, patients, their families, and the public, and was accompanied by a document outlining specific practices and policies it said were at fault, dating “to the time of the founding of the APA” in 1844.
“The Board is issuing this document on Martin Luther King Jr. Day because we hope that it honors his life’s work of reconciliation and equality,” APA President Jeffrey Geller, M.D., M.P.H., said in a statement accompanying a press release. “We do not take that legacy or his call to action lightly.”
In the statement, APA’s trustees acknowledged that early psychiatric practices laid the groundwork for “inequities in clinical treatment that have historically limited access to quality psychiatric care for BIPOC.”
“These actions sadly connect with larger social issues, such as race-based discrimination and racial injustice, that have furthered poverty along with other adverse outcomes,” the statement read. “Since APA’s inception, practitioners have at times subjected persons of African descent and Indigenous people who suffered from mental illness to abusive treatment, experimentation, (and) victimization in the name of ‘scientific evidence,’ along with racialized theories that attempted to confirm their deficit status. Similar race-based discrepancies in care also exist in medical practice today, as evidenced by the variations in schizophrenia diagnosis between white and BIPOC patients, for instance.”
“Unfortunately, APA has historically remained silent on these issues,” the statement continued. “As the leading American organization in psychiatric care, APA recognizes that this inaction has contributed to perpetuation of structural racism that has adversely impacted not just its own BIPOC members, but also psychiatric patients across America. We hope this apology will be a turning point as we strive to make the future of psychiatry more equitable for all.”
The apology is part of an initiative spearheaded by Geller soon after he became APA President last April, with a goal of addressing structural racism in psychiatry – and ultimately eradicating it. The initiative involved, among other actions, forming a task force with stated goals to provide education and resources on APA’s and psychiatry’s history regarding structural racism; to explain the current impact of structural racism on the mental health of patients and colleagues; to develop achievable recommendations for change to eliminate structural racism in APA and psychiatry, now and in the future; and to provide reports with specific recommendations for achievable actions to the APA Board of Trustees at each of its meetings through May.
“Many will argue this apology should have come sooner,” Geller said. “That said, the events of 2020 – the killings of Black people by police, the health inequities laid bare by the pandemic – were an eye-opener for many among our membership, and a clarion call that it was past time to take action.”
The APA boasts a membership of nearly 39,000 professionals nationwide; its four-pronged mission statement proclaims goals of promoting the highest-quality care for individuals with mental illness, including substance use disorders, and their families; promoting psychiatric education and research; advancing and representing the profession of psychiatry; and serving the professional needs of its membership.
First observed in 1986, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is held annually on the third Monday of January, roughly coinciding with Dr. King’s birthday of Jan. 15. It is one of only three federal holidays honoring individual people (George Washington and Christopher Columbus are the two others), and one of only two national days of service designated by the federal government to promote volunteer citizen action to benefit others (the September 11 National Day of Service is the other).
Born in Atlanta in 1929, King rose to national prominence as the face of the national civil rights movement, which culminated with the passage of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964. A recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize that same year, reflecting his commitment to the tenets of nonviolence and civil disobedience, he continued to advocate for progressive causes and labor rights until his assassination in 1968.
The APA also announced Monday that it will be holding a town hall, titled “Structural Racism & Psychiatric Residency Training: Recruitment, Retention, and Development,” scheduled for Monday, Feb. 8 at 8 p.m. EST. Panelists will address the “disproportionate number of minority psychiatrists, their experiences in different practice settings, and why having diversity in the psychiatric workforce psychiatry is important for everyone.”
To read the APA’s statement in its entirety, go online to https://www.psychiatry.org/newsroom/apa-apology-for-its-support-of-structural-racism-in-psychiatry.
It’s no secret to any of us that there has been quite a bit of recent disagreement between the opposing sides of the political aisle
I’m going to skip over the topic of the hour with the government shutdown and address two actions the federal government has taken in the
Please log in to your account to comment on this article.
Expert presenters Kathy Pride, RHIT, CPC, CCS-P, CPMA, and Brandi Russell, RHIA, CCS, COC, CPMA, break down complex fracture care coding rules, walk through correct modifier application (-25, -57, 54, 55), and clarify sequencing for initial and subsequent encounters. Attendees will gain the practical knowledge needed to submit clean claims, ensure compliance, and stay one step ahead of payer audits in 2026.
Accurately determining the principal diagnosis is critical for compliant billing, appropriate reimbursement, and valid quality reporting — yet it remains one of the most subjective and error-prone areas in inpatient coding. In this expert-led session, Cheryl Ericson, RN, MS, CCDS, CDIP, demystifies the complexities of principal diagnosis assignment, bridging the gap between coding rules and clinical reality. Learn how to strengthen your organization’s coding accuracy, reduce denials, and ensure your documentation supports true medical necessity.
Denials continue to delay reimbursement, increase administrative burden, and threaten financial stability across healthcare organizations. This essential webcast tackles the root causes—rising payer scrutiny, fragmented workflows, inconsistent documentation, and underused analytics—and offers proven, data-driven strategies to prevent and overturn denials. Attendees will gain practical tools to strengthen documentation and coding accuracy, engage clinicians effectively, and leverage predictive analytics and AI to identify risks before they impact revenue. Through real-world case examples and actionable guidance, this session empowers coding, CDI, and revenue cycle professionals to shift from reactive appeals to proactive denial prevention and revenue protection.
Sepsis remains one of the most frequently denied and contested diagnoses, creating costly revenue loss and compliance risks. In this webcast, Angela Comfort, DBA, MBA, RHIA, CDIP, CCS, CCS-P, provides practical, real-world strategies to align documentation with coding guidelines, reconcile Sepsis-2 and Sepsis-3 definitions, and apply compliant queries. You’ll learn how to identify and address documentation gaps, strengthen provider engagement, and defend diagnoses against payer scrutiny—equipping you to protect reimbursement, improve SOI/ROM capture, and reduce audit vulnerability in this high-risk area.
Join Ronald Hirsch, MD, FACP, CHCQM for The PEPPER Returns – Risk and Opportunity at Your Fingertips, a practical webcast that demystifies the PEPPER and shows you how to turn complex claims data into actionable insights. Dr. Hirsch will explain how to interpret key measures, identify compliance risks, uncover missed revenue opportunities, and understand new updates in the PEPPER, all to help your organization stay ahead of audits and use this powerful data proactively.
Stay ahead of the 2026-2027 audit surge with “Top 10 Audit Targets for 2026-2027 for Hospitals & Physicians: Protect Your Revenue,” a high-impact webcast led by Michael Calahan, PA, MBA. This concise session gives hospitals and physicians clear insight into the most likely federal audit targets, such as E/M services, split/shared and critical care, observation and admissions, device credits, and Two-Midnight Rule changes, and shows how to tighten documentation, coding, and internal processes to reduce denials, recoupments, and penalties. Attendees walk away with practical best practices to protect revenue, strengthen compliance, and better prepare their teams for inevitable audits.
As AI reshapes healthcare compliance, the risk of biased outputs and opaque decision-making grows. This webcast, led by Frank Cohen, delivers a practical Four-Pillar Governance Framework—Transparency, Accountability, Fairness, and Explainability—to help you govern AI-driven claim auditing with confidence. Learn how to identify and mitigate bias, implement robust human oversight, and document defensible AI review processes that regulators and auditors will accept. Discover concrete remedies, from rotation protocols to uncertainty scoring, and actionable steps to evaluate vendors before contracts are signed. In a regulatory landscape that moves faster than ever, gain the tools to stay compliant, defend your processes, and reduce liability while maintaining operational effectiveness.
Get clear, practical answers to Medicare’s most confusing regulations. Join Dr. Ronald Hirsch as he breaks down real-world compliance challenges and shares guidance your team can apply right away.
Get 15% OFF on all educational webcasts at ICD10monitor with code JULYFOURTH24 until July 4, 2024—start learning today!
Happy National Doctor’s Day! Learn how to get a complimentary webcast on ‘Decoding Social Admissions’ as a token of our heartfelt appreciation! Click here to learn more →
CYBER WEEK IS HERE! Don’t miss your chance to get 20% off now until Dec. 1 with code CYBER25
CYBER WEEK IS HERE! Don’t miss your chance to get 20% off now until Dec. 2 with code CYBER24
