Federal News & Issues

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 4, 2020 – The American Psychiatric Association (APA) today issued guidance on the admittance and release of psychiatric patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. The guidance is in response to efforts to either deny admittance to or prematurely release psychiatric patients under the guise of avoiding COVID-19 infection.

“It is simply irresponsible to prematurely release patients with serious mental illness from psychiatric inpatient settings into communities ill-prepared to treat them,” said APA President Jeffrey Geller, M.D., M.P.H. “Every patient should be in an environment where they receive treatment, care and supervision appropriate to their needs. Inpatient psychiatric units and hospitals are not hotbeds of COVID-19 infection, and in many instances are the safest alternative in the community.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a joint statement, emergency medicine and other leading medical associations, academics and psychiatry experts outline steps to support the mental health of emergency physicians and other health professionals currently risking their lives to treat patients during this pandemic.

As important as providing personal protective equipment is the need to ensure the mental health of our frontline clinicians is attended to during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said American Psychiatric Association (APA) President Jeffrey Geller, M.D., M.P.H. “Each health care professional should seek help if needed without hesitation, and should be helped to do so by a colleague if such...