Federal News & Issues

Apr 02, 2020

With more than 800,000 physicians across 45 specialties, the Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS) strongly urges action to ensure safer working conditions for physicians and other healthcare professionals on the frontline of direct patient care.

CMSS and its member societies believe that adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) should be a fundamental expectation for all frontline healthcare professionals:

CMSS and its member societies urge federal, state and local authorities to ensure an adequate supply and distribution of PPE for every frontline healthcare professional in the United States. Physicians and other healthcare professionals can and should expect their institutions to provide appropriate means to limit occupational exposure. Physicians and other healthcare professionals should be allowed to bring...

Mar 27, 2020

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. House of Representatives today passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) a $2 trillion stimulus aid package to provide fiscal relief for Americans and businesses in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill, which passed the Senate Wednesday, includes many provisions supported by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) that will enable health care professionals and communities to better respond to the pandemic, including some that will bolster mental health care.

“You can’t have a healthy economy without healthy people—and that includes mental health,” said APA President Bruce Schwartz, M.D. “This stimulus bill will strengthen our ability to help the millions of Americans with existing mental illnesses or substance use disorders, and more with...