In addition to making our commitment to core values apparent in all our work, I will focus on the integration of psychologists and psychological science into comprehensive health care. I have three initiatives in this regard, all focused on identifying psychologists as leaders and taking on new roles in the new health care system in the U.S. First, I will convene the leaders of the all the health professional associations involved in primary care to develop next steps to advance integrated primary care nationally. This meeting will take place at APA headquarters on April 8-9, 2016, and showcase psychology, as well as deal with cutting-edge issues around: improving team functioning; increasing health equity; optimizing new payment models; interprofessional education; research and evaluation; and policies to sustain integrated primary care. I hope that this collaboration will be beneficial in other legislative and regulatory matters beyond integrated care.
I will also appoint a working group to highlight the best of current practice in integrated specialty care, featuring the work of early career psychologists. Another working group will be appointed to outline the benefits, the barriers and the possible curricula to interprofessional education in integrated care. Finally, I will appoint a third working group to report on cutting-edge issues in team science, including the study of research, clinical and other work teams.