The NAPPH (National Association of Private Psychiatric Hospitals) today--under new management. Interview by John...

When Robert L. Trachtenberg took over the executive directorship of the National Association of Private Psychiatric Hospitals some five months ago, he walked into a situation wherein several psychiatric specialty hospitals in Texas were under fire. "There were a lot of questions," Trachtenberg says, "and challenges to the credibility of psychiatric hospitals." He was referring to the Texas state investigation into abuses by personnel within psychiatric hospitals. Last year, the Texas Senate Interim Committee on Health and Human Services conducted an eight-month investigation into the conduct of the state's psychiatric hospitals after a newspaper article recounted the unconventional way in which a 14-year old boy was picked up and admitted to a psychiatric facility. After a number of public hearings, three private agencies overseeing Texas psychiatric hospitals adopted rules to prevent further problems in the areas of patient rights, fraudulent billing, patient recruitment and the admission and discharge process. The Senate Interim Committee, however, felt these rules needed to be codified into law and has drafted over 30 bills to be presented to the Texas legislature as omnibus legislation next January. Trachtenberg went to work to iron out methods to encourage better overseeing and state governance, as well as tackling the related issues of standards of care and managed care/utilization review. His background as Deputy Administrator of the Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Mental Health Administration within HHS provided him with a broad spectrum of knowledge about the field of psychiatry and its problems, and his vast experience in federal government--over 32 years of running domestic programs--enable him to have a keen sense of what can get done, and how. Health Systems REVIEW recently discussed the role of the NAPPH under its new leader, Bob Trachtenberg. What follows is an edited version of that conversation.