After 64 years as the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine, in April 2018 the Academy changed its name to the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry (ACLP). Nearly simultaneously, the change of name for the subspecialty was also adopted by ABMS and ABPN, in a carefully managed and well-publicized strategy to realign the Academy with its original identity.
The “new” name for the subspecialty is actually the old name. Consultation-liaison psychiatry developed several decades ago at a time when most of the clinical work was in inpatient medical-surgical units. For a variety of reasons, the Academy could not adopt the term “consultation-liaison psychiatry” prior to April 2018, but with the strong expression of support of our members, and that of the APA, ABPN and ABMS, the change became possible and was vigorously pursued.
James Rundell, MD, FACLP, Academy president during the name change commented at the time, “changing the Academy’s name to ACLP brings the organization into alignment with the ABMS’s renaming of the subspecialty and expresses the will of a very large majority of our membership. Consultation-Liaison psychiatrists are at the forefront of integrated medical and psychiatric practice, and have the medical knowledge, training, and experience to function effectively in all inpatient and outpatient primary care and specialty services in this critically important arena.”