On Wednesday, June 4, 2008, GNYHA hosted its Annual Reception and Awards Ceremony. Inspired by the theme of this year’s event, A Salute to the Physician Training Capital of the World, GNYHA chose to honor three alumni of the region’s graduate medical education programs for exemplifying the contributions of all physicians who have trained in New York. The honorees were given the opportunity to thank and recognize the physicians that mentored and inspired them throughout their education and careers.

•  Click here to learn more about the physicians honored at GNYHA's 2008 event.

 

 

 

                   

On May 22, the Senate passed, by a bipartisan vote of 75-22, a critical amendment to its war supplemental spending package that included  the Protecting the Medicaid Safety Net Act of 2008 (H.R. 5613). The amendment, strongly supported by GNYHA, prevents the implementation of seven damaging Medicaid regulations promulgated by the Administration. The Senate later approved the overall war supplemental bill and sent it to the House. By a vote of 256-166, the House on May 15 passed a critical amendment to its war supplemental spending package; however, the  House did not pass its overall war supplemental bill, so the House is expected to consider the Senate bill when it returns from the Memorial Day recess on June 3.  While the current moratoria on two regulations—to eliminate Federal Medicaid funding for graduate medical education and to curtail funding for public providers—expire on May 25, Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt has pledged that the Bush Administration will not implement these two regulations until August 1. GNYHA will continue to work with Congress to enact moratoria on all seven Medicaid regulations as soon as Congress returns in June.

 

 

 

On June 10 and July 9, GNYHA, in conjunction with the Healthcare Association of New York State, will be hosting training sessions on the implementation of Ambulatory Patient Groups (APGs) as the new payment methodology for Medicaid outpatient services. The New York State (NYS) Department of Health (DOH), 3M (the developer of APGs), and Computer Sciences Corporation (the claims adjudicator for the NYS Medicaid program) will provide the training.

The State budget agreement for fiscal year 2008-2009 requires the implementation of APGs beginning with hospital outpatient clinic services on December 1, 2008, with a four year phase-in. The implementation of APGs is the first major change to the New York Medicaid outpatient reimbursement methodology in more than 20 years and will require hospitals to make significant changes to their internal billing and receivables management systems for outpatient Medicaid services.

• Click here for more information, including registration, for the Ambulatory Patient Groups for Medicaid Training Sessions.

 

CRITICAL CARE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS AND CONFERENCES
Date	Educational Session and Lead Faculty
June 17, 2008	Burn Care for Critical Care Staff Joseph Cooke, M.D., NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center Surgical Care for Medical Fellows John McNelis, M.D., Winthrop University Hospital

More than 5 million patients are admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) in the United States each year, accounting for almost 30%, or $180 billion, of acute care hospital costs annually. In November 2006, GNYHA and UHF developed the Critical Care Leadership Network (CCLN), a forum created to build a regional critical care infrastructure to improve patient care and standardize staff education, protocols, and services.

GNYHA and UHF are offering a series of critical care educational programs as part of the initiatives developed through the CCLN. The first set of programs—the CCLN Educational Series—consists of in-depth training sessions on a variety of specialty critical care topics.

For more information, contact Zeynep Sumer at GNYHA, zsumer@gnyha.org.