On January 6, GNYHA staff and several CEOs from GNYHA member hospitals met with NYC Council Speaker Gifford Miller and Council Member Christine Quinn, Chair of the City Council's Heath Committee, and several other Health Committee members, to discuss the pressing issues facing hospitals in NYC, and to begin to develop an agenda of common goals that the Council and GNYHA members can actively address together. The meeting included a briefing on the financial health of the hospital industry; the challenges hospitals face in preparing for nuclear, biological, and chemical attacks; GNYHA's role in coordinating emergency preparedness efforts with its members and City, State, and Federal officials; joint advocacy efforts that can be undertaken in Albany to protect Medicaid funding; and Speaker Gifford's and Council Member Quinn's interest in supporting the efforts of GNYHA's members to attract and retain health care workers.

GNYHA appreciates the time Speaker Miller, Council Member Quinn, and the members of the Health Committee took for the meeting, and looks forward to continuing to work together.