At the State Hospital Review and Planning Council (SHRPC) meeting held on April 6, 2000, New York State Department of Health (DOH) Office of Health Systems Management Director Wayne Osten discussed GNYHA and other associations' concerns regarding the proliferation of freestanding ambulatory surgery centers. He stated that since the moratorium on the approval of such centers ended in 1998, the number of centers has tripled. At the next SHRPC Project Review Committee meeting, to be held on May 18, 2000, DOH staff will provide a report on the status of the ambulatory surgery center approvals in the last two years and their impact on existing acute care providers.

Commissioner's Report: DOH Commissioner Antonia Novello, M.D., M.P.H., stated that reducing medical errors is one of DOH's priorities and recognized GNYHA for its program on medical errors held on April 5, 2000.

Adult Day Health Care: SHRPC approved DOH's recommendations for changes in the adult day health care (ADHC) emergency regulations that were first approved on February 3, 2000. Among the changes were 1) permitting certain ADHC registrants to attend programs fewer than five hours, provided a majority of registrants attend five hours or longer; 2) permitting programs to admit registrants up to 10% above the approved capacity of the program on a given day, provided that the average annual occupancy does not exceed the annual approved capacity for the program; and 3) eliminating a requirement for programs to conduct registrant reviews that duplicate existing continued-stay assessments of registrants. With respect to ADHC reimbursement, DOH is pursuing changes outside of the regulatory process. These changes will include modifications to the existing method of payment for ADHC transportation, pursuant to the recommendations of a Transportation Workgroup. The Workgroup, which includes GNYHA member representatives, met on Monday, April 10, 2000, in Albany, and is expected to issue recommendations by early June 2000.

Member Projects: SHRPC approved the following GNYHA member projects -- Shorefront Jewish Geriatric Center, expansion of its existing long term home health care program in Kings County by 100 long term home health care registrants and initiation of programs for 100 registrants for each of New York and Queens counties; and The Jewish Guild for the Blind-Guild Home for the Aged Blind, initiation of a long term home health care program for 100 registrants in Manhattan and 100 registrants in Brooklyn.