The New York State Department of Health (DOH) recently published extensive revisions and additions to the regulations pertaining to Emergency and Cardiac Services, as well as the Planning and Need Methodology regulations related to these services. Changes and advancements in the provision of cardiac care have occurred since these regulations were last adopted, rendering them outdated and incomplete. Procedures such as Percutaneous Coronary Interventions (PCI) and cardiac electrophysiology (EP), for example, were still being developed when previous regulations were adopted. While guidelines pertaining to these procedures were implemented, regulatory criteria for these highly specialized procedures did not exist. The changes to the regulations focus on improving cardiac services, and are available here: http://www.dos.state.ny.us/info/register/2009/nov4/pdf/rules.pdf.

GNYHA has continued to keep members informed as the cardiac regulations have changed over the past year. A forthcoming member letter bulletin will offer a comprehensive summary highlighting the key provisions of the newly revised regulations and be available on GNYHA’s Web site. For more information, please contact Lorraine Ryan (ryan@gynha.org).