Summer, 2010
From Your Chapter President
Dear Colleagues:
Thank you very much for allowing me the privilege of serving as the President of the New York State Chapter, ACC for the past sixteen months. Downstate Governor, Dr. Andrew VanTosh and I will switch roles after our October Council meeting. I will then assume his role as President of The New York Cardiological Society, which is our educational organization. He will be your new New York State Chapter President.
As you know, we have moved the location of the Annual October Scientific Session to Albany in 2010. Attendance had been falling at the Manhattan location, and I hope you will support this symposium --THE BEST OF THE EMPIRE STATE -- featuring all great New York State speakers on Saturday, October 16, 2010. It will be an outstanding program, convenient to everybody who lives near I.87, I.90, or I.88. Not all that bad for I.81 or 86 either. Please support this new location and help us make this a big success. It is an ideal opportunity to interact with your colleagues, and to meet fellows in training from around the state.
My term has been dominated by health care reform issues and I have some concern that the ACC chose a path that was so committed to opposing change that we now find ourselves at risk of missing the opportunity to become part of that change. We need to work better with, rather than mainly push against, the political environment that our democratic system has given us via our elected officials. Such an approach will make us a stronger, more relevant organization and, in reality, it's our only viable option if we want to have input into the solutions.
Finally,
the election for Upstate and Downstate Governors is coming up. The
first year term as governor-elect starts in March, 2011. I encourage
you to run if you meet the qualifications and also to consider running for
district councilor if you would like to participate more in the New York
State Chapter. We need young and creative blood in our organization to
keep it vibrant.
Again,
many thanks for the honor of being your New York State Chapter, ACC
President.
Warmest regards,
John
Bisognano, MD, PhD, FACC
University
of Rochester Medical Center
Rochester,
New York
CARDIOLOGY 2010:
THE BEST OF THE EMPIRE STATE
The 82nd Annual Scientific Session of The New York Cardiological Society and the 20th Annual Meeting of the New York State Chapter, American College of Cardiology, CARDIOLOGY 2010: THE BEST OF THE EMPIRE STATE, will be held on Saturday, October 16, 2010 from 9:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. at The Desmond Hotel and Conference Center in Albany, New York. The program will include presentations by cardiovascular experts from New York State in a wide ranging set of fields. Among the topics to be addressed are New York State’s role in the forefront, worldwide, in the areas of both cardiovascular research and patient care; New York State’s long history of dealing with budgetary restraints and their impact and effect upon the delivery of health care; and the state of the New York State hospital system including how the situation has been handled over the years and the impact upon patient care.
Speakers include the following: William E. Boden, MD, FACC - Update on Courage and Other Trials; Leonard N. Girardi, MD - Thoracic Aortic Aneurysms: Current Indications and Techniques; Arthur J. Moss, MD, FACC - Saving Lives and Preventing Heart Failure: The Family of MADIT Trials ; Manish Parikh, MD, FACC - Update on Acute Coronary Syndromes: 2010; and Mary Therriault, RN, MS - Connecting the Dots: How Quality of Care and Hospital Finances Interrelate. Additionally there will be a Fellow’s Case Presentation presented by Angelo Pedulla, MD - Treating Cardiogenic Shock: A Chilling Experience.
The target audience includes cardiologists, internists, family practitioners, cardiac nurse practitioners, physician assistants, cardiology fellows in training and all member of the cardiac care team.
A program brochure will be mailed to all members during the summer.
For further information, please click on the following link to view the full
Program Brochure or contact the New York State Chapter office at 212.686.0228
You may register and pay on line.
Red Flag Rules Delayed
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced that it is further delaying enforcement of the "Red Flags" Rule through December 31, 2010. The delay comes on the heels of an AMA lawsuit and ongoing Congressional consideration of legislation that would exempt several business types, including physicians and dentists. The Red Flags Rule was developed under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, in which Congress directed the FTC and other agencies to develop regulations requiring "creditors" and "financial institutions" to address the risk of identity theft.
The
resulting Red Flags Rule requires all such entities that have "covered
accounts" to develop and implement written identity theft prevention
programs to help identify, detect and respond to patterns, practices or
specific activities - known as "red flags" - that could indicate identity
theft. FTC applied broad application of the rules to include health
care and other small business providers.
The FTC has created a
website specifically about the rule and its implementation. To read visit:
http://www.ftc.gov/redflagsrule
Third Annual Cardiac Care Associate Symposium 2010
The Third Annual Cardiac Care Associate Symposium was presented by The New York Cardiological Society and the New York State Chapter, American College of Cardiology on Friday, June 11, 2010 at the New York Athletic Club in New York City. Registration for this extremely successful symposium exceeded 200. Attendees, who unanimously praised the event, included nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, physicians, technicians and students.
Thanks go to program co-chairs Michael Guiry, RPA-C and Russell Brandwein RPA-C and the entire planning committee which included; Tracey Shannon, ANP-BC, Maria Spinelli, ANP-C, Maureen Regan, PRA-C and Hilary Nierenberg, ANP-C.
If you or anyone you know would be interested in participating in the planning of the Fourth Annual Cardiac Care Associate Symposium 2011, please contact the New York State Chapter at 212.686.0228 or email nweiner@nycms.org .
SAVE THE DATE
CARDIOLOGY 2010: THE BEST OF THE EMPIRE STATE
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2010
THE DESMOND HOTEL AND CONFERENCE CENTER
ALBANY, NEW YORK
Disclosures Required When Performing
Certain Imaging Services
The
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) (H.R. 3590), recently
signed by the President, contains a number of onerous requirements that
impact medical practices that provide CT, MRI or PET to Medicare patients.
This new policy is also known as the Medicare in-office ancillary
exception regulation. The
following disclosures must be provided to Medicare
patients: • The patient must be informed in
writing at the time of the referral that he/she may obtain the ordered
services from a person other than the ordering physician or another
physician in the group. • The patient must be provided with
a list of providers of the service who are located within the area in
which the patient resides. The law, however, provides no guidance on what
this list should look like or what must be included.
United Healthcare UCR Settlement Documents are on the Way
A record breaking settlement has been reached in organized medicine’s action against United Healthcare (UHC) and their use of artificially low payments via their UCR fee schedules in the payment for out of network services to physicians. More than $350 million is available to compensate physicians and their patients for 15 years of artificially low payments for these out-of-network services. The deadline for filing a claim to share in the settlement fund is October 5, 2010.
In order
to assist you in this effort, the American Medical Association (AMA) is
providing a new on-line resource that will help affected physicians with
step-by-step guide to and help in determining eligibility, assembling
documentation and filing a claim under the terms of the settlement. For
further information visit:
Physician Feedback
Requested
The Medical Society of the State of New York is requesting comments regarding physician experiences with the Medicare Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) and the Medicaid Integrity Contractor (MIC). If you would like to comment, please contact Regina McNally at RMCNALLY@mssny.org.
Upcoming Meetings
82nd
Annual Scientific Session
The New York Cardiological
Society
20th Annual
Meeting
New York State Chapter,
ACC
CARDIOLOGY 2010: THE BEST OF THE EMPIRE
STATE
Saturday, October 16, 2010
The Desmond Hotel and
Conference Center
Albany, New York
43rd ANNUAL
NEW YORK CARDIOVASCULAR SYMPOSIUM
(co-sponsor)
Friday, December 10- Sunday, December 12, 2010
Hilton New York
New York City