NYS Medical Society Adopts New Policies and Elects New Officers at its 205th Annual Meeting

WESTBURY, NY (04/27/2011)(readMedia)-- Physicians of all specialties from around the state met in Tarrytown, NY, April 8-10, to elect new officers, discuss healthcare issues and set policy at the Medical Society of the State of New York's (MSSNY) 205th annual House of Delegates meeting. Following are a roster of MSSNY's new officers and highlights of the policies and action directives adopted by the delegates.

MSSNY's 2011-2012 Officers and their home NYS counties:

President – Paul A. Hamlin, MD, FCCP (Nassau)

President-Elect – Robert J. Hughes, MD, FACS (Saratoga)

Vice-President – Sam L. Unterricht, MD (Kings)

Secretary – Malcolm D. Reid, MD, MPP (New York)

Assistant Secretary – Joseph R. Maldonado, Jr., MD, MBA, DipEBHC (Oneida)

Treasurer – Andrew Y. Kleinman, MD (Westchester)

Assistant Treasurer – Charles Rothberg, MD (Suffolk)

Speaker – Jerome C. Cohen, MD, FACP (Broome)

Vice-Speaker – Kira Geraci-Ciardullo, MD, MPH (Westchester)

Chair, Board of Trustees (elected by Trustees) – Robert A. Scher, MD (Suffolk)

Highlights of MSSNY's New 2011 Policies

• MSSNY will continue to support legislation for medical liability reforms including: a cap on non-economic damages, a no-fault system for claims involving neurologically impaired infants, medical expert witness reform and certificate of merit reform.

• MSSNY will support and advocate for legislation/regulation that will 1) prevent health insurance companies from selling policies that purport – but fail – to adequately provide out-of-network heath care benefits; and that will also 2) require insurers to base their out-of-network reimbursement methodology on true usual, customary and reasonable (UCR) charges such as the methodology being used by Fair Health to develop a new NYS-mandated UCR database to replace Ingenix.

• MSSNY will work with NYS pharmacists and their professional organizations to help patients maintain the option of having their prescriptions dispensed at a local pharmacy and counseled face-to-face by their pharmacist.

• MSSNY will seek legislation that requires 1) young athletes suspected of having an acute traumatic brain injury, including concussion, to be removed from play/practice; and that requires 2) injured players to get written approval from a physician before returning to play/practice.

• MSSNY will advocate for legislation requiring all high school students to attend a training course in CPR and the use of an automated external defibrillator (AED), using the course guidelines recommended by the American Heart Association and endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

• In addition to its current policy supporting legislation to completely ban indoor tanning in NYS, pending such a ban, MSSNY will support legislation to bar anyone under the age of 18 years from indoor tanning without parental or legal guardian consent. MSSNY will also ask the AMA to urge the FDA to implement similar federal restrictions on indoor tanning by minors.

• MSSNY will seek legislation that 1) permits physicians to report to the DMV patients whom the physician believes should not operate a motor vehicle and that 2) provides civil and criminal immunity for good-faith reporting.

• MSSNY will establish a database of physicians willing to mentor medical students, especially those of minority ethnicity, and make that database easily accessible to medical students who belong to MSSNY.

• MSSNY will support legislation that gives US medical students from LCME/COCA-accredited medical schools preference over students from international and dual-campus medical schools for clerkship rotations in NYS hospitals or affiliated clinics.

To arrange interviews and/or obtain additional information, contact Lynda Lees Adams at ladams@mssny.org or 516-750-7344, or Janice Morano at jmorano@mssny.org or 516-488-6100 x302. Photos of new officers available upon request.

More than 300 delegates attended the House of Delegates, April 8-10, to set policy, elect new leaders and recognize the achievements of their colleagues. The primary mission of the not-for-profit Medical Society of the State of New York is to represent the interests of patients and physicians to assure quality healthcare services for all.