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ARTHUR A. GIANELLI, PRESIDENT/CEO OF THE NASSAU HEALTH CARE CORPORATION, APPOINTED BY GOVERNOR DAVID PATERSON AND NYS LEGISLATURE, TO SERVE ON TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON REBASING METHODOLOGIES AND DATA, TO EXAMINE GENERAL HOSPITAL INPATIENT REIMBURSEMENT SYSTEM AND ASSESS IMPACT OF POTENTIAL REFORMS

June 10, 2008

Contact:  Shelley Lotenberg
(516) 572-6055
shelley@numc.edu

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

ARTHUR A. GIANELLI, PRESIDENT/CEO OF THE NASSAU HEALTH CARE CORPORATION, APPOINTED BY GOVERNOR DAVID PATERSON AND NYS LEGISLATURE, TO SERVE ON TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON REBASING METHODOLOGIES AND DATA, TO EXAMINE GENERAL HOSPITAL INPATIENT REIMBURSEMENT SYSTEM AND ASSESS IMPACT OF POTENTIAL REFORMS

GIANELLI PRAISES GOVERNOR AND LEGISLATURE FOR RECOGNIZING IMPORTANCE TO PUBLIC AND SAFETY-NET HOSPITALS  OF A RATIONALIZED REIMBURSEMENT SYSTEM


East Meadow, New York….Arthur A. Gianelli, President/CEO of the Nassau Health Care Corporation, Nassau’s safety-net health care system, has been appointed by New York State Commissioner of Health Richard F. Daines, MD, to serve on the New York State Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) on rebasing methodologies and data, a committee charged with examining general hospital inpatient reimbursement rates. 

“Governor Paterson and the NYS Legislature should be commended for enacting the statute that created the TAC, authorized at the time of the state budget approval in April 2008 and for recognizing the importance to public hospitals, especially a safety-net hospital such as Nassau University Medical Center, of a more realistic rate of reimbursement in line with current operating costs,” said Mr. Gianelli. “I am delighted to serve on the TAC and applaud state officials for providing me with a seat at the table as the impact of potential reforms is being assessed. This committee is important because facilities like NUMC—-safety net facilities that are reliant on government payers and serve disproportionately the uninsured—need a rationalized reimbursement system that recognizes the divergence between our revenues and costs.”

This year’s NYS budget requires the Department of Health in consultation with the chairs of the Senate and Assembly Health Committees, to establish the TAC for the purpose of examining data and evaluating rate setting methodological issues related to rebasing hospital inpatient rates from a 1981 to a 2005 base year.  The TAC is also required to review the scope and volume of hospital outpatient services.  A report setting forth the findings and recommendations by the TAC with respect to the phase in and methodology of 2005 base year costs must be issued by November 1, 2008.  The TAC is comprised of three representatives of hospital associations, two representatives of the health care industry and three representatives of community providers and consumers as determined by the commissioner. 
The following are TAC members:

Dan Sisto, President & CEO — Hospital Association of New York State
Ken Raske, President & CEO — Greater New York Hospital Association
Gary Fitzgerald, President — Iroquois Healthcare Alliance
Al Aviles, President & CEO — NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation
Arthur A. Gianelli, President/CEO — Nassau Health Care Corporation
William F. Streck, MD, President/CEO — Bassett Healthcare
Paul Kronenberg, MD, President/CEO — Crouse Hospital
Steven M. Safyer, MD, President — Montefiore Medical Center
James Barba, President — Albany Medical Center
Lee Goldman, MD, Executive VP for Health and Biomedical Sciences and Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and of Medicine — Columbia University
Roseanne Berger, MD, Sr. Associate Dean for GME — Graduate Medical/Dental Education Consortium of Buffalo SUNY at Buffalo
Vito Grasso, CAE, Executive VP — NY Academy of Family Physicians
Ronda Kotelchuck, Executive Director — Primary Care Development Corporation
Elizabeth Swain, CEO — Community Health Care Association of NYS
Denise Soffel, Coordinator for Medicaid Matters –National Center for Law and Economic Justice
Martin Hickey, Sr. VP of Government Programs and Health Innovation — Excellus
          
The issues to be examined by TAC shall include, but not be limited to, hospital rebasing, workforce recruitment and retention funding, graduate medical education funding, peer group pricing, wage equalization factors, case mix and such other related elements of the general hospital inpatient reimbursement system as deemed appropriate by the commissioner.  The TAC shall also examine the scope and volume of hospital outpatient services.

“I am honored and look forward to working closely with my colleagues on the TAC to establish a more realistic inpatient hospital reimbursement system, of special importance to all hospitals, but especially to NUMC, providing vital health services to Nassau’s uninsured and underinsured and bringing NUMC’s perspective as a public and safety-net hospital as reforms are being formulated,” concluded Mr. Gianelli.