 |
 |
 |
 |
             |
Archive for February, 2011
|A REALLY Useful WC Page!
Friday, February 11th, 2011
Dear Doctors,
For those of you (or your office staffs) who are dealing with Workers’ Compensation patients, the following web page should be really really useful. It will help to inform you of who is handling variance requests at the WC carrier involved in your patient’s case. It will tell you which carriers are participating in the Optional Prior Approval Process, whereby you would file the MG-1 Form. In addition, it will identify who should receive your request for authorization (C-4 auth Form) at the WC Carrier. The page also will identify which WC Carriers have chosen not to participate in the optional Prior Approval Process.
In the third paragraph on the page, you or your staff will be able to link to a component that will help you find the WC Carrier for the employer – just in case you don’t have that information.
At the bottom of this WCB web page, you will also find the email address and 1(800) phone number for the Medical Director’s office at the WCB. There is also a link for their help desk.
Posted in WORKERS' COMPENSATION UPDATES | No Comments »
Nassau County DoH Issues Measles Alert
Thursday, February 3rd, 2011
Feb. 2, 2011: Nassau County Department of Health today announced that a case of measles has been confirmed in the county. The individual recently traveled internationally to areas with widespread measles. Residents may have been exposed to the case if they visited:
Macy’s at Roosevelt Field Mall
630 Old Country Rd
Garden City, NY 11530
January 20 (Thursday) from 3pm to 10:30pm
1) Report all suspect measles cases immediately (DO NOT WAIT FOR LABORATORY CONFIRMATION) to the Bureau of Communicable Disease Control at 516.227.9496 during business hours or 516.742.6154 evenings, weekends and holidays.
2) Patients with febrile rash illness should notify staff before arriving so that they may be placed in isolation immediately.
3) Offer measles vaccine or immune globulin to susceptible exposed contacts.
4) Assure that all those eligible for MMR vaccine receive appropriate and timely
vaccination.
5) Please contact Bureau of Communicable Disease Control at 516.227.9496 during business hours or 516.742.6154 evenings, weekends and holidays. As always, your cooperation is greatly appreciated.
Posted in HEALTH DEPARTMENT UPDATES | No Comments »
GOVERNOR CUOMO RELEASES BUDGET TO CLOSE $10 B GAP
Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011
Governor Cuomo released his proposed Budget for the 2011-12 Budget year which seeks to close a $10 billion budget gap. The proposed Budget includes all funds spending of $132.9 Billion, or 2.7% ($3.7B) less than the funding allocated for the 2010-11 Budget year. Notably, the Budget proposal calls for reducing State Funds Medicaid spending by $2.85 billion for the 2011-12 fiscal year, and $4.6 billion for the 2012-13 fiscal year based upon initiatives identified by the Governor’s Medicaid Re-Design Team, and limiting spending growth to the 10-year rolling average of the medical care component of the CPI (currently 4%).
While staff is continuing its review of the Budget bills released by the Governor, among the notable items in the proposed Budget include:
- Continuing Excess Medical Liability Insurance program for next 3 years
- Continuing superintendent’s medical liability insurance rate-setting authority for 3 years
- Continuing $990,000 allocation for MSSNY’s Committee for Physician’s Health
- Continuing $1.7 million in funding for the physician loan forgiveness program
- 10% cut to early intervention services
- Funding for Cancers Services Program is reduced by $650,000 to reflect the elimination of non-direct care components of certain programs. Estimated savings for 2011-12 is $320,000.
- Restructure the General Public Health Work Program: Reimbursement for the General Public Health Work program will be limited to basic services and reimbursement for all optional services will be discontinued. Optional services include Medical Examiners, Early Intervention Service Coordination, Dental Services, Home Health Service, Long Term Care, Emergency Medical Services, other environmental services, radioactive materials licensing, radioactive equipment inspection and housing hygiene. Estimated Savings for 2011-12 is $10.5 million
- Would limit EPIC coverage for drugs when an enrollee has entered into the Medicare Part D coverage gap. Effective July 1, 2011 EPIC enrollees will be responsible for paying Part D premiums or their full deductible. Produces savings in the program estimated at $58.4 million.
- No new health care taxes, assessments or fee increases
Posted in NEWS FROM THE NYS LEGISLATURE | No Comments »
-
You are currently browsing the Medical Care Long Island blog archives for February, 2011.
Archives
Categories
- CLASSIFIED ADS (5)
- DIRECTIONS to NCMS/NAM (1)
- EVENT PHOTOS (3)
- FLU/IMMUNIZATION UPDATES (7)
- HEALTH DEPARTMENT UPDATES (6)
- HEALTH INSURER UPDATES (1)
- In Memoriam (1)
- MEDICARE UPDATES (53)
- MEDICAID UPDATES (7)
- NATIONAL HEALTHCARE NEWS (25)
- NEWS FROM THE NYS LEGISLATURE (20)
- SEMINARS AND PROGRAMS (3)
- Sponsors and Advertisers (3)
- TOP NEWS STORIES (4)
- WORKERS' COMPENSATION UPDATES (10)
