The Alliance Voice - Medical Society of the State of New York

Network New York
The Alliance Voice
Published by The Alliance with the Medical Society of the State of New York
April, 2014
News from the COPresidents - Page 1
Mission:“to support our physicians and promote health in our
communities”
78th AMSSNY Annual
Meeting-Page 2
MSSNY Advocacy Day
Page 2-3
Legislation-Pages 4-5
News from the Co-Presidents
We truly look forward to seeing Alliance members this month at our 78th
Annual Meeting in Tarrytown on April 10th and 11th. This meeting is concurrent
NYS Benefit Exchangewith the Medical Society House of Delegates meeting, again at the beautiful
Page 5
Westchester Marriott in Tarrytown, New York. After a long and cold winter, our trip
to Tarrytown in April usually greets us with warmer weather and a reminder of more
MSSNYPAC -Page 5
sunny days to come. This is always a celebration of the continuance and the positive
impact of our organization on the communities we serve. Please remember to bring
Think, Don’t Drink
your county raffle baskets and raffle items to benefit our Physicians Home, the Belle
Pages 5-6
Tanenhaus Leadership Fund and the AMA New Physician's Honor Fund. We will be
selling tickets through Saturday. We will announce the winners at the Saturday
Health News-Page 6
evening Gala to honor the incoming MSSNY President.
Our meeting commences Thursday at 2:30 pm. Betti Jabbour and Kathy
Rohrer will be at the Registration table to greet you! We will conclude our meeting
News from Around the State
on Friday with our Key Note speaker Sarah Sanders, the AMA Alliance incoming
Pages – 6-8
President and a luncheon honoring our Past State Presidents.
We are hoping for a sunny day on Friday, April 11th, when the Alliance will
Calendar –Page 8
continue the tradition of leading the Annual HOD Walk For Health at 4 pm on
Friday. Please remember to pack your sneakers and join us! Many of us will be
MALS – Page 8
staying Saturday to continue selling raffle tickets at our table in the exhibition hall
and then joining the festivities and installation of the new MSSNY President on
Saturday. This is our opportunity to gather, to rejoice in our strength of purpose and
Category of Links
our mission and to shine! Please make an effort to join us!
http://www.mssny.org
Spring infuses us with new energy to tackle our state initiatives "Think Don't
click on About MSSNY then
Drink" and Don't Text and Drive", the latter proposed by Governor Cuomo and
member section link and
initiated by Suffolk County legislators. Please volunteer in your counties to help
then onto the Alliance
achieve our goal to educate and raise awareness of the problem of underage drinking
http://www.mssny.org/mssnyip.
and now the dangers of texting while driving,
cfm?c=i&nm=Alliance
We would like to express our sincere thanks to all our members who faithfully
made
their
voices heard to their legislators regarding the budget and the SGR. We
Contact Us
still
need
your
help with phone calls to legislators regarding the Statue of
[email protected]
Limitations bill going to the Assembly Codes Committee April 7. The advocacy we do is so important to the practice of
medicine and to our spouses. Thank you and please continue to send your emails, letters and to make those phone calls!
Please read on to Legislation section for more information.
With many thanks from your Co- Presidents! Bonnie Liebers and Lynn Pyke
78th Annual Meeting
It is not too late to join the Alliance at their 78th Annual Meeting on April 10 and 11 at the Westchester
Marriott Hotel, 670 White Plains Road in Tarrytown, NY. This meeting will be held in conjunction with
MSSNY’s House of Delegates meeting. All Physicians spouses/significant others are invited to join us as
we review the activities of the Alliance over the past year and plan for the future of the Alliance. Please
come to network and learn about the issues facing our physician spouses. Please contact Kathleen Rohrer
at [email protected] or 1-800-523-4405 ext. 396 for more details or to register.
Our guest speaker is Sarah Sanders, 2013-2014 AMA Alliance President-Elect. In addition, Sarah
currently represents the Alliance on the Board of Directors of the Alliance Health Education Initiative, and
serves on the Board of Directors of the AMA Foundation. Sarah has previously served the National
Alliance as Treasurer, Secretary, Director, Bylaws Committee Chair, Chair and member of the
Membership Advisory Committee, as well as serving as a member of Strategic Advancement Advisory
Committee and the nominating committee. Sarah has served the Indiana State Medical Association
Alliance in several positions, including president in 2004-2005, and is currently active with the Ohio State Medical Association
Alliance. Sarah has a Bachelor’s degree and a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Purdue University as well as a Masters in
Gerontology from Ball State University. She and her husband Charles, a rheumatologist, have two daughters. She will be installed
as AMAA President in June.
Our meeting hours are 2:30 -5:30 PM Thursday, and 9 am - noon on Friday. Friday activities also include a celebration luncheon
at noon. The Alliance will again be offering the opportunity to purchase tickets for our Raffle Baskets with proceeds benefiting
Physicians Home, the AMAA Grassroots Honor Fund and the Belle Tanenhaus Leadership Fund.
MSSNY Advocacy Day
Donna Fresatore at the Town Hall Forum discussing the
NYS Health Benefit Exchange
Dr. Cohen moderating questions for the Legislative Panel at the
Town Hall Forum
Dr. Sam Unterricht, MSSNY President and Bonnie Liebers,
AMSSNY Co-President, at the Town Hall Forum
MSSNY’s Legislative Day was held on March 10 and 11 with two components: an Open Forum the evening of March 10th at the
Albany Hilton and a morning briefing and lobby visits with legislators on March 11. The Town Hall Forum on Health Care Policy
began with welcome and introductions from MSSNY President Sam Unterricht, MD; Andrew Kleinman, MD, President-Elect; Paul
A. Pipa, MD, Chair, Legislation & Physician Advocacy Committee; Charles Rothberg, MD, Commissioner, Commission on
Governmental Relations and Elizabeth Dears, Esq., Senior VP and Chief Legislative Counsel. The live audience, at the Albany
Hilton, along with physicians across New York State via live webcast, were educated on issues affecting physicians and their
relationships with their patients. Panel speakers included: Donna Frescatore, Executive Director of the NYS Health Benefit
Exchange, Troy Oechsner, Deputy Superintendent for Health, Department of Financial Services. They were asked to provide an
overview of the out –of- network health insurance issues. The legislative panel included Senator Kemp Hannon and Assemblyman
Richard Gottfried, the Chairs respectively of the Senate and Assembly Health Committees; and Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, Chair
of the Assembly Insurance Committee. The speakers each gave a short introduction and then took questions from the audience.
Physicians who couldn’t attend in person were able to call in their questions. The Forum can still be viewed as a webcast on the
front of MSSNY’s webpage at www.mssny.org.
On the morning of March 11, attendees were again greeted by MSSNY President, Sam Unterricht, MD, Andrew Kleinman, MD
and President-Elect; Paul A. Pipa, MD, Chair, Legislation and Physician Advocacy Committee, and Liz Dears, Esq., Senior
VP/Chief Legislative Counsel. Ms. Dears provided a fiscal year’s budget update while Morris Auster, Esq. provided the
legislative update including medical liability and managed care. Barbara Ellman presented scope of practice issues and
Pat Clancy presented on public health issues. To facilitate legislative meetings, MSSY staff provided participants with
several tools including the “Know Your Doctor” wheel, a card listing the 5 most important State Legislative Objectives for
2014, a card with the 4 important Federal Legislative Objectives for 2014, and the Legislative Reference Guide listing members
of NYS Senate, members of the Assembly, and members of the US Congress. The “Know Your Doctor” wheel shows
different health care providers including physicians and the length of graduate-level education, years of residency/fellowship
training and total patient hours required through training. The 5 most important State Legislative Objectives for 2014 include:
1. Assure Patients Can Access the physician of their choice by encouraging our legislators to vote for the Out of Network Bill and
Collective Negotiation Bill.
2. Protect against increasing practice overhead costs. Vote yes for reducing malpractice premium costs, medical courts pilot/expert
witness reform and cap on pain and suffering.
3. Assure patients know who is taking care of them by supporting the Healthcare Professional Transparency Act.
4. Assure physician led team-based health care system. Reject independent practice of NP’s. Prevent dentists from performing
cosmetic surgery. Reject Retail Clinics.
5. Enhance public health by advocating for the use of immunizations in adults and children as a means of disease prevention;
continue efforts to prepare NY residents for public health emergencies; monitor the implementation of I-STOP law and advocate for
changes; and continue to oppose mandatory CME requirements related to pain management and palliative care.
The 4 important Federal Legislative Objectives for 2014 include:
1. Assure fair payment for physician services by preventing physician Medicare cuts including repeal of the SGR and
IPAB.
2. Assure physician, not government driven quality determinations.
3. Enhancing seniors’ access to care by securing Medicare Patient Empowerment Act.
4. Reduce physician overhead costs by repealing ICD-10.
After the briefing, we were sent to meet with our county legislators. This year, AMSSNY Co-Presidents were invited by
Liz Dears to specific leadership meetings. Bonnie Liebers and Stephanie Cospito (for Lynn Pyke) were able to attend scheduled
meetings with Senate Co-President Dean G. Skelos in the Capitol and Senate Co-President Jeff Klein in the Legislative Office
Building. Schenectady County Alliance members, Cheryl Stier, Helena Mirza, Bonnie Liebers and Stephanie Cospito attended the
Albany briefing and joined Schenectady
County Medical Society on visits with
legislators.
L to R: AMSSNY Co-President Bonnie Lieber, Barbara
Ellman, MSSNY Staff and Alliance Member, Cheryl
Stier, Helena Mirza and Stephanie Cospito at the morning
briefing on March 11.
Legislation
Federal
After a year of negotiations and tremendous advocacy efforts by the AMA and MSSNY, the proposed legislation HR 4015/S.
2000, the SGR Repeal and Medicare Provider Payment Modernization Act of 2014 will not pass Congress. While the House of
Representatives passed the legislation, it added a controversial funding offset of delaying the ACA health insurance coverage
mandate for five years which would not be approved by either the Senate or the President. The Senate bill would either have no
budget offset or would use a controversial source of funding known as the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) which the
House of Representatives will not support. Since Congress only has until March 31 to avert a 24 percent cut to physician Medicare
payments, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 4302, Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 which provides another
temporary one year patch postponing the SGR cuts and also postpones implementation of ICD-10 until October, 2015. The Senate
also approved this legislation providing the 17th temporary patch.
New York State
New York Legislature recently passed the 138 billion 2014-15 budget after negotiations to reconcile the policy differences
between the executive budget proposal and the one house budget bills adopted by the Assembly and Senate. MSSSNY has been
vigorously advocating their legislative position and the budget reflects several of their legislative priorities while some proposals
that they opposed were dropped. The final budget includes
• Continuation of the Excess Medical Liability Insurance program without programmatic change and would appropriate
$127.4M to support its operation.
• Provisions to provide greater transparency of a health insurer’s out-of-network (OON) coverage, broader availability of a
patient’s right to go OON if the insurer’s existing network is insufficient, provisions to assure that OON benefits are more
comprehensive, and provisions to address payments for emergency care and “surprise bills” by OON physicians.
• Additional funding for the Doctors Across New York program that would provide for 35 new loan repayment slots and 35
new practice support slots.
The budget removed some provisions that MSSNY strenuously opposed:
•
The imposition of burdensome and unnecessary regulations on Private Physician Urgent Care and Office Based Surgical
Practices was removed.
•
The proposal which would allow NPs to practice independently from physicians was revised to still require a collaborative
relationship with a physician with practice parameters defined in a form attested to by the NP and with resolution of
disputes in patient care defined. In the event it does not specify, the physician prevails
•
Retail clinics will not be allowed.
Legislation that has been introduced that MSSNY supports:
A.1160 (Cahill)/S.981 (Libous) Eliminates the licensure requirement of citizenship or permanent residence immigration
status for those professions (including medicine) that currently have that requirement. Passed the Assembly and in the
Senate Higher Education Committee.
A.5692 (Gottfried) Permits independently practicing physicians to negotiate collectively with health insurance
companies. The bill has 61 sponsors and is now in the Assembly Health Committee. In previous years, it advanced from
the Assembly Health Committee, but failed to advance further. Identical legislation (S.3690, Hannon) is back before the
Senate Health Committee. In 2011, the Senate passed the bill. (D-Kenmore) has introduced
A.8979 (Schimminger) Prohibits a hospital from requiring board certification as a condition of having staff privileges, and prohibits
a health insurance company from requiring board certification as a condition of being a participating physician in such plan.
MSSNY opposes this proposed legislation:
S.2190-A (Young) Expands the Doctors Across New York program, which is currently for physicians only, to include dentists
without increased funding, was reported to the Senate Finance Committee. (MSSNY opposed because the program is already
seriously underfunded.
MSSNY is asking for immediate advocacy on A.1056 (Weinstein). This legislation would change New York's Statute of
Limitations to a "date of discovery" rule which could drive up New York physician medical malpractice premiums by 15%. It is set
to go before the Assembly Codes Committee on April 7. Please contact any of your legislators that are on the codes committee.
They include these representatives from the following counties: Joseph Lentol, Chair (Kings), Tom Abinati (Westchester), James
Brennan (Kings), Vivian Cook (Queens), Steven Cymbrowitz (Kings), Joseph Giglio (Allegany, Cattaraugus, Steuben),
Al Graf (Suffolk), Charles Lavine (Nassau), Tom McKevitt (Nassau), Michael Montesano (Nassau), Walter Mosley (Kings),
Daniel O'Donnell (New York), Nick Perry (Kings), Gary Pretlow (Westchester), Edward Ra (Nassau), Robin Schimminger (Erie,
Niagara), Claudia Tenney (Delaware, Herkimer, Oneida, Orange, Otsego, Sullivan and Ulster), Michele Titus (Queens),
Helene Weinstein (Kings), David Weprin (Queens), Keith Wright (New York), and Kenneth Zebrowski, Rockland. You may call,
e-mail or use this link to send a letter: http://capwiz.com/mssny/issues/alert/?alertid=62618431&type=ST&show_alert=1
This legislation was very close to passage last year, but ultimately the Assembly did not take it up for a full vote after extensive
physician advocacy in opposition. It does not have a sponsor in the Senate, but it is expected to be introduced.
Thank Your from MSSNY Legislative Team
Here is an excerpt from the Capital Update:
Dear MSSNY and Alliance Members:
As you may know the State Budget was enacted last evening and signed into law by Governor Cuomo this morning. By all
accounts, MSSNY was very successful in achieving its goals during these budget negotiations. As the expression goes, “victory has
many fathers,” and we can all take great pride in what we have accomplished.
Your lobby team would like to acknowledge each and every County and Specialty Medical Society, MSSNY leadership, and the
many rank-and-file physicians who answered the call for grassroots action and met locally with their representatives or wrote a
letter and/or took a day away from their practice to travel to Albany to personally meet with their elected representatives on issues
of importance to all of medicine. Sustained physician interaction with legislators and key policymakers can make a difference. It
has been a tough couple of months, but because of your efforts we list the many successes that together we have achieved.
NYS Health Benefit Exchange
590,639 New Yorkers have signed up for insurance on the state exchange, with 51% enrolling in a private plan. More than 70%
of those enrolled did not previously have insurance.
MSSNY has been conducting physician surveys about problems with the NYS Health Exchange policies and
reporting these to the exchange staff. Among problems identified are failure to communicate whether a physician is part
of an exchange plan (often physicians were given a letter indicating that they had to opt-out), failure to provide
information regarding reimbursement for providing needed patient care and, in many cases, offering fees that are
significantly below existing commercial coverage and failure to offer consumers adequate out-of-network coverage
options.
It was recently announced that health insurance policies in 2015 must meet these requirements:
•
Require health insurers to offer out of network products in the Exchange as a condition of offering coverage through the
Exchange. Currently, a health insurer is only required to offer out of network coverage on the Exchange if it offers a
similar product outside the Exchange. As a result, no insurer offered any products offering out of network coverage in the
individual Exchange market in downstate New York.
•
Require health insurers offering coverage on the Exchange to increase the frequency of reporting of provider network
changes as soon as they occur, but at least monthly. Currently, health insurers are only required to report these changes
every 90 days. The purpose of this reporting is to assure plan networks continue to be adequate to meet the needs of their
enrollees.
•
Require health insurers to clearly identify on their websites the networks specific to the Exchange. Currently, New York
State’s Exchange website links to each health insurance website, but many of these insurer websites do not provide
sufficient clarity regarding the physicians that are actually participating in its Exchange products, thus creating unnecessary
confusion among those shopping for coverage and trying to access this coverage.
MSSNYPAC
If you are not a member, please considering joining along with your spouse to elect pro-medicine candidates. MSSNYPAC is a
separate segregated fund established by MSSNY to engage in campaign activities in New York State. It accepts contributions from
New York physicians, residents, students and Alliance members to achieve political recognition for physicians. It targets support
for elected state and federal officials and candidates who advance physicians’ goals and strengthens physicians’ voice in
governmental affairs. The New York Public Interest Research Group published a list of donors and the amount of contributions
each made last year. For example, trial lawyers were listed as #7 and contributed 578,710 while MSSNY was listed as #40 with
contributions of $213,024. MSSNYPAC needs our support!
The PAC’s structure is an Executive Committee and subcommittees for federal and state elections. Please consider joining
MSSNY PAC to support advocacy efforts. The Alliance contribution is $100. Contact Kathy Rohrer ([email protected]) for an
application.
Think, Don’t Drink
YOUR MEDICAL ALLIANCE SEEKS VOLUNTEERS FOR "THINK, DON"T DRINK" STATEWIDE PROJECT
It is not too late to request Think Don’t Drink cards from the state to distribute in your county! Each organized county distributes
cards to their local florists, high schools and tuxedo rental shops. We would welcome volunteers across the state to get our message
and cards to other local florists, prom gown shops, tuxedo rental shops or through prom invitations. The response of the merchants
has been tremendously positive. The state continues to partner with the Golub Corporation's
Price Chopper Supermarket Floral Departments to add a card to each corsage. If you would
like to join our efforts please contact our Executive Director Kathleen Rohrer at
[email protected] or 1-800-523-4405 ext. 396. Our membership is open to all spouses and
domestic partners of physicians.
Health News
Tobacco purchase age raised. Suffolk County raised the age for tobacco sales from 19 to 21, passing a bill with some of the
tightest restrictions over cigarette sales in the country. "This will save lives," MSSNY member, Dr. William Spencer, the bill's
sponsor and a pediatric surgeon, said after the 10-8 vote. The bill restricts stores in Suffolk County from selling cigarettes, cigars,
chewing tobacco, herbal cigarettes, rolling papers, pipes, as well as e-cigarettes, to those over 21. The law goes into effect Jan. 1 and
could cost the county $412,000 lost in sales tax from tobacco sales, but provide long-term health savings of $2.9 billion. The law
would impose fines of up to $1,000 for businesses that sell tobacco to customers younger than 21 on a first offense and up to $1,500
for second offenses. The local law follows action by New York City Council members to increase the legal age to purchase tobacco
products from 18 to 21, the strictest limit currently in any major United States municipality.
DEA’s National Prescription Take Back Day is April 26 from 10AM-2PM. JAMA Internal Medicine. published a CDC
study that found that prescription drug use had remained relatively static over the past few years, at about one in 20 people ages 12
or older. However, previous CDC data showed that overdose deaths from prescription drugs had more than tripled between 1999
and 2010, from about 6,500 such deaths annually to about 16,000.
The researchers decided to further parse their analysis by dividing people who misused drugs into several categories ranging from
"occasional" to "chronic." People were defined as occasional drug misusers if they used prescription drugs for non-medical purposes
no more than 30 days over the course of a year, while people were categorized as chronic misusers if they misused prescription
drugs at least 200 days of the year. Overall, about two-thirds of people who misused drugs said they did so infrequently. The
researchers found that the majority of people who misused prescription drugs obtained the drugs at no cost from friends or family.
However, among chronic prescription drug misusers: 27.3% obtained the drugs through physicians; 26.4% obtained them through
family members and friends at no cost; 23.2% purchased the drugs through friends and relatives; and 15.2% purchased them from
drug dealers. Comparatively, about 62% of infrequent drug misusers obtained the drugs through friends and family members.
News from Around the State
Onondaga
L to R: Joan Cincotta with Dr. Michael and Regina Sheehan
Joan Cincotta and AMMSNY Co-President, Lynn Pyke, at the UNO fundraiser
On March 26, 42 physicians and spouses gathered at a downtown restaurant for a wonderful evening of fun and camaraderie.
The room was decorated with Doctors' Day mylar balloons, posters, tent cards, and printed napkins with the same motif. Each
physician was presented with a red carnation as he/she arrived. Hot and cold hors d'oeuvres were served along with complementary
wine and followed by a delicious meal served at stations which featured carved filet of beef and filet of pork, a choice of pastas and
Caesar salad. Coffee and desserts were served after dinner. An engraved plaque was presented to a local physician who has been
especially supportive of his wife's involvement and who has been an outspoken advocate of our Alliance. Dr. Michael Sheehan was
totally surprised when his name was called as the recipient of this year's award.
To continue the celebration, a three-day fundraiser was held at UNO Chicago Grill on the 28, 29 and 30 of March. A percentage
of sales for the three days will be given to the Alliance for its Health Careers Scholarship Fund. All of the decorations were brought
from the party and placed around the restaurant. Many people inquired about Doctors' Day. Tent cards with the story of Doctors'
Day were handed out to customers along with some greeting cards that can be sent to one's physician in thanks for his/her
dedication to the practice of medicine. (All of the items for Doctors' Day were purchased from the Southern Medical Society
Alliance.)
Our Think! Don't Drink! Campaign was executed again this year by Donna Lo Dolce. Texting and driving was addressed, as well
drinking and driving, on the business cards sent to 50 local florists. One of our local physicians, Dr. Robert Dracker, annually backs
this project financially. We are very grateful for his support.
Our Spring Luncheon will be held on Wednesday, May 14. Our keynote speaker will be one of our Alliance members who has
been involved with mission work in Haiti through her church. Scholarship winners will be announced and our Governing Board
will be re-installed. We hope to give $7,000-$8,000 in scholarships this year. Money from our Holiday Ad and from our Raffle
Basket will make up some of that amount along with contributions in excess of $3,000.
Richmond
On March 4, 2014, our Alliance presented two AEDs at the State Island
Chef Extravaganza hosted by the Staten Island Heart Society. An AED
was presented to Ms. Julie Gotteman from GRACE, Getting Resources for
Autistic Children’s Equality. The other AED was presented to Melissa Costa
from administration at the Francis School, a private non- sectarian equal
opportunity college prep school.
Left to Right: Alliance member, Donna L’Insalata, Julie Gottesman from
GRACE, Melissa Costa from Francis School and Alliance member, Corrie Verde.
Schenectady
Schenectady Co-President, Helena Mirza with speaker Ray Gillian and
Stephanie Cospito, Schenectady Co-President
L to R: Helena Mirza, Schenectady Co-President, Karen D'Ascoli,
Schenectady Alliance member and President of Schenectady Day Nursery, Karen
McGann from Joan Nicole Prince Home, Mike Saccocio, City Mission, Elizabeth
Chanberlain, City Mission and Stephanie Cospito, Schenectady Co-President.
In December, our new fund raising event, the fashion show luncheon was a huge success. We raised close to $9000!
We also adopted a family in need for the holidays.
At our January general membership meeting we invited our 3 philanthropic recipients: The City Mission, the Joan
Nicole Prince Home, and the Schenectady Day Nursery to send a representative and presented each a check for $2500.
Each organization was thrilled and gave a 5 minute presentation. Our guest speaker was Ray Gillan, Executive Director of
Metroplex Development Corporation, Chair/Commissioner of Economic Development and Planning of Schenectady County. He
updated us on the revitalization going on in downtown Schenectady and neighboring towns. We met at the Clinton’s Ditch Pub
Restaurant in Downtown Schenectady. Also in January, Lois Gullott, our scholarship chair, presented each of our two
scholarship recipients fro, Ellis Hospital School of Nursing with an additional check for $3,000. The annual Ellis
Hospital’s Winter Gala honored Alliance member, Louise Sattar and her husband, Medical Society member, Dr. Fouad
Sattar.
In March, we encouraged our members and their physician spouses to attend MSSNY’s Physician Lobby Day and
Capitol Forum. We had a number of members attending both days including visits with our legislators. Our state CoPresident, Bonnie Liebers and Stephanie Cospito attended both days. Helena Mirza and Cheryl Stier attended Lobby
Day. We also were in full swing with the AMSSNY Think, Don’t Drink annual project. State cards were counted,
sorted, packaged and labeled for distribution with Golub’s Price Chopper Supermarket Stores’ Floral Departments.
Cheryl Stier, Katie Singh along with Helena and Stephanie worked on this project. Mary Rose Parisi and Lois Gullott
coordinated our county’s role in this project and contacted local florists. Cheryl and Stephanie are contacting the high
schools.
We are planning a general membership Spring/Gardening theme for April.
We will be participating in the Annual Niska Day. We have ongoing projects throughout the year: Literacy Baskets
(we provide children’s book for ages infant to toddler ages along with a hand knit baby hat quarterly to first time young
moms who register and take the Before your Baby Basic’s Class at the Ellis Hospital Family Health Center). When
needed, our county Alliance members help to make the heart shape pillows for cardiac surgical patients at Ellis Hospital.
Planning Calendar
AMSSNY Annual Meeting, Westchester Marriott, Tarrytown, NY
AMAA Annual Meeting and Leadership Development, Chicago, IL
April 10-11, 2014
June 6-10, 2014
Member-At-Large Membership
The Alliance is doing important works within our state and across our country, taking an active voice in medical legislation and a
meaningful role in health issues. The Alliance needs YOUR support in order to continue with these efforts. Though you may not
have the time or inclination to become involved presently, payment of your dues will help those who are already actively engaged.
If you desire to become involved, members-at-large have the opportunity to serve on the board and can be delegates to our
convention. Alliance members continue to work on projects concerned with violence, internet safety, bullying, peaceful conflict
resolution, awareness for the need of organ and tissue donation, health literacy, smoking cessation, the growing problem of obesityespecially in children, and many other health and legislative issues.
JOIN US NOW
If you are already a member… THANK YOU… Don’t forget to renew.
Please Print Information
Name: ________________________________ Spouse’s Name: ________________________________
Address: __________________________________________________ County: _________________
City: _______________________________
State: ________________
Zip Code: _______________
Phone: _________________ Work Phone: _________________ E-Mail: ______________________
Payments of dues for county, state and national should be made directly to your county alliance (if unsure if your county Alliance is
active, call 1-800-523-4405). If your County does not have an active Alliance, you may become a Member-At-Large (MAL) by
sending your State ($25) and National ($50) dues (Total of $75). Senior/Widows (65+ and 20 years active service) State dues
are$12.50. ($62.50 if State and National) Please make checks payable to AMSSNY-MALs and submit to:
AMSSNY-MAL
865 Merrick Avenue
Westbury, NY 11590-9007