On Monday, November 6, 2017 over 70 plastic surgeons, residents, industry partners and staff welcomed Stephen Coccaro, MD as the New York State Society of Plastic Surgeon's newest President at its annual membership dinner meeting at Maloney and Porcelli's Restaurant in NYC.

This meeting continues to be an exclusive opportunity to network with colleagues, policymakers and industry partners. This year's agenda focused on amplifying the physician's voice in healthcare policy and navigating the medical liability environment in New York. 

Stephen F. Coccaro, MD graduated from New York University cum laude and he attended medical school at Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse and Binghampton.

He completed a full general surgery residency at St Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, NJ before going on to complete a fellowship in plastic surgery at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.  He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a senior partner in Suffolk Plastic Surgeons, PC in East Setauket.  He is the Immediate Past President of the medical staff and has served as Chief of Plastic Surgery at St Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson, NY.  He is Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery at Stony Brook School of Medicine. He is a past president of both the Suffolk County Medical Society and the Suffolk Academy of Medicine.  

Dr. Coccaro has represented Suffolk County at the MSSNY House of Delegates for over 10 years and has chaired its Public Health and Education committee. He is the current chair of MSSNY's Organized Medical Staff Section and has represented it at the AMA annual meetings. He is chairman of Blanca's House, an organization he helped create, to provide health care in Central and South America and has made over 13 medical missions through this and other organizations. He is also very active in his local community being on school and civic boards.  

With his wife Anna, he has three sons and makes his home in Setauket, Long Island.

Induction of Officers took place with the following:  Stephen Coccaro, MD – President; David Greenspun, MD – President-Elect; Thomas Sterry, MD – Vice President; Ash Patel, MD – Secretary; Beth Aviva Preminger, MD – Treasurer; Keith Blechman, MD - Member at Large and Kaveh Alizadeh, MD - Immediate Past President

We welcome the new leadership and look forward to a very successful year ahead! Congratulations!

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), through the Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs), recently mailed letters to all Medicare fee-for-service providers about the work to assign new numbers known as Medicare Beneficiary Identifiers (MBIs) and issue new Medicare cards to Medicare beneficiaries beginning in April 2018.

CMS top priorities include:

• Ensuring Medicare patients have continuous access to care; and
• Physicians have the tools and information you need for a smooth transition. Starting in June 2018, you can look up your patients New Medicare numbers through your MACs secure web portal.

Carefully review the letter and accompanying fact sheet and find out how to prepare to accept the new number beginning in April 2018.

Your letter will contain specific information for your MAC. You can also view a sample letter and print-friendly fact sheet.

For More Information

Review the new Medicare card design and press release to learn more.

Complying with Mandate

Physicians with a valid DEA number and medical residents prescribing under a hospital or facility DEA number must complete and attest to a mandatory 3-hour training course covering pain management, palliative care and addiction by July 1, 2017 and every three years thereafter.

Instructions on How to Attest

Use the Narcotic Education Attestation Tracker (NEAT) in the Health Commerce System.

You must attest to your own completion of the course work or training and notify the New York State Department of Health that you have completed the educational requirement by submitting an online attestation through NEAT.

For medical residents who are authorized to prescribe under a facility's DEA registration number, the facility must make such attestation.

Applicable Coursework

For the initial attestation deadline of July 1, 2017, applicable course work or training completed from July 1, 2015, to July 1, 2017, is permissible to satisfy the requirement. For each and every subsequent attestation period, course work or training must be completed during the applicable attestation period.

Prescribers can get their training through any course that has been approved by the DOH.

Available Option

The DOH is offering a free online-accredited course through The University at Buffalo School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Registration is available online through the Opioid Prescriber Training Program

Additional Information

Additional information about the law can be found here on the DOH website.

Note:

Prescribers licensed on or after July 1, 2017, who have a DEA registration, as well as medical residents authorized to prescribe controlled substances under a facility DEA registration, shall complete the course work or training within one year of registration, and once within each three-year period thereafter.

(Adapted from ASPS Advocacy Matters - June 2017)

The New York State Society of Plastic Surgeons (NYSSPS) and ASPS have faced an uphill battle against legislation that would establish a ten-year statute of limitations on the date of discovery for medical liability cases. The legislation would have a direct and detrimental impact on New York's physicians and would reverse critical reforms originally put in place to remedy the malpractice crisis the state experienced in the 1970's and 1980's.

Towards the conclusion of the 2015 legislative session, the New York State Assembly demonstrated the legitimacy of this measure when it passed the bill on a vote of 96 to 24. In January 2016, both houses reintroduced the legislation and all signs indicated that the bill would pass last year. NYSSPS and ASPS conducted extensive advocacy against the proposal and were active partners in a coalition that opposed this legislation. After countless hours of advocacy, the legislation was stopped and died at the end of session.

The measure resurfaced in 2017, NYSSPS and ASPS once again reacted. Together, they conducted two grassroots initiatives to mobilize plastic surgeons in New York. The societies also wrote to the New York State Assembly Codes Committee urging members to oppose the date of discovery rule change, as well as to the full Assembly at large encouraging the body to oppose a series of harmful liability bills. The New York State Society of Plastic Surgeons placed further pressure on their state legislators when they advocated against the bill in-person at the state house in May. The state legislative session recessed on June 21, but last minute maneuvering resulted in a deal being cut and the legislation passing. The bill now await consideration by Governor Cuomo.

In the end, the application of the new date of discovery statute of limitations will be seven years instead of the originally-proposed ten. Additionally, it will only apply to medical cases involving cancers and malignant tumors. While touted as a compromise, this measure will undermine the medical liability environment in New York for any specialist who provides care within the cancer team, including plastic surgeons.