Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that New York will end the state disaster emergency declared on March 7, 2020 to fight COVID-19. Given New York's dramatic progress against COVID-19, with the vaccination rates, and declining hospitalization and positivity statewide the state of emergency will expire after Thursday, June 24.

Federal CDC guidance will remain in effect, which includes masks for unvaccinated individuals, as well as all riders on public transit and in certain settings, such as health care, nursing homes, correctional facilities, and homeless shelters.

We will keep you abreast of any guidance coming out of the New York State Department of Health.

To see the governor’s complete release visit: https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-announces-new-york-ending-covid-19-state-disaster-emergency-june-24

Featured Highlights for This Year's Meeting

• View Resident Research on Quality, Advocacy and Public Policy Issues
• Engage in Discussions on Emphasizing Innovation within Plastic Surgery and Maintaining a Competitive Advantage
• Network with Industry Partners
• Participate in the Annual Membership Business Meeting

Register today!

Supporters of the New York Health Act staged a march and die-in on the streets of Albany today, blocking traffic outside the State Capitol.

It was their final attempt to pressure Legislators to pass the Single Payer bill during this Legislative Session.

The Realities of Single Payer Coalition (in which NYSSPS is a member) released a statement in response to the rally.  In its current format, the NYSSPS is still opposed to the bill. 

Assembly Health Committee Chair Richard Gottfried during an interview on Friday admitted that there are a number of Legislators who are signed on to the bill but are expressing serious concerns behind the scenes.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a notice on June 3, 2021 advising that Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) may now begin conducting post-payment medical reviews of items and services for dates of service March 2020 and after.

> Read the complete alert

Earlier today, the United States Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) issued an alert concerning fraudulent postcards sent to health care organizations claiming to be official communications from OCR. The post cards inform recipients that they are required to participate in a “Required Security Risk Assessment” and directs providers to submit their risk assessment to hsaudit.org, a link that diverts individuals to a non-government website offering consulting services. You should disregard such correspondence and not provide the specified information.

As a reminder, all communications from OCR will come from either an official office or an email address ending with @hhs.gov. You can find a complete list of OCR’s headquarters and regional offices here: https://www.hhs.gov/ocr/about-us/contact-us/index.html.

Read complete alert

Non-physician providers are an important part of a health care team in a plastic surgeon's medical practice. Nurse practitioners, physician assistants and aestheticians provide a variety of healthcare services to patients. Understanding their roles along with the potential risks and liabilities are the responsibility of the physician. 

Learn about the risks, laws, and liabilities as well as mitigation strategies with a patient safety professional and an attorney through discussion and case examples.

OBJECTIVES:

• Evaluate my potential exposure with my non-physician providers related to laws of practice and liability.
  
  
• Utilize the closed claims examples in this program to educate his/her/their peers and team as opportunities to improve failure points to risk in patient care.
  
  
• Implement two risk mitigation strategies in working non-physician providers that can reduce patient injuries and improve the quality of care.

Register today!

NYS Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker released the following statement regarding the Johnson & Johnson vaccine:

"Today the CDC and FDA issued a statement recommending a pause in the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine out of an abundance of caution. New York State will follow the CDC and FDA recommendation and pause the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine statewide immediately today while these health and safety agencies evaluate next steps. All appointments for Johnson & Johnson vaccines today at New York State mass vaccination sites will be honored with the Pfizer vaccine.

"As the CDC and FDA have said, any adverse events related to the Johnson &  Johnson vaccine 'appear to be extremely rare' and, 'People who have received the J&J vaccine who develop severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain, or shortness of breath within three weeks after vaccination should contact their health care provider.'

"I am in constant contact with the federal government and we will update New Yorkers as more information becomes available."

Sue Boisvert, BSN, MHSA, Patient Safety Risk Manager II, The Doctors Company, and Chad Anguilm, MBA, Vice President, In-Practice Technology Services, Medical Advantage, Part of the TDC Group of Companies

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of remote patient monitoring was expanding. The technologies offer many benefits, but they may also create potential malpractice risks.

Consider the following case example and strategies that can help mitigate risks.

In February 2020, the NYSDOH’s Office of Quality and Patient Safety launched the electronic AER tool for the reporting of adverse events (AEs) as required by Public Health Law § 230-d. Since launched, 70 percent of AE reports (AERs) have been received via this tool.  In order to promote efficient collection of consistent information, effective April 1, 2021, we are accepting only electronic AER submissions.

The AER tool is located on a secure web-based application and uses https encryption.  To insure you are on the secure web-based application look for the lock symbol to the right of the web address. The URL to access the AER is https://obsaer.health.ny.gov and works with Internet Explorer 11+, Chrome, Safari and Firefox.  Please use the latest browser version for the best experience.  Since there is no ability to save a partially completed AER and complete it at a later time, you should complete the AER once you have started it.  Otherwise, you will need to complete it again in its entirety at a later time.  You will be able to save and print the completed form once it is submitted. 

For your convenience you can attain a printable copy of the AER user guide by clicking on the question mark (?) at the top right-hand corner of the web-based application.  Training videos are available to guide mandated reporters through the electronic submission of the web-based AER form. The video for mandated reporters who are members of the OBS practice submitting a web-based AER form, can be viewed on the OBS website https://www.health.ny.gov/professionals/office-based_surgery/  and are also located within the AER tool. 

Should you have any questions regarding the electronic adverse event reporting tool, please contact the Office of Quality & Patient Safety, OBS Program at (518) 408-1219 or at obs@health.ny.gov.

The NYS Society of Plastic Surgeons encourages plastic surgeons to amplify the physician's voice by participating in today's virtual MSSNY advocacy day.

By using MSSNY's grassroots action center, you can quickly send emails to legislators on the following issues of shared importance with our Society.

Click click here to view all of the current issues.