NYS Society of Orthopaedic Surgeons, Inc. Legislation Authorizing No-Fault Insurance Payments to Physicians Treating Intoxicated Motorists Injured in Motor Vehicle Accidents Passes Both the NYS Senate and Assembly in June 2010. Approval by Governor Paterson is pending Orthopaedic Surgeons treat many motor vehicle accident patients throughout the year. On-call hospital requirements, as well as the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Law (EMTALA) require physicians who are working in Emergency Departments to treat all patients. Orthopaedic Surgeons are part of the treatment team for musculoskeletal and bone injuries. Orthopaedic Surgeons are proud of their work on behalf of injured patients and indeed this is the type of care they have been trained to perform. Injuries sustained as a result of such accidents are very serious and often life threatening. A little-noticed provision in New York State, however, has created a loophole in the New York State No-Fault law which allows insurers to deny medical care coverage to people who are injured as a result of driving while intoxicated. This standard for reimbursement does not penalize the drunk driver; it penalizes the physician who renders care in emergencies without regard for payment. Assembly Bill 11116/Senate Bill 7845 will correct this problem and NYSSOS strongly supports this legislation. NYSSOS is grateful to NYS Assemblyman Dinowitz and NYS Senator Breslin for sponsoring this bill and sheparding its passage. NYSSOS Annual Albany Lobby Day a Huge Success! NYSSOS held its Annual Lobby Day on May 11th. This was the first year that a coalition of physicians joined together as The NY Coalition of Specialty Care Physicians and lobbied with other physician groups including ophthalmologists, surgeons, obstetricians and gynecologists, radiologists, psychiatrists, otolaryngologists, physical medicine & rehabilitation physician, plastic surgeons and the Medical Society of the State of NY. The NY Coalition of Specialty Care Physicians is a partnership of surgical and medical organizations committed to ensuring the highest standards of care for patients. The Coalition maintains that non-physician providers have and will continue to play an important role in the health care continuum. However, the medical profession and our patients have been progressively confronted by an increasingly aggressive posture to expand the statutory authority of allied health care providers in areas of testing, treatments and procedures, inconsistent with their education, training and lack of hands-on experience. The Coalition representatives met together for a joint session to brief one another on the scope of practice issues that are important to each of our societies. Thereafter we broke up into small groups for individual meetings with legislators. Each group had a physician from each participating organization. The result was that over 150 meetings were conducted and that at each of these meetings, NYSSOS priority issues were discussed and included: • Support for Physician Collective Bargaining (S.5204(Breslin)/A.4301(Canestrari)) • Oppose imposition of a tax on radiological services and procedures performed in private ambulatory surgery in the NYS Executive Budget • Oppose the Expansion of the Scope of Practice of Podiatry (S.2992(Klein)/A.2518(Pretlow)) • Support No-Fault Insurance Reimbursement to Physicians Treating Intoxicated Drivers Injured in Motor Vehicle Accidents (S.3554(Breslin)/A.6843(Dinowitz)) • Support Medical Liability Reform (S.6799(Hannon)/A.6184(Schimminger)) Other issues that NYSSOS cross-endorsed and lobbied for on behalf of the Coalition included: • Oppose Changing the Optometry Scope of Practice to include allowing prescription of a range of potent oral medications such as analgesics (including narcotics), antivirals, antibiotics and antiglaucoma agents (S.2667(Valesky)/A.3718 (Paulin)) • Oppose Licensing naturopaths and authorizing them to independently prescribe, administer, diagnose (S.1930(LaValle)/A.1370 (Hoyt)) • Oppose expanding the scope of practice of dentistry to authorize dentists to perform any procedure in the oral and maxillofacial area regardless of its relation to the oral cavity (S.2937(Klein)/A.4656 (Morelle)) • Oppose Eliminating the Requirement that Midwifes have a Written Collaborative Practice Agreement with an Obstetrician-Gynecologists (S.5007(Duane)/A.8117(Gottfried)) • Oppose Expanding the Corporate Practice of Multiple Professions (S.7484(Huntley)?A.8897(Pretlow) • Support Allowing Physicians to Dispense Hearing Aids for a Profit (S.7670(Schneiderman)/A.10056 (Dinowitz) NYSSOS is grateful to the following orthopaedic surgeons for taking the time to travel to Albany for this important event: Judy Baumhauer, MD; Joseph Bosco, MD; Timothy Clader, MD; Russell Crider, MD; John DiPreta, MD; Noah Finkel, MD; A. Philip Fontanetta, MD; Barry Gloger, MD; David Hootnick, MD; Richard Katz, MD; Barry Jraushaar, MD; Jeffrey Lozman, MD; Michael L. Parks, MD; John Reilly, MD; James Slough, MD; James Striker, MD; Edward Tanner, MD; Edward Toriello, MD; William Walsh, MD and Steven Weinfeld, MD.