NYSACRA

MAYOR OF THE WEST SIDE

This coming Friday night, June 2nd at 10:00 pm on NYC PBS Station’s Channel 13 there will be a premier showing of a movie entitled: “Mayor of the West Side.”  The movie tells the story of Mark Puddington, a teenager with multiple disabilities who lives on the West Side in Manhattan.  As Mark prepares for his Bar Mitzvah, his family and his community are forced to consider his life as he gets older.  All the issues that our parents deal with as their child enters adulthood are confronted in this remarkable documentary.

The movie is particularly special to our community as Mark's mother, Margaret Puddington, is a colleague who Chairs the Manhattan Consumer Council in Manhattan and developed the Coalition of Families to Support Direct Support Workers.  Margaret also provided testimony on NYSACRA’s behalf at the Medicaid Commission in Atlanta, Georgia in March 2006.  Please contact your local PBS station to ask them to air this show.

NATIONAL PROVIDER IDENTIFIER (NPI)

The NPI is the latest federal mandate springing from the HIPAA Administrative Simplification requirement.  The new number will be unique identification numbers for health care providers and they will replace the current identifiers assigned by Medicaid and other payors by next year.  All electronic healthcare transactions submitted after May 23, 2007 must use NPI’s.  Legacy’s Medicaid ID’s cannot be used after that date.  The NPI will be a 10 digit number.  There will be no location code and there will not be “embedded” intelligence (all doctors will start with certain #, for example).

What does this mean for OMRDD services?  Some services fall under HIPAA’s definition of healthcare (e.g., Article 16, ICF, Day Treatment) and others are outside the definition (e.g., family education, respite).  For OPTS, MSC and Joint Venture Clinics, OMRDD is the provider of record and will request the NPIs.  For other OMRDD services it is unclear as yet.

The NYS DOH must fit NPI into the eMedNY system.  OMRDD is convening a provider association workgroup to address this issue with NYS DOH, as they have done for HIPAA and Medicare Part D.  The committee will serve as a way to identify issues, disseminate information and develop possible solutions.  Although providers can request NPI now, it is very important to wait while the workgroup reviews and discusses NPI direction.  Look for information in the future about this important topic.

HUD FISCAL YEAR ’07 FUNDING

According to ANCOR, a House Panel Takes First Step in HUD FY 07 Funding and Restores Funding for Section 811 and 202, But Falls Short of Administration’s Section 8 Request.  The House Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury, and HUD approved its FY 2007 appropriations bill late Thursday.  The panel voted to restore $118 million in funding to the Section 811 bringing it up to FY 2006 level funding.  The Subcommittee also added $189 million above the Administration’s request to the Section 202 program, bringing the housing program for the elderly up to $735 million.  Overall the subcommittee voted $35.3 billion for HUD FY 2007 funding—$10.2 billion below last year's level and $1.2 billion above the President's Request.  The tenant-based rental assistance (Section 8 vouchers) was approved for $15.8 billion, $358 million over last year and $144 million below the budget request, $5.5 billion for project-based assistance ($438 million above last year and $200 million below the request), $4.2 billion for CDBG funding, and $1.9 billion for HOME ($159 million above FY 2006).  The spending bill next moves to full committee before a floor vote in the House.  The Senate has yet to take up this annual spending bill.