Your Weekly Dose of Health July 3, 2015

Thank you to the NYS Senate and Assembly for passing A.7208/ S. 4893! This legislation clarifies the prescriber prevails process in Medicaid Managed Care and eliminates some of the hurdles that patients and prescribers must go through to prevail in medication decisions. We now need your help encouraging Governor Cuomo to sign the legislation for final passage! Urge his support by calling 518-474-8390 or filling out the contact form.

New York State achieved a 13 year low in Medicaid spending per person as a result of Governor Cuomo’s Medicaid Redesign.  According to the governor’s press release, the Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment program, the goal of which is to reduce avoidable hospital visits by 25% in five years, has allocated money to 25 different groups.

Free nutritious meals will be made available to children from low income families throughout New York State, the governor announced this week.  Last year, 360,000 school children in New York State received free meals as a result of the federal Summer Food Service Program.

A recent opinion piece on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation site argues for a patient centered approach to measuring health care value and improving outcomes.

This week marked the five year anniversary of restaurant letter grading in New York.  The number of restaurants receiving an A has increased steadily since the program began.

Click here for July’s Department of Health meetings, hearings, and events.

Have a wonderful 4^th of July!