What's New and Interesting?

From Your DB President:

Dear Fellow Psychiatrist:
The superintendent of insurance has proposed surcharging every physician in New York $50,000 this year in order to keep the state’s malpractice fund solvent!!!

Clearly the liability crisis is threatening our ability to practice medicine. The trial attorneys are investing huge sums of money to influence politicians to believe that there is no crisis. The prognosis for meaningful legislation that will help physicians is grim. Just recently we worked hard to again avert the threatened 10% cut in Medicare fees, but this time for only six months. With declining reimbursements and rising practice costs, many physicians may soon find they can no longer afford to keep practicing, and patients will be hurt.

It is critical that you take off time from your practice to come to Albany on Tuesday March 4, 2008 and make your voice heard. We need to inform Members of the
Assembly, Senate, and Governor’s offices that they must not allow special interest groups to irreparably damage the practice and delivery of medicine in New York.

Physicians from multiple specialties will be partnering by coming together for this important event and it is urgent that we have a large turnout in order to demonstrate that there clearly is a liability crisis in New York and that it is a ticking time bomb.

The Westchester County Medical Society is funding a chartered bus to leave at 6am from our joint offices at 333 Westchester Avenue and we will return by about 5pm.
There is plenty of free parking in the lower level parking lot. Lunch will be provided and there will be a full structured day of meetings with your legislative representatives as well as with MSSNY leadership. Dress for the weather as we will also be marching together up to the capitol and this will be a media event. If you have never lobbied in Albany, you need to come out for this important and timely event!!! Please call Rhonda at (914) 967-6285 to reserve your place on the bus.

Thank you and I look forward to seeing you on March 4th.

Sincerely,

Karen G. Gennaro, M.D.
President
Psychiatric Society of Westchester

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1/25/08: We received a letter from Ari Weitzner, MD, who has set up a website for exchanging office space. Check out http://www.ShareMedicalSpace.com if you are interested. It looks quite professional. I'll include it in the Links.