MSSNY Pulse – April 11, 2025

• Physician Advocacy Continues to Support Technical Fix of Unworkable Financial Consent Requirement Created in Last Year’s State Budget
• Advocacy to Preserve Medicaid Coverage for Millions of New Yorkers
• Continued Grassroots Push Needed to Reverse Medicare Cuts  

Yesterday’s passage of yet another short Budget extender until April 15 continues to “leave open” to further negotiations many of the problematic healthcare provisions of the State Budget. 

We thank the State Assembly and State Senate for excluding in its respective one-House Budget proposals many of the problematic Executive Budget proposals opposed by MSSNY. However, given the ongoing discussion of various Budget proposals with the Executive, physicians are urged to continue their advocacy to their legislators on each of these important Budget issues until a State Budget is adopted.

Oppose Eliminating Access to Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR)
Both the Assembly and Senate excluded the proposal opposed by MSSNY to eliminate the right of physicians to appeal Medicaid Managed Care underpayments to IDR. The health insurance industry is making a last-second push to urge the Legislature to adopt this measure. MSSNY together with many other groups have pushed back, highlighting the adverse impact that this change could have on specialty care on-call availability in hospitals EDs across the state, and give a green light to health plans to narrow their plan networks. PHYSICIAN APPEAL RIGHTS Dr. Cohen op-ed  Please continue to send letters to and tweet at your legislators to oppose this measure here: Retain Physicians’ Right to IDR

Oppose Imposition of Huge New Liability Costs
Both the Assembly and Senate excluded the proposal opposed by MSSNY and many other groups to require physicians to pay 50% of the Excess Medical Malpractice Insurance cost – a $40,000,000 imposition on the 16,000 physicians with Excess coverage, which would be on top of the already outrageously high medical liability insurance premiums they already pay. Please continue to send letters to and tweets to your legislators urging them to oppose this measure: Reject Physician Cost-Share

Oppose Removing Important County Medical Society Review Role
Both the Assembly and Senate excluded the proposal opposed by MSSNY to eliminate the historical role of county medical societies in vetting physicians to participate in the Workers’ Compensation (WC) program. Recently 40 county medical societies joined MSSNY in reiterating our collective strong opposition to this proposal  A.3005-Workers-Comp-Oppose-from-County-Med-Soc.pdf. Please continue to send letters to and tweets to your legislators urging them to oppose this measure here: Preserve Role of County Medical Societies

Oppose Eliminating Physician Supervision
Both the Assembly and Senate excluded the proposal opposed by MSSNY and numerous specialty societies to eliminate the requirement for physician supervision of the healthcare services provided by Physician Assistants (PAs), despite the recent enactment of legislation that increases the patient care responsibilities of PAs. Please continue to send letters to and tweets to your legislators urging them to oppose this measure here: Preserve Team-based Healthcare.

Oppose Eliminating Psychiatrist Certification for Involuntary Commitment
Both the Assembly and Senate excluded the proposal opposed by MSSNY and the NYS Psychiatric Association that would authorize psychiatric nurse practitioners to be one of the two examiners to certify a person for involuntary commitment. There are existing provisions of the Mental Hygiene Law that are carefully crafted to balance individual liberty with the interests of the state in preventing violence to self or others, including requiring two examining physicians to make this certification. Please continue to send letters to and tweets to your legislators urging them to oppose this measure here. Oppose Section 3 of Part EE of HMH Budget bill (A3007/S3007)

Oppose Eliminating Funding Source for CPH
Both the Assembly and Senate excluded the proposal opposed by MSSNY to transfer the registration of physicians and PAs from the State Education Department to the Health Department. The Executive Budget proposal deleted the component of the biennial physician registration fee that is specifically set aside to fund the essential substance abuse counseling services provided to physicians in need through MSSNY’s Committee for Physicians Health (CPH) program. It does not repeal the CPH program or delete its $990,000 annual allocation for the program but would make it harder to fund in future Budget years.

With negotiations for the State Budget expected to wrap up in the next few weeks, MSSNY’s advocacy focus for the end of the Legislative Session will shift to working with several groups in strong support of legislation (A.3789, Weprin/S.7297, Hoylman-Sigal) which would make significant progress toward addressing health insurer-imposed prior authorization (PA) delays.  It would: require that health plan utilization review criteria be evidence-based and peer reviewed, reduce the insurer timeframe for reviewing PA requests; and limit when an insurer can withdraw or repeat a previously granted PA. The standards within this bill are based on recommendations made by several respected health care advocacy organizations to improve patient care.

Please contact your Assembly members and Senators through MSSNY’s Grassroots Action Center (GAC) to let them know you support passage of this bill THIS YEAR!

Unnecessary delays in the authorization of prescriptions, tests, or procedures can cause needless anxiety for patients already stressed by the uncertainty regarding their condition. An Annals of Internal Medicine study concluded that for every hour a physician spends on delivering care to a patient, two more are spent on administrative tasks. Moreover, a recent survey of physicians by the American Medical Association (AMA) reported that 94% of responding physicians said that the prior authorization process delayed patient access to necessary care and nearly 90% of the respondents indicated that prior authorization led to somewhat, or significant, negative outcomes.

Patients with chronic conditions have complex medical needs, and their health depends on following strict treatment regimens. Timely access to treatment and medications is critical to maintaining these regimens. PA requirements may increase their risk of lapsing treatment or exacerbating progression of their disease as a result of these delays and can have a negative effect on their lives and health outcomes.

We will update members as the bill progresses over the next several weeks.