Physician Advocacy Day is Your Opportunity to Help Protect Your Practice and Your Patients
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- Key Issue: The Executive Budget includes proposals shifting malpractice costs to physicians, weakening IDR protections, expanding unsupervised PA practice, and eliminating county vetting in Workers’ Compensation.
- Why It Matters: These changes directly affect patient safety, practice stability, and physician retention in New York.
- Impact on Practice: Higher costs, reduced dispute protections, and diminished physician-led care increase administrative burden and liability risk.
- What MSSNY Is Doing: Leading coalition letters and coordinated opposition with specialty and county societies statewide
- Register now for Physician Advocacy Day on March 10, 2026.
Physicians across New York are already managing prior authorization delays, rising malpractice costs, workforce shortages, and growing administrative complexity. Now, several Executive Budget proposals threaten to further destabilize the practice environment, at a time when patient access and physician retention are already under strain.
The current budget includes a proposed 50% cost-share imposition on the 16,000 physicians who receive Excess Medical Malpractice Insurance coverage. It also seeks to alter New York’s nationally recognized Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) process in ways that would make it more insurer-friendly, potentially weakening protections against unfair reimbursement. Additionally, proposals would expand physician assistant scope by removing meaningful physician oversight and eliminating the longstanding county medical society vetting role in the Workers’ Compensation program.
MSSNY has taken decisive action. In collaboration with numerous specialty societies and county medical societies statewide, MSSNY has formally opposed these provisions, emphasizing the risks to patient safety, care coordination, and practice sustainability. The coalition letter opposing removal of physician oversight highlights that physician-led team-based care is not a barrier to access — it is a safeguard for quality, safety, and cost-effective treatment.
These proposals are not abstract policy debates. They influence whether physicians can continue practicing in New York, whether care remains coordinated by the most highly trained professionals, and whether costs are unfairly shifted onto those delivering care.
That is why timing matters. On Tuesday, March 10, 2026, MSSNY’s Physician Advocacy Day will take place in Albany as the Assembly and Senate finalize their one-house budgets, the most strategic moment for physician voices to influence negotiations.
During the morning session, physicians will hear directly from legislative leaders and the Commissioner of Health. In the afternoon, meetings organized by county medical societies ensure your concerns are delivered directly to your elected officials.
As the Voice of New York Physicians, MSSNY coordinates the briefings, materials, and logistics so your time away from patients is focused and impactful.
If medicine is your profession, health policy is your business. Join your colleagues in Albany. Register today and help shape the future of healthcare in New York.
