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The District has been very active in pediatric public policy
initiatives. Please read my April 2009 update below
detailing these efforts.
Henry Schaeffer, MD, FAAP
Chair, AAP District II, New York State
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Budget Testimony
In early February we presented Budget Testimony outlining
the District's priorities for children in the state budget. We
encourage you to choose those parts of the testimony that are important
to you and talk with your state legislator about our priorities for
children. Budget advocacy continues until the legislature moves
to close the budget negotiation process.
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New York State Immunization Coalition 
On February 23rd we held our upstate meeting of
the New York State Immunization Coalition in Albany, NY. The NYS
Immunization Coalition is a project of the District. It brings
together a group of key statewide organizations that care about
children's health and well being.
Organizations who are members of the steering
committee include the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT), the New
York State Child Care Coordinating Council (NYSCCC), representing child
care providers across the state, the state Parent Teacher Association
(PTA), and the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA). We are
joined in our meetings with several other groups including the New York
State Medical Society (MSSNY), NYSACHO, representing the County
Health Commissioners across the State, and the Health Plan Association
(HPA), representing all managed care health insurers. The state
health department is also well represented. The AAP most often
has several pediatricians as well as its District leadership at the
meetings.
The goal of the Coalition is to create alternative voices in
communities across the state that can and will carry the
pro-immunization message in non-medical settings. They are
community members who, with the help and support of their statewide
organizations, are able to speak with confidence about immunization
issues in local forums.
At the last meeting it was decided that the Coalition would
develop a colorful, informational bookmark for teachers, child care
providers, PTA members, nurses and health insurers to give out at
community events. They will also be available to
pediatricians and community clinics. The bookmarks will have
the "NY Immunize" logo and a short list of websites where parents can
go to get evidence-based, scientific information about vaccines.
We are currently looking for funding to help us produce something that
will be both attractive and helpful to parents.
We are pleased that several of our partner organizations agreed to
use our Memo of Opposition to legislation expanding the religious
exemption from immunization and our Memo of Opposition to legislation
creating a new Philosophic Exemption to Immunization as templates for
their own Memos of Opposition to these anti-immunization efforts.
This is just the kind of advocacy effort we had hoped for when we first
created this NYS Immunization Coalition. One of our goals is to
create additional non-medical, but trusted voices to speak for the
importance and safety of immunization.
The next meeting of the Coalition will be in New York City on June
5th. All District members are encouraged to attend. The
specific time and place of the meeting will be e-mailed as soon as they
are set.
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Annual Legislative Day 
Once again, the District had a successful Legislative
Day on February 24th in Albany at the Fort Orange Club.
More than 70 pediatricians attended. Speakers included: Joe
Baker, Secretary for Health and Human Services for New York State;
Deborah Bachrach, Deputy Commissioner, Office of Health Insurance
Programs, State Department of Health; and Foster Gesten, MD., Office of
Health Insurance Programs. They all discussed the
administration's plan for health care reform and the new rate setting
process using Ambulatory Patient Groups (APGs) which will drive dollars
to primary care. Guthrie Birkhead, Deputy Commissioner, Office of
Public Health, described the administration's current public health
priorities including lead poisoning prevention, obesity prevention and
immunization efforts. Troy Oechsner, Deputy Superintendent for Health,
provided an overview of several initiatives of the Department and also
discussed the malpractice challenge. All presenters expressed
their appreciation to the District leadership and members for always
being ready to work for better health care for the children of our
state.
Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, Chair of the Assembly
Health Committee, and Senator Thomas Duane, the new Chair of the Senate
Health Committee, each addressed the group on key issues facing their
committees including legislation on health care reform, the
implications of the current state budget crisis on health care, and
immunization issues. They also invited members to use the
District's Advocacy and Policy staff to bring additional pediatric
issues forward.
Those in attendance had an opportunity to ask presenters questions and to interact with our state and legislative leaders.
After the presentations, staff provided some details for members
on the legislation that the District is supporting and the legislation
that we oppose. Each member was provided with copies of Memos of
Support and Memos of Opposition to give to their legislators during
afternoon legislative meetings.
Our legislative and administration's leaders have come to know the
District leadership, members and staff. These relationships are
important as we continue to press for better children's health access
and coverage, and better payment and support for pediatricians. I
encourage you to try to schedule your time so that next year you can
join us in Albany as we continue to press our key issues for children
and for pediatricians.
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Legislative Education Day for State Legislators
On March 10th the District's NYS Immunization Coalition
co-sponsored a legislative education day in Albany for state
legislators. Our partner in this event was the New York State
Immunization Advisory Council. Dr. Richard Daines, Commissioner
of Health, opened the proceedings. The program was moderated by Dr.
Louis Z. Cooper. Presenters included Drs. Robert Corwin, Guthrie
Birkhead (Chair, NVAC), Dale Morse (Chair, ACIP), Joseph Domachowske,
Sharon Humiston and Philip LaRussa. Ms. Alison Singer, former VP
of Autism Speaks and parent of a child with autism, also
presented. The program was very well received. All
legislators, not only those present at the meeting, were provided with
an "Immunization Facts Ready Book" which included copies of key
articles and other important media coverage of immunization
issues. It is hoped that this type of event will help our
legislative leaders make informed decisions about legislative
initiatives impacting immunization public policy.
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Advocacy & You - Join Us in Our Advocacy Efforts
Although
the District and its members have been very active over the last two
months, our strength is with you, our members.
We have posted our Budget Testimony to
give you the context of our budget advocacy. You can use any part
of it to talk with or write to your legislators about how to keep the
focus of budget decisions on improving children's health and well
being. We have also posted our Legislative Memos
in support and in opposition of specific legislation. These will be
updated throughout the session as legislation we support or oppose is
introduced. We urge you to contact your legislator to talk about our
positions on these important policy initiatives. You can copy the
body of the Memos and send them on your own letterhead to
legislators. Or you can call and talk to your legislator about
the issues, using the material in the memos as the basis of your
discussion. Or you can visit your legislator in his/her district
home office.
It
is your District. We are only as good as our members. Join
us in our advocacy efforts in any way you can, an e-mail, a phone call,
a letter, a conversation, whatever makes sense to you. The more voices
we raise, the stronger we are. | |
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