NEWS AND CONFERENCES

More Than $11 Million Awarded Over Five Years for Physician Loan Repayment; Additional $11 Million Awarded Over Two Years for Medical Practice and Clinic Support

Program Designed To Bring More Doctors to Underserved Areas Across New York


Governor David A. Paterson today announced awards for New York State’s new Doctors Across New York program – a program designed to help train and place physicians in medically underserved communities across the State. Funding will provide $11.06 million, awarded over five years, to aid physicians with repayment of qualified medical school loans in exchange for a minimum five-year commitment to practice in an underserved area. Additionally, $11.1 million will be awarded over two years to aid physicians in expanding or establishing medical practices or health care facilities to recruit new physicians to practice in an underserved area. Doctors Across New York was approved as part of the 2008-09 budget.

Under this funding, 83 physicians will be offered up to $150,000 over five years for loan repayment, and 126 medical practices will receive funding of up to $100,000 over two years for practice and clinic support. In the coming year, the State expects to spend up to $1.5 million on physician loan repayment awards and up to $5.5 million in medical practice support awards.

“All New Yorkers deserve access to high-quality health care, and Doctors Across New York will target the areas of the State with the biggest shortages of doctors, providing residents in those communities with greater access to health care,” said Governor Paterson. “This unique program will not only aid in the State’s efforts to bring more physicians to the parts of New York where they are needed most, but will contribute to the goal of
improving our State’s health care system by providing more primary and preventive care options and reducing the cost of health care in the long run.”

Approximately 25 percent of New Yorkers live in the 91 federally designated primary care health professional shortage areas in the State. In addition, many areas have shortages of critical specialists. Seven counties have no practicing obstetricians and the Southern Tier has seen an 18 percent decline in obstetrician-gynecologists since 2001.

State Health Commissioner Richard F. Daines, M.D., said: “We believe that the quality of life in New York sells itself as a great place to live and practice medicine. We require a five-year commitment from physicians, offering a maximum loan forgiveness of $150,000. We offer greater financial incentives than other programs, recognizing that the burden of medical school debt is a major factor in a young doctor’s decisions on where to work and whether to pursue a certain area of medicine. In five years a new physician can put down roots and become involved with a community. Once these doctors see how lovely our rural communities are and enjoy the satisfaction of getting to know their patients, I think they’ll stay in New York.”

The awards announced today will include loan repayments for 17 physicians in primary care, 15 in family practice, ten in obstetrics-gynecology, 11 in internal-adult medicine, six in emergency medicine, four in psychiatry and its sub-specialties, four general surgeons and four in general pediatrics. Individual physicians and health care facilities were eligible for these grants. Facilities must identify or hire a physician in the specialty within six months in order to receive the funds.

With the physician practice support funding, health care institutions and physicians’ offices will expand their reach to support 33 more family medicine physicians across the State, 27 primary care physicians, 12 internal medicine-adult medicine doctors, ten general surgeons, and eight physicians each in the fields of emergency medicine, psychiatry and general pediatrics. This portion of the Doctors Across New York program is expected to reduce the number of communities that lack diverse and adequate primary and specialty physician services.

Doctors Across New York awardees represent more than 100 individual facilities or physicians. Applications were reviewed based on the underserved community and its population needs, and the community’s circumstances, such as the length of time the position had been vacant, long waiting times for appointments, or high use of emergency rooms for routine care.

For a full list of physician loan repayment awards, visit:
http://www.nyhealth.gov/press/releases/2009/dany_loan_repayment_awards.htm


For a full list of medical practice support awards, visit:
http://www.nyhealth.gov/press/releases/2009/dany_practice_support_awards.htm

Honoring End-of-Life Choices: Policy and Practice to Reduce Harm

With introductory remarks by Dr. David Muller, Dean for Medical Education, Mount Siani School of Medicine

Tuesday, May 12, 2009; 5:15 PM
Mount Sinai Medical Center
Icahn Medical Institute
Goldwurm Auditorium
1425 Madison Ave at 98th St

RSVP: David Leven: davidcleven@aol.com, 914 907-6156

Barbara Coombs Lee is President of Compassion & Choices, a national non-profi t organization dedicated to expanding and protecting the rights of the terminally ill. She practiced as a nurse and physician assistant for 25 years before becoming an attorney and devoting her professional life to individual choice and empowerment in health care. During two statewide campaigns she served as Chief Petitioner of the Oregon Death with Dignity Act which allows physicians, under strict safeguards, to prescribe life ending medicines for their terminally ill patients.

Barbara lectures frequently to health care professionals and the public. She has appeared on NBC News, CNN Crossfi re, 60 Minutes, McNeil Lehrer News Hour, NPR, The Today Show, and Bill Moyers’ “On Death and Dying.” She has also testifi ed before state legislatures and the U.S. Congress.

AMSNY Co-Sponsors Conference in Beijing, China

In collaboration with SUNY Downstate Medical Center, and Peking University Health Science Center, AMSNY co-sponsored the “East Meets West in Medical Education” conference in Beijing, China on October 20-22, 2008.  The conference was co-chaired by Dr. Jiang Gu of Peking University Health Science Center and Dr. Oliver Fein of Weill Cornell Medical College.

At the conference, the latest developments in structure and content of international medical education were presented, and participants discussed various pressing issues in medical education reform in China and worldwide.  A wide range of specific topics were addressed during the conference, including student admission policies, restructuring of medical examinations, new teaching techniques, medical research, the structure of pre-medical, medical and postgraduate education, resident training, continuing medical education, updating textbooks, medical education in China, international standards, and comparison of medical education in the east and west.  There were keynote speeches on topics of special current interest given by recognized medical educators from different countries, and presentations of selected abstracts submitted by conference participants.  The conference included satellite meetings for discussion of topics of interest with intention of increasing interpersonal information exchange and facilitating future collaborations.  The conference was designed to benefit medical school educators and administrators, professors, physicians, government officials, and other involved in education, as well as medical students.