What’s New June 2013

Board Update:

The NPAGR Board held its last meeting before a summer break on June 11th.

• Continuing Education application is in process for the November conference
• The board is planning a Chapter reception at the October NPA conference for our members who are attending.
• Rooms are still available. Please plan ahead if you will be attending!
• Legislation: Movement of much legislation this year has slowed given the many distractions within both houses. The Modernization Act is reported to be among those bills that are not going forward in the manner as had been hoped and we expect them to finish the session in committee.  We will continue to work hard on the Act as we finish out the year and prepare for next year.. In addition to opposition by the Medical Society of the State of New York (MSSNY) we have encountered misinformation and difficulty from a New York City based NP group known as Nurse Practitioners of New York.  We are working to have them more clearly understand the process and work in concert with The NPA on our Modernization Act.
• Give us your inputWe are looking for ways to broaden our educational programs to ones not sponsored by Pharmaceutical companies. We’d like to :
  • Tap into our local NPs to present on their specialties
  • co-sponsor programs with another organization such as GVNA and provide CNE’s as able
  • consider light refreshment in lieu of a meal to keep costs down if there is no industrial sponsor
  • Please contact Cynthia McCloskey, NPAGR Communications Chair   at cmccloskey@sjfc.edu or Jane Tuttle, Program Co-Chair at Jane_Tuttle@URMC.Rochester.edu if you are interested in presenting on your specialty or if you have feedback about joint programs or a lighter fare with the programs.

1. Save The Date

All day Saturday Nov 16

• There will be something for everyone at the NPAGR full-day conference “Nurse Practitioners addressing complex care needs across the spectrum”. Topics include; Future of Nursing Update, I-Stop, a legislative update, and breakout sessions addressing various clinical problems across settings and populations.
• The location is tentatively at the Wegmans School of Nursing at St. John Fisher College. This will be confirmed in September.

Plans for spring 2014:

• One day spring conference on Billing and Coding  

• Looking into programs on ACOs and the NPs and NPs with their own panel of patients

1. New initiative:

The Program Committee is looking into offering Webinars for your continuing education. Past President Dee Krebs has submitted the idea to the NPA for review and approval. Watch the website for more details

Attending programs just got easier!

• Credit card swipe will be available at the door for programs for members to pay by credit card

Have you registered for I –Stop?

• The I-Stop program is now being identified by DOH and the Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement(BNE) as the “Prescription Monitoring Program”
• NPs and other providers need to register NOW for the Prescription Monitoring Program  will take effect August 27, 2013.    You can learn what is necessary and access registration links at the NPA website: http://www.thenpa.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=535.  It can take up to two (2) weeks for your registration to become effective!  We are looking to have a webinar on this topic and also feature this at the November NPAGR conference.
• The law and proposed rules have very limited and specific exemptions to the requirements of participation.  It is required that all providers participate unless they are within one of the specific exempted groups or classes of providers or circumstances.