EDITOR IN CHIEF

Nelson Vega-Garcia
MHA, FACHE, CMPE, EFPM
AHHE Board Member

IN THIS ISSUE

• Local and Regional News
• National News
• Upcoming Events
• Scholarships/Internships
• Useful Links

Message from the President

George Zeppenfeldt-Cestero
National President
Association of Hispanic Healthcare Executives &
President and CEO
National Hispanic Chamber of Commerce on Health

Professional Association Partners

• Association of Hispanic Mental Health Professionals
• Association of Puerto Rican/Hispanic Social Workers
• Dominican Medical Association
• Hispanic Dental Association
• National Association of Hispanic Nurses
• National Hispanic Medical Association

Professional Membership Associations

• American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE)
• Medical Group Management Association:

Affiliate Members

• SUNY Downstate Medical Center, University Hospital of Brooklyn
• New York University Medical Center
• NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital
• South Manhattan Healthcare Network/Bellevue Hospital Center
• The Mount Sinai Hospital
• Witt/Kieffer
• St. Barnabas Hospital
• Harlem Hospital Center, Generations+/Northern Manhattan Health Network
• Lutheran Medical Center
• Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center/North Brooklyn Health Network
• Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center
• Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

JULY 2007 ISSUE

AHHE and NHCCH National News

The National Office of the Association of Hispanic Healthcare Executives (AHHE) today announced the Installation of their Southern California Chapter:

The geographic area of the chapter will encompass Los Angeles, San Fernando Valley, Orange County and the Inland Empire. The installation of the President, Mr. Don Martinez, occurred on July 16th at the 32nd Annual Conference of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses at the Pacific Palms Conference Resort in Industry Hills, California. Other board members include, Robert Beltran, MD, MBA, Vice President, and who also serves as President of the Latino Med Policy Institute, and Paul Rubio, Healthcare Consultant. Witnessing the oath of office, were Ms. Terry Villot, RN, President of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses and Valerie Caraballo Perez, RN, MSN, Treasurer of the NAHN. The Southern California Chapter held their first major event on July 26th, the “Los Angeles Corporate Diversity Celebration” at the California African American Museum, with over 150 in attendance. The Chapter will be organizing their inaugural reception within the coming months. The chapter is also in the process of recruiting board and committee members. If you are interested in individual or affiliate membership in AHHE/Southern California, please contact Mr. Martinez at: ddmartz2002@yahoo.com  Membership information on the chapter will be on the AHHE website by 8/15th. Congratulations on the organizing board for their dedication and commitment to the healthcare issues of the Latino community. We are all very proud of your leadership and extend our warmest wishes from national board members and your brothers and sisters on the east coast! .

Dinner Meeting of AHHE Southern California Chapter at the Palm Restaurant in Los Angeles, CA.

(From right to left) George A. Zeppenfeldt-Cestero, National President, AHHE
Don Martinez, CPC, MCC, President, Southern California Chapter, AHHE
Robert Beltran, MD, MBA, Vice President, Southern California Chapter, AHHE (& President, Latino Med Policy Institute)
Paul Rubio, Healthcare Consultant, Board Member, Southern California Chapter, AHHE

Office of The Assistant Secretary For Health, Office of Minority Health

Solicitation of Nomination for Appointment to the Advisory Committee on Minority Health

For more information and details click here:

'Uncompensated Care’ Not Clearly Defined, IRS Finds

National Institutes of Health: Mentoring Programs to Diversify the Mental Health and Substance Abuse HIV/AIDS Research Workforce through Innovative Educational Initiatives

This program supports the development of research mentoring programs for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and early career faculty from under-represented groups to improve the capacity for high quality HIV research and to facilitate the research career development of investigators in HIV/AIDS fields, particularly as they relate to mental health and substance abuse.

For more information and details click here

Kaiser Family Foundation Launches Health08.Org,

A Hub For Information About Health Care And The Presidential Campaign

For more information and details click here:

AHHE and NHCCH Local and Regional News

New Affiliate Member:

We are grateful for the support of our newest affiliate member, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. The world's oldest and largest private cancer center, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) has devoted more than a century to patient care as well as to innovative research, making significant contributions to new and better therapies for the treatment of cancer.

Today, the Center has more than 9,000 employees including 717 Memorial Hospital attending staff and 123 SKI members. In 2006, more than 21,000 patients were admitted to Memorial Hospital and Memorial Sloan-Kettering accommodated 431,160 outpatient visits at its Manhattan and regional sites combined.

• Keep up-to-date on the latest news about cancer and Memorial Sloan-Kettering. Subscribe to our e-mail newsletter, Lately@MSKCC.ORG
• To receive a free 10-minute videotape about Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center's facilities and services, please fill out our online order form.

You can get further information by visiting their website:  http://www.mskcc.org 

CMS Announces Potential Clearinghouse Issues with NPIs with the PQRI

On July 17, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) broadcasted a warning to Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) participants concerning clearinghouses stripping off the National Provider Identifier (NPI) from a claim form before the clearinghouse sends the claim to Medicare. Since the agency determines PQRI participation based on the NPI and successful PQRI participation entails reporting measures at least 80 percent of applicable times, if the clearinghouse removes the NPI information, practices may not successfully reach the 80 percent reporting threshold. MGMA urges participating practices to check with their clearinghouse regarding this issue. MGMA members are asked to forward to govaff@mgma.com any communications received from your carrier indicating that they are having difficulties processing claims with the PQRI codes.
(for more information)

Upcoming Events

The First Annual Latino Mental Health Conference:
Saving Lives: Eliminating Mental Health Disparities in our Families and Communities

Saturday, October 13, 2007, 9am To 9pm

NYU School of Medicine, 550 First Avenue at 31st Street,
New York City
For more information and details click here:

"Closing the Gap on Health Disparities: A State Overview of New York" Forum
Community leaders will discuss the latest issues regarding asthma as one of our health care disparities in New York City.

Thursday, August 9, 2007, 8:00am-2:00pm,

NYU University Medical Center, Faculty Dining Room, 550 First Avenue, New York, New York 10016, 212-263-7300,
This event will be co-hosted by Assembly members Carmen Arroyo, Felix Ortiz, Peter Rivera and Sen. Martin Dilan.
RSVP: Eteague@cullarigroup.com

Scholarships/Internships

Internships with Association of Hispanic Healthcare Executives & National Hispanic Chamber of Commerce on Health. Call 212.877.1615 or send your resume to: AHHEinNYC@aol.com

Bell Labs Fellowships for under-represented minorities

http://www.bell-labs.com/

Student Inventors Scholarships

http://www.invent.org/collegiate/

Student Video Scholarships

http://www.christophers.org/vidcon2k.html

Coca-Cola Two-Year College Scholarships

http://www.coca-colascholars.org/programs.html

Holocaust Remembrance Scholarships

http://holocaust.hklaw.com/

Get the complete list at AHHE.org

Please review Cover The Uninsured news digest featuring news summaries and opinions from around the nation.  Click here to view the digest

GALA SPONSORS

NATIONAL CORPORATE PARTNERS

Long Term Care 101 
It’s getting harder to avoid the topic of long-term care (LTC) these days.  Almost everyone knows someone who has received long-term care services, along with a story about its unexpected high cost.  This has caused concern over what our own long-term care needs might be and for good reasons.
(read more)

View this short clip about how Aetna's innovative Personal Health Record helps its members make informed decisions about their health:
http://www.aetna.com/phr/video/

REGIONAL PARTNER

NYP Hospital's vision is to be among the top academic medical centers in the nation in clincal and service excellence, patient safety, research and education. To achieve our vision, we are guided by the following stratetic intitiatives: Quality and Safety, People Development, Advancing Care, Financial and Operational Strength, Partnerships, and Serving Our Community.

STATE DELEGATE NETWORK

The State Delegate Network is an innovative partnership concept whereby we provide free monthly space on our
e-newsletter to national health advocacy associations for them to showcase their organizations to a target audience of influential Hispanic leaders in healthcare and business. Join AARP NJ State Office, our first Partner

AARP New Jersey study finds Hispanics pay more for Prescription Drugs and Healthcare. For more information visit their website at www.aarp.org/nj and click on advocacy.

SPECIAL THANKS

We acknowledge with appreciation the in-kind support of José Luis Rodríguez - President & CEO of
HITN TV for recording our 2007 Annual Gala:

The Hispanic Information and Telecommunications Network, Inc. was established in 1983 as a private non-profit organization to create a network of non-commercial telecommunications facilities to advance the educational, social, cultural, and economic aspirations of Hispanics Learn more about HITN