March 28, 2007

The Western New York Healthcare Association has three outstanding events lined up for members in the near future.  Members will receive individual notices on each of them, but here are brief summaries:

Monday, April 16:  Many of you participated in a meeting recently with Robert G. Trusiak, Assistant U.S. Attorney and his staff on March 15 in Batavia.  As a natural outgrowth of that meeting, and as part of our goal to make you as prepared and as knowledgeable as possible about the important issue of corporate compliance, we are holding a meeting on Monday, April 16. This will be in a non-threatening environment where you will be invited to share, in generic terms, the compliance challenges you all face.  This is an opportunity for you to learn from your colleagues about their efforts and pitfalls.  The meeting will be held from 10 a.m. to noon at our offices at 1876 Niagara Falls Boulevard, Tonawanda.

Friday, April 27:  Gary Baldauf, the Deputy Regional Director of the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, has accepted an invitation to present on how his office will handle the establishment of the Office of Medicaid Inspector General (OMIG).  I had the pleasure of having Mr. Baldauf address a similar topic in my waning days at the Southern Tier Health Care System, and he was a big hit with my board.  He was candid, forthright, and totally unambiguous about what he and his staff are seeking.  This presentation will be held at our offices; the time has not yet been confirmed.

Monday, June 11:  The Western New York Healthcare Association Annual Meeting; the time and place are yet to be confirmed.  I am very excited to announce that our guest speaker will be Jim Larranga, the head coach of George Mason University's basketball team.  As you recall, George Mason last year took an improbable, emotional, exciting, Cinderella-like ride to college basketball's Final Four.  Jim recently brought the national convention of Mercedes-Benz salespeople to its feet with his talk, and received outstanding reviews from his recent speech at Inova, a major health care system in Northern Virginia.  His talk at our Annual Meeting will center on leadership, teamwork, and commitment.  I am certain you will enjoy it.

More on all of these in the weeks ahead.  I just wanted to give you a quick heads-up so that you can begin planning to save those dates!