Members in the News

Advocacy Collaboration

On Tuesday, March 11, 2025, NYACP Nandini Anandu, MD, FACP, Vice Chair of NYACP’s Health & Public Policy Committee, and Loretta Ponesse, NYACP’s Executive Director, traveled to Albany to attend MSSNY’s Advocacy Day.  In addition, Dr. Anandu joined other NYS Specialty Society leaders on a panel, with each sharing a short report on legislative priorities for their organization.  The other panelists joining Dr. Anandu included:

    Glenn Martin, MD – NYS Psychiatric Association
    Anthony Vine, MD, FACS – NY Chapter of the American College of Surgeons
    Stacy Watt, MD – NYS Society of Anesthesiologists
    Diana Yoon, MD – NYS Society of Plastic Surgeons

Dr. Anandu proudly represented NYACP by stating it as the largest specialty society in New York State with over 11,000 members.  She shared slides of the Chapter's new 2025 Legislative Agenda, which included a listing of priorities under three key topics:  (1) access to care, (2) public health, and (3) quality of care and patient safety.  The Chapter will continue its strong support for telehealth and pay parity at the state level, in addition to a permanent extension of the Telehealth Modernization Act at the national level.  In the proposed NYS Budget, NYACP is happy to see the continuation of funding for the Doctors Across New York Program (DANY), an important workforce program that the Chapter has strongly supported since its inception.  Other issues addressed by Dr. Anandu included the possible elimination of the current provider prevails under Medicaid, various programs that seek to educate patients (facts over misinformation), the importance of vaccines (eliminate hesitancy and remove barriers), continued support toward reducing violence and deaths from firearm injuries, the expansion of behavioral health in NYS, and support for the prevention of and treatment for substance use disorders, including tobacco use.

MSSNY’s morning session included short presentations by Doug Fish, Deputy Commissioner, NYS Department of Health, Office of Health Care Delivery, Senate Minority Leader Robert Ortt, Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay, and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart- Cousins.  The Health and Insurance Panel was represented with the presence of Senator Gustavo Rivera, Senator Jamaal Baily, Assembly Member David Weprin and Mark Kissinger, Chief of Staff from Assembly Member Amy Paulin’s office.

NYACP is known for its collaboration, and the Chapter believes that there is strength in partnerships and collaboration.  NYACP would like to thank MSSNY for inviting the NYS Specialty Societies to participate in their Physician Advocacy Day each year.