News in

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The 2019 NYCHSRO/MedReview holiday bash at India House on December 19 was another rousing success, featur-

ing a bountiful feast, a DJ and dancing, and the customary procession of lo-cal officials who came to enjoy the food and rev-erie and to honor the work of Pres-ident and CEO Joseph Stamm and company. The gathering of politicians was unexpectedly large, and all were clearly

pleased to celebrate with Mr. Stamm, his wife Anne, and company.

One of the first to address the crowd was Scott Stringer, former Manhattan Borough President and the current 44th Comptroller of New York City. He is also a leading contender for the mayoral race when

Bill de Blasio’s term limits expire in 2021. Mr. Stamm introduced him as a “dear friend” who “spent his career in

public service trying to ensure that every

VOLUME 22, NO.4October-December 2019

www.medreview.us

A PUBLICATION Of NYCHSRO/MEDREVIEW

• Joe Stamm Attends White House Hanukkah

Party…1

• Mayor de Blasio Heads a List of VIPs at

Holiday Party…1,10-11

• Healthcare Headline Summaries…2

• Client Activities…3

• Year in Review 2019…3,12

• CTO McNamara Is a Voice for

Cyberdefense…4

• Grab for Dollars: A Heart Stopping Bill for

Service…5

• All in the family: Congratulations...5

• Political Roundup…6-7

• Employee Champions…8-9

• five Pets Win Prizes for Their Humans…9

Inside This Issue....Mayor de Blasio Heads a List of VIPs at

NYCHSRO/MedReview Holiday Party

Joe Stamm attended the White House Ha-nukkah party on De-

cember 11 as a guest of President Donald Trump and the first Lady. Oc-curring just a day after a professed anti-Semitic couple murdered a Jer-sey City police officer and owners of a kosher market, the gathering was both celebratory and somber.

After acknowledging the latest tragedy, the President reiterated the story of the Hanukkah miracle and the ultimate rededi-cation of the Temple in Jerusalem as a tes-tament to Jewish survival. He then spoke of Jewish Americans today and throughout history who “strengthen, sustain, and in-spire our nation.”

The President also chose the day to an-

nounce his plan to sign an ex-ecutive order to combat anti-Semitism, including the ban of federal funding to universities and in-stitutions that “engage in discrimination”

and “traffic in anti-Semitic hate.” He promised that those who do not cease such activity would lose “the tre-mendous amount of federal dollars” they receive annually. He specifically condemned the Boycott, Divestment

and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which he called an “anti-Semitic campaign against the State of Israel and its citi-zens.”

Members of the Kushner family, in-cluding Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared, and many other lu-minaries attended the event.

Joe Stamm Joins President Trumpfor Hanukkah at the White House

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Healthcare Headline SummariesE-cigarette Vapor, Kids and Cancer—11-5-19

Tobacco smoke is known to be both ad-dictive and toxic. It’s addictive because it contains nicotine, a chemical that stimu-lates the nervous system and causes physi-cal dependency. It’s toxic because the smoke contains compounds that can cause cancer and other health problems. Nicotine itself can be transformed into toxic com-pounds when tobacco is cured and burned.

E-cigarettes are marketed as a less harmful alternative to smoking tobacco, but there is still much to learn about their health effects. In addition to nicotine, they contain other chemicals, including flavor-ings, and there is growing concern about the skyrocketing number of children and adolescents using them. In an NIH-funded study, Dr. Moon-shong Tang and others at NYU School of Medicine found that mice exposed to nicotine-containing e-cigarette vapor for 12 weeks showed DNA damage in their lungs, heart, and bladder. Their lung cells also showed a reduced capacity for DNA repair.

The same study revealed that a chemi-cal process found in human cells could convert nicotine into potentially cancer-causing compounds. To understand how these processes may relate to cancer risk, researchers performed a longer-term study in mice. One group was exposed to e-cig-arette vapor with nicotine for 4 hours a day, 5 days a week for just over a year. A control group was exposed to e-cigarette vapor without nicotine. A third group only breathed filtered air.

At the end of the year, research-ers looked for cancer and pre-cancerous changes. Nine out of the 40 mice (22.5%) exposed to the nicotine-containing vapor developed one or more visible lung tumors. By comparison, only one mouse in one con-trol group developed lung cancer. Although visible tumors weren’t found in the blad-ders of any of the mice, tissue analyses found pre-cancerous changes in the blad-ders of 23 (57.5%) mice exposed to the nicotine-containing vapor versus only one of the control mice. Researchers caution that these results can’t prove how e-cig-arette vapor affects the human body. The research had several limitations, including using a relatively small number of mice that are naturally prone to developing lung cancer. However, the findings, which were

published in October in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, do suggest caution and the need for further study.“Our study results in mice were not meant to be compared to human disease, but in-stead argue that e-cigarette smoke must be more thoroughly studied before it is deemed safe or marketed that way,” Tang says.

Permanent Hair Dye and Straighteners May Increase Breast Cancer Risk—12-4-19

NIH scientists found that women who use permanent hair dye and chemical hair straighteners have a higher risk of develop-ing breast cancer than those who don’t. The study published online in the International Journal of Cancer suggests that breast can-cer risk increases with more frequent use of chemical hair products.

Using data from 46,709 women in the Sister Study, the National Institute of En-vironmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) found that those who regularly used permanent hair dye in the year prior to the study were 9% more likely than those who didn’t to de-velop breast cancer. Among African Ameri-can women, using permanent dyes every five to eight weeks or more was associated with a 60% increased risk of breast cancer as compared with an 8% increased risk for white women. The research team found little to no increase in breast cancer risk for semi-permanent or temporary dye use.

“Researchers have been studying the possible link between hair dye and can-cer for a long time, but results have been inconsistent,” said corresponding author Alexandra White, PhD, head of the NIEHS Environment and Cancer Epidemiology Group. “In our study, we see a higher breast cancer risk associated with hair dye use, and the effect is stronger in African American women, particularly those who are frequent users.”

An intriguing finding was the association between the use of chemical hair straight-eners and breast cancer. Dr. White and col-leagues found that women who used hair straighteners at least every five to eight weeks were about 30% more likely to de-velop breast cancer.

While the association between straight-ener use and breast cancer was similar in African American and white women, straightener use was much more common

among African American women. Co-author Dale Sandler, PhD, chief of the NIEHS Epi-demiology Branch, cautioned that although there is some prior evidence to support the association with chemical straighten-ers, these results need to be replicated in other studies.

When asked if women should stop dye-ing or straightening their hair, Sandler said, “We are exposed to many things that could potentially contribute to breast cancer, and it is unlikely that any single factor ex-plains a woman’s risk. While it is too early to make a firm recommendation, avoiding these chemicals might be one more thing women can do to reduce their risk of breast cancer.”

Tasty Names Boost Veggie Eating—12-15-19Everyone knows we should eat more

vegetables; yet only about 10 percent of Americans eat the recommended number of veggies per day. A recent study, however, found that tasty food descriptions can en-courage people to make healthier eating choices. Researchers tested whether food labels on vegetables served in dining halls affected college students’ food choices. They tested three types of labels at five universities across the country: tasty, healthy, or basic.

Tasty labels used words linked to excite-ment, indulgence, tradition, or geographic locations. They included names like “Herb n’ Honey Balsamic Glazed Turnips” and “Sizzlin’ Szechuan Green Beans.”

Healthy labels used names like “Healthy Choice Turnips” or “Nutritious Green Beans.” Basic labels read “Turnips” or “Green Beans.” The dishes were the same every time. Only the labels changed.

Students were more likely to choose the veggies with tasty sounding names. They chose them 14% more than those with ba-sic labels and 29% more than those with healthy labels. Students even ate 39% more of the “tasty” sounding veggies than the “heathy” veggies.

“This is radically different from our cur-rent cultural approach to healthy eating which, by focusing on health to the neglect of taste, inadvertently instills the mindset that healthy eating is tasteless and depriv-ing,” says Dr. Alia Crum at Stanford Univer-sity, who led the study.

newsinhealth.nih.gov

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Healthcare Headline SummariesExecutive Vice President Helen Mutchler and Director of Account

Management and Data Mining Kathy Gonzales, manned the MedReview booth at this year’s IfEBP Conference in San Diego.

The three-day event began on October 20 and drew a few thousand attendees who work in, or provide services to, the employee benefits and compensation industry in the US and Canada. “We went to some educational sessions and talked with everyone who came by,” Gon-zales stated. “Like us, most exhibitors and attendees work directly in healthcare or provide ancillary services to the industry. We dis-cussed possible business intersections and exchanged information with many of them. We also presided over our annual iPad raffle.” Other giveaways included a MedReview carryall bag, Halloween can-dy, fresh cookies and brownies.

A few weeks later on November 15, NYCHSRO/MedReview’s top three executives were at the Teamster Center Services 26th Annual Health and Benefits Expo at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in midtown Man-hattan to promote the company’s services. CEO/President Stamm, EVP Helen Mutchler, and SVP Spencer Young greeted visitors to the booth, raffled off an iPad, and gave away refreshments as they talk-ed business with current and potential clients. MedReview was also a 2019 Expo Sponsor along with United Healthcare, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Emblem Health, CityMD Urgent Care, Optum Rx and other top names in the industry.

On November 21, President Joe Stamm, Vice President Bob Rosenbloom and Director Kathy Gonzales met with Officials of Lead-ing Edge and Empire BC General Manager/Vice President Tom Canty at the Wall Street offices of Leading Edge, a third-party adminis-trator and current MedReview Utilization Management client, who will plan our DRG validation services in 2020. The meeting purpose was to kick-off an informative planning discussion involving all key stakeholders.

On December 9, Director Kathy Gonzales joined SVP Spencer Young, Director of Project Management and Review Operations Donna Sutherland, and Assistant Director of Retrospective Review Rudy Moise for the 2019 Care for Kids Gala, an annual black tie event of 1199SEIU funds. CMO Dr. Van H. Dunn hosted the gala, and Executive Director Mitra Behroozi, JD, was an honoree.

Client ACtivities

NYCHSRO/MedReview’s success in 2019 exceeded the best expecta-tions of President and CEO Joe

Stamm and the Board of Directors thanks to some historic accomplishments and in-novations across many areas of business. Chief among these were the company’s expanded relationships with clients—most notably with United Healthcare, who called MedReview a “strategic partner” during an historic visit by this organiza-tion’s top brass to their headquarters in Ireland in January.

That growth led to a further expansion of company office space, including a sec-ond full floor at 199 Water Street, a fact that made real estate headlines in the New York Post in April. In total, NYCHSRO/Me-dReview added 35,454 square feet of space as well as many new personnel and new positions across the ranks. These included Board member Martin Golden, the former New York City Councilman and State Sena-tor; the organization’s first Director of Ac-count Management and Data Mining Kathy Gonzales; Director of Project Management

Donna Sutherland, and Director of Coding Ravi Moses.

In the Third Quarter, Mr. Stamm joined by Spencer Young, Helen Mutchler, Terry Patterson, Pavan Devineni, Ravi Moses, and Edward Saxer, MD, had ongoing meet-ings with UHC to resolve technical issues of data overloads on their electronic system and to maximize efficiency. The bottom line, Mr. Stamm noted with satisfaction, is that MedReview had met their target num-bers before the new year.

Leading Edge Administrators also joined

continued on page 12

breaking records

Year in Review:2019 Breaks the Records

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In a CNBC online story published on October 13, journalist Scott Steinberg reported that a single cyberattack

costs companies “of all sizes” an aver-age $200,000 each, putting many out of business within six months. Yet, he noted, CTO/CSO Dan McNamara of NYCHSRO/MedReview asserts that his employer’s multi-faceted approach to cybersecurity has enabled its staff of 350 to avert the most serious risks and costs of phishing and other forms of attack that enable outsid-ers’ access to otherwise protected infor-mation.

This feat was a big reason why Steinberg invited McNamara to the conversation. As McNamara commented, the day-by-day loss of productivity due to this type of blackmail can be a deadly stranglehold on a small company, which cannot sus-tain the forfeiture of daily income due to loss of access to the very data that is its business.

According to technology experts at Accenture, cybercrime is the fastest-growing form of illegal activity. Small businesses—typically defined as 500 employees or less—are the target in 43 percent of all such attacks; yet, “only 14 percent are prepared to defend them-selves.” Breaches of this sort have cost an estimated $5.2 trillion worldwide over five years. Their very vulnerability is what makes small businesses “a favorite target,” Steinberg wrote.

So how has NYCHSRO/MedReview been able to thwart the growing band of cyber-criminals?

“Even with the help of AI machine learn-ing to protect data,” McNamara explained, “the biggest threat to security actually comes through regular users who go into an email or even a website and click on something that contains a virus. Just think of Hillary Clinton’s hacked emails in the last election, which gave her rivals’ access to proprietary information of the DNC. for reasons like that, we have shifted the focus of our cybersecurity strategy away from just a single team or individual.

“Instead, we teach everyone through comprehensive training to be proactive participants in a culture that keeps cyber-

security in mind at all times as part of their job. Along with the federally mandated HIPAA training about protection of patient information, we also teach our staff that cybersecurity—which is all about protec-tion of information—is the responsibility of every employee from the receptionist to the executive suite. Then, we prepare them to participate in a meaningful way in this priority.”

This was not hyperbole. McNamara went on to disclose a controlled experiment to test the efficacy of this training company-wide. With the help of outside cybersecu-rity experts, McNamara arranged for the delivery of a package to the front desk, where longtime receptionist Patricia Black

accepted and opened it, as her job re-quired. Inside was a USB drive and a letter to the finance directors explaining that the drive contained “the accounting proposal and salary documentation, as discussed.”

In fact, the drive contained would-be malware—a deliberate “backdoor” into the computer system that could provide an outside actor with access to company programs and data. Thanks to her training, however, Ms. Black sensed something sus-picious about the delivery and immediate-ly notified NYCHSRO/MedReview’s security team. They discovered the ruse, and Ms. Black and her colleagues passed the test with high marks. No data or person was harmed in the process. In the worst case, the secret collaborator would have con-tacted CTO/CSO McNamara immediately.

Still, everyone in the company got a firsthand les-son on the impor-tance of personal vigilance against cyberattack.

“In the Third Quarter of 2019 alone, this com-pany thwarted about three to five million at-tempted cyberat-tacks per month, with Russia, China, and Iran among the main culprits,” McNamara noted. Compared to “10 to 20 million at-

tacks per day on, say, a Citibank,” he added, NYCHSRO/MedReview’s data-driven business is small potatoes. On the other hand, he said, at the cost of tens of thousands of dollars per day, small companies can least afford the risk and loss of productivity.

Indeed, the CTO/CSO notes that bad actors around the world continue to “throw stuff against the wall in broad-spectrum attacks.” In response, McNa-mara has created “A Very Attacked Per-sons Report,” as he calls it, which tracks the number of phishing-related emails or hacking attempts on internet pass-words in the company’s executive suite

and beyond. “It’s important to take a multi-faceted

approach to cybersecurity,” McNamara told Steinberg, noting that millions of breach attempts on the company occur in early morning hours and on weekends. In addi-tion to employing AI and autonomous ser-vices and “real-time cybersecurity tools,” NYCHSRO/MedReview encourages “every person on staff to play a role in combating online threats.”

“We believe that every employee is re-sponsible for helping to maintain security,” McNamara told CNBC. “We train everyone from the front desk up to the CEO in what constitutes smart high-tech behaviors. We make every employee into a security engi-neer. And, then we employ AI and machine learning because they are at work when our staff is home sleeping.”

CTSO Dan MCnaMara IS a VOICe fOr CyberDefenSe In CnbC InTerVIew

TECH UPDATE TECH UPDATE TECH UPDATE TECH UPDATE TECH UPDATE

“We train everyone from the front desk up to the CEO in what consti-

tutes smart high-tech behaviors. We make every employee into a security

engineer — and then we employ AI and machine learning because

they are at work when ourstaff is home sleeping.”

-Dan McNamara

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A 59-year-old female underwent a scheduled heart surgery known as a coronary artery bypass graft, or CABG. Her sig-nificant medical history included coronary artery disease;

heart attack; a birth defect commonly known as a hole in the heart; congestive heart failure; and a heart valve disorder that affects blood flow.

A coronary artery bypass is a procedure that restores necessary blood flow to the heart muscle by using a graft to divert the flow around a blocked section of the coronary artery. To accomplish this, the surgical team normally places the patient on a machine that provides continued blood flow to the rest of the body while the heart itself is cooled to stop its beating. This enables surgery on the arteries that feed the heart muscle to take place on a non-beating heart. Once done, surgical staff warm the heart to resume normal beating and then remove it from the mechanical bypass.

In this particular case, while in this rewarming process, the patient’s heart fibrillated. A fibrillating heart is incapable of contracting—i.e. beating— in a coordinated way and thus cannot pump blood to the body as needed. To correct the condition, the surgical team used an electrical defibrilla-tor to shock the heart to break the fibrillation and return it to

a normal rhythm. The procedure worked; a normal heartbeat resumed; and the doctors completed the operation without further incident.

The hospital’s bill for this surgery included a separate code for a diagnosis of ventricular fibrillation, which

significantly increased the charges for the entire procedure. The cardiac surgeon who reviewed

this case on behalf of MedReview, however, denied this as a separate and distinct di-agnosis.

As the reviewer noted, the manage-ment of such an abnormal rhythm during that phase of open-heart surgery is not a valid secondary condition. Rather, in such a setting, it is integral to the per-formance of the basic cardiac procedure,

in which some fibrillation commonly oc-curs as the heartbeat starts up on its own

again. In fact, such ventricular fibrillation, which is termed a “re-warming arrhythmia”

in the setting of a scheduled bypass surgery, is a commonly occurring event and within the normal

range of variation.

Original Bill: $225,175.00Corrected Bill: $121,690.00Client Savings: $103,485.00

Grab for Dollars: A Heart-Stopping Bill for Service

1. Dr. Sheree Starrett on the birth of her grandchildren Talia Rose Bennett on January 5 and Isaac Graham Keane on December 14

2. Sha-Tisma Williford on the birth of her son Abdoulaye N’Diaye on February 193. Stuart Stillman on the birth of his granddaughter Atara Spiegel on March 12

4. Maurice Bortz on the birth of his granddaughter Tamar Yehudit Feder, sister to Eliana Sara, on April 22

5. Srikanth Tanubudhu on the birth of his daughter Veronica on July 296. Arthur Jerry Kremer on the birth of a his granddaughter Logan Elizabeth Ruben

on November 77. Joyce Lam on the birth of her son Ivan Li on November 20

8. Dr. Richard Bonforte on the birth of his grandson James Albert Bocchino on December 1

9. Jacob Hauptman on the birth of his daughter Shira on December 31

All in the FamilyCongratulations

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Political RoundupVVV

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Gustavo Rivera, State Senator from the Bronx and Chairman of the Health Committee, made his first

visit to the offices of NYCHSRO/MedReview on November 5 to meet with Mr. Stamm and other executives and hear their concerns critical to the healthcare review industry. Primary among these were issues regarding the proper application of precertification and retrospective review criteria in the auditing process. The Senator gave a generous amount of time to the discussion, which included EVP Helen Mutchler, VP Robert Rosenbloom, Medical Director Dr. Ed Saxer, and NPR Director Maurice Bortz. On November 18, Mr. Stamm joined with prominent New Yorkers at the groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion of the Ezra Medical Center in Brooklyn. The multispecialty health center for adults and

children—especially the underserved and underinsured—is building a state-of-the-art 25,000-square-foot facility on its Boro Park

site. The Center provides comprehensive care all under one roof, a sliding-fee discounted schedule, and insurance sign-

up assistance. The event drew political luminaries including Congressman Jerry Nadler, Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, State

Senator Simcha Felder, Assistant Speaker of the Assembly Felix Ortiz, Assemblymembers David Weprin and Simcha Eichenstein, and NYC Councilmembers Robert Cornegy, Jr., Chaim Deutsch, Mathieu Eugene, and Brad Lander. Councilmember Kalman Yeger emceed the event. Democratic State Assemblyman Sean Ryan of Buffalo, who is making a bid for State Senator, and his campaign director Michael Senay of Berger/Hirschberg Strategies met with President Stamm in the boardroom on November 20. Assemblyman Ryan

requested the meeting as part of his effort to meet with New York business people to learn about their industry and their concerns going forward.

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On the evening of November 21, Joe Stamm and Maurice Bortz gathered with community leaders and “stakeholders” for a “meet and greet” with the newly appointed New York City Police Commissioner, Chief Dermot Shea. Chief Shea shared his vision and plans for his tenure and spoke of his interest in hearing peoples’ concerns and “working together to better” life in the city. The event was at the Jewish Children’s Museum in Brooklyn. Mr. Stamm joined NYS Attorney General Letitia James on two occasions this quarter. On November 25, accompanied by his wife Anne, he attended the Lay Advisory Cocktail Reception,

held jointly by Ambassador Dani Dayan, Consul General of Israel in New York, and the New York Board of Rabbis. There, as a guest speaker who addressed the issue of antisemitism, James also spoke of her friendships with and great regard for both the Stamms and referred to Mr. Stamm as a “confidant.” On December 2, EVP Helen Mutchler joined Mr. Stamm for a second event with the Attorney General. On December 3, NPR Director Maurice Bortz stood in for Mr. Stamm at an event with Councilmember Mark Levine of New York’s 7th District in Northern Manhattan. The Democrat is the former Parks Chair of the City Council and

a successful advocate for equal access to parks, affordable housing, and tenants rights. Mr. Stamm joined with community members on the evening of December 17 at the Vodka & Latke Cocktail Reception, also held by the New York Board of Rabbis, this time in honor of Hanukkah, the “season of freedom and rededication.” The evening included the traditional lighting of the holiday candles, but the larger purpose of the gathering, the invitation stated, was to bring together the interfaith community “to celebrate our shared values” and “recognize those who work towards the dignity of all people.” Eric Dittelman, the world-renowned mentalist and finalist on America’s Got Talent Season 7, provided the evening’s entertainment, and Jeffrey Wiesenfeld of Bernstein Private Wealth Management hosted the event at the company’s midtown offices.

President Joe Stamm with: 1. NYS Senator Gustavo Rivera and NYCHSRO/MedReview executive team2. NYS Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli

3. New York’s top politicians at Ezra Medical Center groundbreaking ceremony4. NYS Assemblyman David Weprin & NYC Councilman Kalman Yeger

5. Steven Patzer, who is seeking a City Council seat in Brooklyn’s District 47 6. Deputy King and Crown Prince of Bahrain Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa

7. Congress member Mario Diaz-Balart (fL-R) at Hanukkah party hosted jointly with Debbie Wasserman Schultz (fL-D)

8. NYC Councilman Robert Cornegy, Jr. 9. NYC Police Commissioner Dermot Shea10. NYS Senator Simcha felder 11.NYC Councilman Chaim Deutsch

12.NYS Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein 13.EVP Helen Mutchler and NYS Attorney General Letitia James 14.NYS Assemblyman David Weprin 15. NYS Assemblyman Sean Ryan

16. Maurice Bortz and NYC Councilman Mark Levine

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President and CEO Joe Stamm hosted a staff breakfast in the boardroom on December 10, where he announced

the six new Employees of the Month for the second half of 2019. As usual, he took great pleasure, first, in making his staff guess each win-ner based on department name and nominators’ descriptions and, then, in inviting everyone to en-joy the plentiful table of bagels, cream cheese, tuna and egg salad, pastries and drinks. SVP Spencer Young and finance Director Winnie Yuen helped to give out the win-ners’ plaques and checks.

July EOM: Louisa NoelAs a bookkeeper with the com-

pany for five years, Louisa Noel caught the attention not only of her coworkers in finance but also of others in the company who have had the pleasure to cross her path. One such fan called Louisa a “unique” individual who “is per-haps best known as the blur that walks past you and says ‘beep beep,’ which is appropriate since she moves like the Roadrunner around the office.”

Louisa also received praise as an exceptional, dependable, pro-fessional, and honest team player with “a strong work ethic.” She is “just a good person” who is warm, genuine, thoughtful, and upbeat, stated a nominator.

August EOM: Rafael fernandezAs the Regional Epidemiologist who

works offsite under contract with the Com-municable Disease Program for the NYS-DOH Epidemiology and Infection Program, Rafael fernandez was unable to attend the breakfast and hear his praises sung in per-son. However, Mr. Stamm read the long list of accolades with gusto.

Since 2015, Rafael has worked in the State offices in Westchester, and as one nominator asserted, this means “his quali-ties of leadership and initiative are all the more critical.” He also received praise for his “considerable expertise in a newly emerging multi-drug resistant infection

with a high mortality rate.” As such, Ra-fael has been a named presenter at pro-fessional conferences as well as an author or coauthor on numerous papers. One of

these was published in the peer-reviewed American Journal of Infection Control in June.

Rafael’s DOH supervisors described him as “an experienced, well-trained, pleas-ant, thoughtful and well-respected” pro-fessional who demonstrates “initiative and willingness to take on extra responsibility as his schedule allows.

September EOM: Meriam AlcantaraUtilization Management Administrator

Meriam Alcantara received colleagues’ praise not just for what she does, but how she does it. “She usually takes charge of the team in absence of our manager,”

stated one coworker. “She makes sure the team functions well and addresses con-cerns in a very timely fashion.” Described as “very humble, approachable and sup-

portive to all staff,” Meriam also “makes herself available to share her knowledge whenever she can” and “deserves to be admired, re-spected and recognized.”

October EOM: Vitaliy KaganovVitaliy, a two-year veteran of

MedReview, is a Scanning Depart-ment clerk whose coworkers ea-gerly acknowledged the benefit they get from the “very positive and united atmosphere” his pres-ence creates. Described as pa-tient, kind, and understanding, he is “always eager to help in anything when needed and could

definitely find a shortcut to almost anything so we are able to run more quickly and efficiently” as a department. One coworker nicknamed Vi-taliy “the Clark Kent of MedReview because he is always willing to lend a hand and set a good example of going above and beyond.”

November EOM: Charles Satterley

Charles Satterly, Di-rector of the HEDIS and

MLTC programs, supervis-es a team of nurses who, under NYCHSRO’s government contracts, perform assess-ments of healthcare facilities as required under various federal and state statutes. This year, he has assisted with a demand-ing Medicaid-related project known as DSRIP. His peers praised him as an “invalu-able asset” in accomplishing the task.

“Charles has helped with QA and train-ing of new staff in a delightful and cordial manner,” said one colleague. “The staff absolutely love him. He is a pleasure to work with, very knowledgeable regarding the subject matter, and always willing to ask for advice. He rarely if ever says no to a request.”

Employee Champions

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Employee Champions

December EOM: Debra MurphyDebra Murphy’s admirers point out that

though “she was previously awarded this prize in 2018, it is time to recognize her again” for her “outstanding” work as Program Director of NYCH-SRO’s WeCARE contract un-der New York City’s Human Resources Administration.

She anticipates and meets “all the needs” of the client, said a fan. “She has shown outstanding leadership in her depart-ment, helping to develop a training program for WeCARE vendors that was widely praised by HRA.”

As one colleague noted, “It was particularly impres-

sive that three of Debra’s team members have also been Employees of the Month, demonstrating her outstanding leadership

and ability to motivate staff and get the most out of them. More importantly, ev-ery time there is a project in the office

that needs assistance, Debra volunteers and then motivates her staff to volunteer alongside her.”

“That is what leader-ship is about and that is what should earn her a repeat award,” the nominator concluded.

The end-of-year companywide photo contest featured pictures of employees’ pets. Altogether, staff submitted 114 snapshots of their beloved creatures, which included cats, dogs, a horse

and a reptile. The snapshots, which were displayed on the glass wall of the main boardroom, attracted large crowds who enthusi-astically debated among themselves which photos were the cutest, the prettiest, the sweetest, the funniest, and the best overall.

Many noted that it was going to be difficult to choose just five favorites, but, indeed, they did in record numbers. Mr. Stamm, as-sisted by Board Member and former State Senator Marty Golden,

Five Pets Win Prizes for Their Humans

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announced the winners and handed out the cash prizes at the Holiday Party on December 19.

The winners were: first Place, Adnan Dibra; Second Place, Deborah Coyne; Third Place, Jasmine Belardo; fourth Place and two-time photo contest winner, Mike Manilov; and fifth Place, Joanna Zischang.

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New Yorker has an equal opportunity to make it in our city.”

Comptroller Stringer returned the admiration, noting that “Joe’s leadership” has impressed him over many years. “This really is your ex-tended family,” he said referring to the large gathering. “People do love and respect you, and there really is a sense of mission.” Stringer also

noted MedReview Board member Bill Thompson, Jr., the former City Comp-troller who was also at the event. “He is someone I have learned a lot from over the years.”

W h i l e several lo-cal leaders had declined their party invitat ions due to prior c o m m i t -ments, many made sur-prise show-ings anyway. Key among these was New York Assembly member Rodneyse Bichotte of the 42nd District in Brook-lyn, where Mr. Stamm lives. “I found myself in Manhattan, and I was hun-gry,” she said to much laughter. She went on to praise Stamm and the or-ganization.

“It is a pleasure to have this man as my constituent. I sit on the Health-care Committee and a lot of what he does helps us to make our lives bet-

ter. Obviously, he would not be able to do it if all of you here did not do the work.”

Bichotte then introduced her friend and fellow politician farah Louis, City Councilmember for District 45 in Brooklyn. Louis told the crowd, “The holiday is about love and gratitude—and, remember, 2020 is going to be a big year!”

Simcha Eichenstein, the newly elected successor to and protégé of retired Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind, briefly spoke next, followed by President Stamm, who introduced the Mayor of New York.

“He is not just a mayor to me,” Stamm said. “Bill de Blasio is a dear friend—to me, to my wife, to my fam-ily, to this organization.” Noting the many times de Blasio has visited his home and offices, Stamm added, “I can tell you there isn’t a finer, nicer, kinder, sweeter individual.”

The Mayor was equally gracious. “I feel like I never left the last party!” he began, referring to his consistent attendance at NYCHSRO/MedReview’s

annual event. “They’re all great par-ties,” he said to rousing applause. “Joe has been for me an amazing friend. He is someone highly respect-ed in our community in Brooklyn. He is someone who is honest, and consis-tent, and decent.”

The Mayor also honored the wom-an who has stood beside Joe Stamm for more than four decades—his wife Anne, whom de Blasio called “Joe’s

Notable New Yorkers Celebratewith NYCHSRO/MedReview

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greatest blessing.” He then spoke about his own blessings, including a “thanks to all.”

“I know that so many people in this room really care about New York,” he said, “and do a lot to make this city a better place in your communities and through the work you do at Me-dReview. I don’t know every nuance of it, but I do know this: It’s about making sure that people get quality healthcare, that the taxpayer and everyone is respected in the process, and that the right healthcare is provided for the right cost. I think that is really important work.”

Every politician who followed also spoke of Joe Stamm’s friendship and of what he does personally and through his business for his Brooklyn community and New York State in general. Some were relative newcomers; many had lifelong civic careers. As Brooklyn City Councilman Kalman Yeger told the crowd, he has known Mr. Stamm “since before I could shave.”

Indeed, Brooklyn was in the house, with many oth-er elected officials from the borough. Mr. Stamm introduced each one. Assemblyman Walter T. Mosley, whom Mr. Stamm called “a true friend to this organization,” thanked him in return for his support and urged ev-eryone “to go higher and higher in what you want to achieve.” Assemblyman Steven H. Cymbrowitz—“a dear friend first, before he was a politician,” Mr. Stamm noted—also thanked the crowd “for all the work you do.” He then introduced Chaim Deutsch as “my neighbor and a City Councilman” and described him “a young in-dividual who has really made a mark and is well-respected.” Deutsch then spoke of the partygoers’ diversity of “cultures and back-grounds” and called Joe Stamm a person who “unites people from all political levels.”

When he called Dr. Mathieu Eugene to the mike, Mr. Stamm noted that he is nearing his term limits as City Councilman. “I hope Dr. Eugene moves up to a higher position!” he declared. The Councilman responded that while he had ten events on his calendar that evening, “I said to myself that I could not af-

ford not to come to Joe’s!”The last public figures at the po-

dium were political hopefuls from Brooklyn: Steven Patzer, a first-time candidate for City Council in 2021, and Renee Collymore, former Democratic District Leader and current City Coun-cil candidate. Executive Vice President

of the New York Board of Rabbis Joe Potas-nik also greeted the crowd.

Other VIPs who stopped by the party in-cluded: Queens Assemblyman David Weprin, who has en-tered the race for City Comp-troller in 2021; Executive Vice President of the New York Board of Rab-bis Joe Potas-nik; Publisher Neil Tepel of the Labor Press; radio host Zev Brenner; Advisor

to the Office of the State Comptroller Jake Adler; NYPD’s Clergy Outreach Unit Detec-tive Mohamed Amen; and businessman Willy Pilku, CEO of CORE Scaffold Systems, Inc. Other guests included cybersecurity special-ists Maddie Snyder, Vinesh Vasnani, and Brad Hong of Darktrace.

former State Senator Marty Golden also spoke as this company’s newest board mem-ber.

“I’m extremely impressed not just by how the board works,” he said, “but by how the management of this team—and you, the team—have made this such a successful year through your hard work, Joe Stamm’s leader-ship, and our good chairman and board.

“Give yourselves a round of applause!”

“The work you do at MedReview is about

making sure that people get quality healthcare, that the

taxpayer and everyone is respected

in the process, and that the right healthcare is

provided for the right cost.

I think that is really important work.”

—Mayor Bill de Blasio

NYCHSRO/MEDREVIEW199 Water Street, 27th FloorNew York, NY 10038

MedReview’s client roster earlier this year, initially signing on for Health Utilization Management services, high dollar retro-spective reviews, and case management. By year’s end, their Director of Cost Con-tainment Avrumi friedman, a satisfied customer, who plans to add DRG valida-tion reviews to their list of MedReview services. following months of telephone meetings and a visit by MedReview offi-cials to their Wall Street offices, fried-man and his colleagues paid a visit to 199 Water Street for a tour of these offices and a mutually enjoyable meet-and-greet with the staff working on their ac-counts.

In September, Mr. Stamm and his team marked NYCHSRO/MedReview’s 39th year as a review organization for 1199 SEIU Ben-efits funds at their annual meeting with CMO Dr. Van Dunn and his colleagues. As usual, the year also saw a round of profes-sional trainings for clients as well as staff, including HIPPA, PHI and other conduct codes and ethics for the workplace, led by VP Robert Rosenbloom. In february, NYCH-SRO’s review team led by Debra Rush-Mur-phy provided training for HRA vendors as the renewed WeCARE contract went into effect. In March, at the invitation of the NYC Office of Labor Relations, company leaders attended a meeting regarding the possible expansion of our review activities

for them. In April, CMO Seth Lewin, MD, and Senior Medical Director Ed Saxer, MD, conducted one of their periodic training sessions for physician advisors regarding medical reviews conducted for clients.

This year also saw official visits to the MedReview boardroom by State Senator and Health Committee Chair Gustavo Rive-ra and State Assemblyman Sean Ryan, who is making a run for State senator. In turn, MedReview’s CEO and key staff attended a round of events with other leaders, start-ing in the new year with the inaugura-tions of Governor Andrew Cuomo, State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and State Attorney General Letitia James. Over the next months, MedReview’s leadership also attended various celebrations with Con-gressman Max Rose, Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie, Assemblyman Walter Mosley, Assemblyman David Weprin, City Comp-troller Scott Stringer, Councilmembers

Donavan Richards and farah Louis, and re-tired public official H. Carl McCall.

As part of the Anwar Sadat Congres-sional Gold Medal Commission, Mr. Stamm met in february with Egyptian President

el Sisi at the Heliopolis Palace in Cairo. In July, he attended the official farewell party for Egyptian Ambassador to the US Yasser Reda, and in September, he attended the debut of the Sadat Gold Medal Design at the United States Mint in Washington, DC.

Back in the office, the CEO also cel-ebrated a number of notable events with staff. He made auditing history in July when he joined the company’s WeCARE review team for a visit to a newly opened

vendor site in Brooklyn. As Quality Review-er Melanie Barrett described, his presence gave the team “the opportunity to reflect on their own audit processes, supported by his fresh-eyed view.” In June and again in December, Mr. Stamm honored six staff who were voted by their peers as Employ-ees of the Month. In October, CTO/CSO Dan McNamara was interviewed for a story by CNBC about NYCHSRO/MedReview’s un-usual success in the area of cybersecurity and the protection of health information.

“It was a very good year for our clients, our workforce, and our company. I am proud of all that we have accomplished,” the CEO said.

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breaking records

Year in Review:

2019 Breaks the Records