Soundview HealthCare Network

www.traffic.com Comprehensive Community Development Corporation 731 White Plains Road Bronx, New York 10473 (718) 589-2232 Fax (718) 378-2880
Contact: Rachel Fasciani FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Soundview HealthCare Network 718-530-4214, rfasciani@soundviewhealthcenter.org www.soundviewhealthcenter.com RESTRAINING ORDER FILED BY SOUNDVIEW Against Department of Health and Office of Medicaid Inspector General Bronx, NY, August 19, 2011 Manhattan Medicaid Fraud Attorney Nathan Dembin has filed for a Temporary Restraining Order against Dr. Nirav Shah, Commissioner of the NY Department of Health and against the NY Office of the Medicaid Inspector General on behalf of the Soundview Health Center and its affiliated satellite locations (Burnside Health Center, Delany Sisters Health Center and Amadou Diallo Medical Center). This action is a direct result of the unfair and arbitrary Notice of Termination of Participation in the Medicaid Program, said Attorney Nathan Dembin. He added, Approximately 24,000 patients are served annually by Soundview. The actions taken by DOH and OMIG would essentially uproot those patients, sever long established physicianpatient relationships, disrupt their continuity of care and deny high quality healthcare to an underserved population nationally recognized as a community most in need of such services.'' The Office of Medicaid Inspector General and the Department of Health took separate actions earlier this month to serve Soundview with a Notice of Proposed Agency Action to impose a sanction upon Soundview from Medicaid Participation for the next three years (OMIG) and to terminate participation in the Medicaid Program effective September 12th (DOH). The Restraining Order sought by Soundview would place a stay upon both agencies termination of Medicaid Provider Status and allow for a full hearing on the merits of such termination. Most importantly the suit would allow patients to continue to be seen by their established doctors and providers at Soundview. Closing Soundview would be like closing my second home, said Adoracin Morales, a longtime Soundview Patient and active community member. I have been a patient here for more than 15 years; my children are patients and so are my grandchildren. To close this center would be to close down the community; there are no other health centers in this neighborhood, the entire community s health would suffer. Soundview maintains that it provides excellent healthcare to a community dependent upon its services.

For additional information, please Contact: Rachel Fasciani, Director of Public Affairs, 718530-4214 or rfasciani@soundviewhealthcenter.org. Soundview HealthCare Network was created in 1978 in order to provide quality health and social services to individuals, regardless of their ability to pay. We have a network of four health center covering the Southeast, Central and Northeast sections of the Bronx allowing us to serve more than 20,000 patients each year with a full range of primary and specialty healthcare services. We are a Federally Qualified Health Center and an accredited provider through the Joint Commission for Accreditation of Health Care Organizations. We play a vital role in providing health services to the largely poor and medically underserved population of the Bronx.

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