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Senate Finance Committee Chair John A. DeFrancisco and Assembly Ways and Means Committee Chair Herman D. Farrell, Jr. today announced Joint Legislative Budget Hearings will conclude on Thursday, March 3. The hearing will focus on Health / Medicaid and is the final hearing in a series of 13 Joint Legislative Budget Hearings that reviewed the Executive’s budget proposal for SFY 2011-2012.

The Health / Medicaid budget hearing will be available for live viewing on the Senate and Assembly websites and the Legislative Channel (available on cable systems throughout the state), but will be preempted when the houses are in session. At the conclusion of the legislative deliberations, live televised coverage of the hearings will resume.

Witnesses scheduled to testify include:

New York State Department of Health
Nirav Shah, M.D., Commissioner

New York State Office of the Medicaid Inspector General
James Sheehan, Medicaid Inspector General

Greater NY Hospital Association
Kenneth E. Raske, President & CEO

HANYS
Dan Sisto, President

Iroquois Health Alliance
Gary Fitzgerald, President & CEO

Medical Society of the State of New York
Leah S. McCormack, M.D., President
Gerard Conway, Esq.

Association Health Care Providers
Christine Johnston, President

Home Care Association
Joanne Cunningham, President

NY Association & Services for the Aging
Dan Heim, Interim President & CEO

Community Health Care Association of NYS
Elizabeth Swain, CEO

Hospice & Palliative Care Association of New York State
Kathy McMahon, President & CEO

Managed Long Term Care
Jim Lytel

AARP
Neal Lane, Member Executive Council
David McNally, Manager of Government Affairs

NYS Bar Association
John Brachen, Former President

Summit Security Services, Inc.
Nick Auletta, Vice President

Pharmacists Society of the State of New York
Craig Burridge, Executive Director

NYS Nurses Association
Shaun Flynn, Director of Governmental Affairs

New York State Association of Counties
Steve Acquario, Executive Director
Maggie Brooks, Monroe County Executive

Coalition of NYS Public Health Plans
Mark Lane, President & CEO

NYPIRG
Blair Horner

Primary Care Development Corporation
Daniel Lowenstein

Maternity & Early Childhood Foundation
Joy Griffith, Executive Director

Associated Medical Schools of NY
Joe Widerhorn, President/CEO

Spinal Cord Society
Terry O’Neill
Paul Richter

Schuyler Center for Analysis & Advocacy
Kate Breslin, President & CEO

ADHEC
Mary Sienkiewicz, Director

Family Planning Advocates
M. Tracey Brooks, President & CEO

NYAPRS
Harvey Rosenthal, Executive Director

Coalition for the Homeless
Shelly Nortz, Deputy Executive Director

Empire Justice Center
Cathy Roberts, Senior Paralegal

Lupus Foundation of Mid & Northern New York
Kathleen Arntsen

Center for Disability Rights
Leah Farrell, Policy Analyst

Continuing Care Leadership Coalition
Scott Amrhein, President

1199 SEIU United Careworkers East
Helen Schaub