Time has flown by and so much has happened since our last issue of Newscast.

First – congratulations again to our Immediate Past President, Mario Di Figlia, who was honored at the Annual Past President’s Dinner Dance at the North Hempstead Country Club. It was a beautiful night and a great time was had by all who attended. Congratulations to Mario once again for all that the chapter achieved under his leadership. He has now joined that prestigious club of other chapter past presidents, all of whom helped shape our chapter into the success that it is today – and one I am proud to be a part of.

We also had our premier special event – the annual golf outing, on September10th, which was a huge success. Many thanks to the golf committee including Kiran Batheja, John Coster, Gordon Sanit, John Mertz, Wendy Leo, Robin Ziegler, Andrew Weingartner, Alyson Belz,and also to all our volunteers who worked together to plan a great event that was enjoyed by all. Thank you also to our generous corporate sponsors – without your support this event would not be possible.

Our 61stAnnual Institute is fast approaching, and promises to be another great event. As always, the program will offer traditional as well as new sessions. Also, under the leadership of chair Shivam Sohan and co-chair Tracey Roland, the team worked hard to provide a new spin on some traditional sessions. As always we will provide timely topics and in-depth conversations with industry experts on the challenges all of us face in the ever transforming world of healthcare. If you haven’t already registered yet, please do so soon – you do not want to miss out on this excellent two day educational and networking opportunity.

In place of the traditional food drive that takes place at the institute, we have embraced Mike Allen’s theme of “Dare You To Move” and created our own “Team HFMA – Dare You To Climb”. The group has over 30 members – we will all be taking part on the NYC MS Climb To The Top – climbing 50 flight to the rooftop of One Bryant Park to benefit MS on Sunday, March 8th. Please support the team members by visiting the team page at secure.nationalmssociety.org and helping a member reach their fundraising goal.

Our General Ed committee, led by Sean Smith and Andrew Weingartner has been hard at work as well. If you remember, the National Chairman’s theme is “Dare you to Move” and we promised to do so by expanding locations where our live events are held. One of the examples is our recent Medicare 101seminars, which we worked on with the nearby Hudson Valley chapter and held events in Tarrytown as well as NYC. This collaboration was a big success, and we hope will be the first of many.

In addition for the first time we collaborated with NY HEC and NYS Chapter HIMSS and together organized the Digital Disruption in Healthcare event at the Microsoft building on October 28th. This was a tremendous success with over 240 attendees! Congratulations to Sean and Andrew and their team for helping our chapter break new ground.

Speaking of breaking new ground, our Leadership Series – after work programs that provide both education and networking opportunities – has been a tremendous success. I urge you to please keep checking our website for more details on our seminars, webinars, and events.

On a special note, we are forever grateful to our Corporate Sponsors, many of whom are also volunteers, as they play a pivotal role in our success. Through their generosity our Corporate Sponsors afford us the opportunity to educate our members and our community. Many of our Corporate Sponsors participate on our educational committees and serve as committee chairs and co-chairs. We thank them for their generosity and continued support of the Metro NY Chapter.

I want to again thank our volunteers, the current Executive Board, the Board of Directors, and all program chairs and co-chairs. Without their dedication, energy, knowledge, and time commitment, this chapter would cease to exist. They truly are the driving force behind this Chapter, and I am very grateful for each and every one of them.

As your President, I want to make sure that your membership needs are being met. If there is anything I can do to improve our Chapter, please let me know. If you would like to become more involved in the Chapter by participating on a committee, please let me know.

I look forward to this year’s continued success.

See you at the Annual Institute!

Diane McCarthy, CPA, FHFMA
President Metropolitan New York Chapter, HFMA