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ACCOMPLISHMENTS
A trusted team on Beacon Hill with
years of legislative and regulatory experience, the partners at
Policy Strategists, LLC established this firm in September of
2000. The firm has enjoyed success on behalf of multiple
clients in various areas of government, including
appropriations; licensure, permitting and oversight issues; life
sciences, safety and security issues; health care and
technology. Craven & Ober Policy Strategists, LLC strives to
create dynamic strategies, which make significant progress in
the accomplishment of our client’s goals or the advancement of
their mission. A team approach capitalizes upon our individual
skill sets. Policy Strategists, LLC is eager to produce notable
accomplishments for you.
HEALTHCARE
The Doug Flutie
Jr. Foundation for Autism
April is now Autism Awareness Month
because of a law proclaiming its designation. The Doug Flutie
Jr. Foundation for Autism and the State Wide Coalition for
Autism worked with Policy Strategists, LLC to accelerate the
passage of the law, which now brings attention and political
focus each year to the needs of families and children coping
with Autism, Asperger’s and Autism
Spectrum Disorders.
The
Massachusetts Coalition of Nurse Practitioners
Policy Strategists, LLC has advanced
the profession of advance practice nursing through a number of
new laws. Nurse Practitioners (NPs) promote access to
coordinated primary care and the focus of our healthcare
delivery system is moving away from solely a response to acute
episodic illness to health promotion/disease prevention and
chronic disease management. This shift in focus argues for a
change in healthcare service delivery and patient choices.
Prior to implementation of Massachusetts’ landmark healthcare
reform law mandating individual health insurance coverage for
every citizen, the Massachusetts Medical Society’s annual
patient survey had noted a 10 to 16% increase from 2005 to 2006
of the number of patients waiting longer than eight weeks to see
a primary care physician. Policy Strategists, LLC successfully
educated elected officials to realize that there is a cadre of
superbly prepared providers already providing this type of care
– NPs. Like their physician colleagues, NPs take responsibility
for their patient’s healthcare needs and arrange care with other
qualified health care professionals as needed. NPs are expert
at working across the complex health care system and have a long
history of coordinating care with physician specialties and
health care systems. State law now requires all health plans to
recognize NPs as primary care providers and to allow consumers
to choose to have their care provided by NPs.
NPs enhance access by working with patient centered care models
that are characterized by open scheduling, expanded hours,
options for communications among patients, their providers and
practice staff. This attention to access to the PCP allows for
improved patient management and reduction of emergency
department visits. Policy Strategists, LLC assisted with the
drafting of testimony that convinced the Department of Public
Health to adopt regulations allowing NPs to provide primary care
services at area pharmacies in lieu of expensive emergency room
care. Major Massachusetts health plans recently completed
contracts to reimburse retail clinics for the provision of NP
primary care services. According to a study in the September
Journal of Health Affairs, data analyzed from more than 1.3
million visits to retail clinics from 2000 to 2007 and from
eight clinic operators concluded that more than 60% of visits
were by individuals reporting they had no primary care provider.
(Reuters, September 10, 2008)
Nurse Practitioners can now pronounce
death for any patient in their care. This law was passed in the
spirit of advocating for policies that support compassionate
dying. Policy Strategists, LLC has also affected changes in
law for Psychiatric Clinical Nurse Specialists regarding court
acknowledgement of their expertise when the appointment of a
guardian or conservator is warranted. These nurses are now
afforded professional immunity when committing patients for
their safety or for the safety of the public.
Massachusetts Nurse Practitioners Step Up as One
Solution to the Primary Care Access Problem
A Political Success Story
Gloria
Craven, MSN
Craven & Ober Policy
Strategists, LLC, Boston, Massachusetts,
GCraven@policystrategists.com
Stacey
Ober, JD, RN
Craven & Ober Policy
Strategists, LLC, Boston, Massachusetts
Massachusetts’
political experience with efforts to insure
all citizens provided a unique opportunity
for nurse practitioners to address the
growing need for access to primary care. Passage
of a new statute to recognize nurse
practitioners as primary care providers
that health plan beneficiaries could choose was
accomplished through strategic planning and
political savvy. The results of a
focused effort using the expertise of a
professional lobbying team along with
organizational support resulted in a
groundbreaking new law that is a component of a
reform model being examined by the
nation as a whole, looking to address
accessible, quality, and affordable health care.
This article chronicles that journey
and its accomplishment.
read
more....Craven_&_Ober--PPNP_article.pdf |
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The Infusion Nurses Society
Having INS standards of best practices in infusion therapy fresh
on the minds of staff and evident in their practice may have
never been more of a priority to hospital employers than now.
As of October 2008, under a new rule adopted by the
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), treatment for
vascular-catheter-associated infection when submitted as a
patient’s secondary diagnosis will no longer be paid for by
CMS. Policy
Strategists, LLC helped craft a webinar
series for hospital associations across the country to review
this new federal policy and promote purchase and use of the INS
standards ,
as a tool to prevent these infections.
FUNDING
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GE Transportation
GE Transportation,
which maintains locations for its Global Rail
Operations (GRO) business in Canton,
Massachusetts, provides technology for train
control, communications,
command and security integration enabling
users to view sites and react appropriately
during emergencies. Six years after the Sept.
11 attacks and three years after the 9/11
Commission made its recommendations, Congress
embraced what the 9/11 families consistently
said was a need for the willingness to do things
a different way and a new federal program
elevates the importance of implementing
networking and intelligent transportation
systems to provide for interoperability
communication. In support of these objectives,
we provided testimony at public hearings and
garnered support for inclusion of this federal
program in the state’s transportation bond bill.
The lack of security for rail and public
transportation systems is alarming, and the
Massachusetts legislature and Governor have made
a commitment in the bond authorization to ensure
effective safety measures for rail users and
commuters in the Commonwealth.
Massachusetts
School of Professional Psychology (MSPP)
As Massachusetts is
working to enroll residents into the
Commonwealth’s new low-cost health plans and is
offering the newly-insured something equally
critical: a health care home – a place where
they can access a team of caregivers who come to
know them and their health care needs, the MSPP
is working to solve the shortage of qualified
healthcare providers who deliver behavioral
health care services. We worked to sharpen
their public private partnership message on why
cultural and linguistic incompetence among
behavioral health providers is of great
significance. A new program will focus on
developing a pipeline of competent providers
committed to practice in the Massachusetts
public sector. Further, we carried out a
strategy to appoint faculty member, Dr.
Amaro
Laria to The Health
Disparities Council, so mental health issues
would be among the concerns addressed by this historic group.
Massachusetts
School Nurse Organization
To better serve the
children of the Commonwealth, Policy
Strategists, LLC facilitated a taskforce of
school health experts who published a white
paper on insufficient access to school nurse
services across the state. The Governor
subsequently appointed the President of the
Massachusetts School Nurse Organization to his
Readiness Project Taskforce. Despite the
weakened economy, we worked with a coalition of
concerned experts to secure level funding for
the Essential School Health Services grant,
which provides more than $15 million of state
money annually for school health services.
Norfolk Probate and
Family Court Trust
Policy Strategists,
LLC secured funding for the relocation of
employees at the Norfolk Probate and Family
Court, a known “sick building”. This $5.5
million dollar authorization allowed the court
to continue to function at another location
while restorations were underway, protecting the
health and safety of the employees and the
public. The Norfolk Probate and Family Court
Improvement Trust consulted with Policy
Strategists, LLC in the negotiation of this
funding with the Legislature during its pending
class action lawsuit forcing the relocation
plan. |
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American Heart
Association
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With the American
Heart Association, Policy Strategists, LLC
secured the authorization of $2.7 million
dollars in funding for the purchase and
distribution of Automatic External
Defibrillators (AEDs)
to be used by first responders in every city and
town in Massachusetts. The Romney
administration immediately prioritized this
authorization, and within six months of taking
office, conducted a bulk purchase and
distribution of AEDs
across the state, saving three lives in the
first month alone. Decreasing the time of
response for cardiac victims and providing
access to AEDs
directly increases the chance of survival. This
was the largest state appropriation of money of
this kind in the country. |
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Hearth
Policy Strategists, LLC secured
annual appropriations and increased funding in the FY05 and FY06
state budget for an earmark dedicated to the work of HEARTH. In
an increasingly tight budget environment, successfully ensuring
a funding increase legitimizes the essential services provided
by this affordable housing program for elders and the solid
reputation of Policy Strategists, LLC in articulating the need
for this increase with the leadership of the Legislature and the
Governor’s office.
LICENSURE, PERMITTING & REGULATORY OVERSIGHT
BJ’s Wholesale
Club
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Buoyed by consumer
spending at warehouse clubs, BJ's Wholesale Club
is specifically
targeting
expansion opportunities.
The Natick, Mass.-based retailer is bolstering
its presence offering benefits such as
pharmacies and gas stations. The chain
capitalized on an analysis of the political
climate, meetings with key local lawmakers,
communication strategies and projected costs for
a municipal expansion that resulted in
significant savings for the company relative to
this particular project. |
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Fresenius
Medical Care of North America
Fresenius Medical Care is the world's
largest, integrated provider of products and services for
individuals with chronic kidney failure, a condition that
affects more than 1,300,000 individuals worldwide. Through its
network of 1,645 dialysis clinics, Fresenius Medical Care
provides dialysis treatment to 128,200 patients around the
globe. The federal physician self-referral law (“Stark
Statute”) and many state self-referral laws, properly prevent
prohibited referrals by health care providers, those in a
position to make referrals to entities in which they may
have a financial interest. The policy behind these laws is to
prevent conflicts of interests that may affect independent
judgment in making treatment decisions for patients, which
should be based solely on medical necessity. Under the Federal
Stark Statute, and newly amended Massachusetts legislation,
exemptions permit referrals by nephrologists to dialysis centers
where they serve as medical directors for essentially all renal
dialysis services and supplies recognizing that referrals for
such items and services are not subject to these types of
prohibited abuses.
SAFETY &
SECURITY
The
Massachusetts Systems Contractors Association
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As the trade
organization that represents more than 191 small
businesses and companies across the Commonwealth
and is dedicated to the education and
promotion of the use of fire warning, security,
telephony, data, audio, video and other power
limited systems for the safety, convenience, and
protection of the public, the Massachusetts
Systems Contractors Association (MSCA)
understands the value of keeping a set of eyes
and ears on Beacon Hill. Pending legislation
would require a minimum of five licenses issued
by the state to maintain business members’
current operations. According to Bob Boucher,
Past President and member of the MSCA
legislative committee, Policy Strategists “is
aware of the inner workings of our industry,
able to defend our position with passion of
those of us who have made low voltage
electronics our livelihood and represents MSCA
articulately and with the highest degree of
professionalism. We appreciate their common
sense, professionalism and veracity as they
tackle the heady and complicated issues on
behalf of our organization.”
Working closely with
the MSCA, we flagged an area of state law that
had not been uniformly enforced here. State
public safety officials have overhauled security
alarm regulations in a move that independent
security installers say will protect the public
from unscrupulous subcontractors.
Since Jan. 1, all employees of companies that
are licensed to install security systems have
had to undergo a criminal background check
performed by their employers, and employers have
had their backgrounds checked by the state
Department of Public Safety.
In addition, we worked with the state Fire
Marshall and the Board of Fire Prevention to
tighten up license rules by requiring local
wiring inspectors to obtain the special security
“S license,” from
anyone seeking a permit for security system work
at the time of permit application. |
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Mothers Against
Drunk Driving
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Mass Drunk Driving Law
Withstands Court Challenge
Roadway safety initiatives have
been successfully adopted
recently. In 2003, on behalf of
MADD, Policy Strategists, LLC
successfully passed legislation
known as “.08 per se”, which
recognizes the breathalyzer as
an objective measure of
“impairment” for the purposes of
driving. In addition, the law
secured new federal highway
funds, while avoiding severe
penalties that would have been
levied on Massachusetts. Rep.
Reed Hillman, former head of the
State Police exclaimed that “in
my opinion, this is the most
important public safety
legislation in a generation” and
the Massachusetts Supreme
Judicial Court (SJC) has since
its passage, preserved the
legislative intent with the
Commonwealth v.
Colturi
decision issued April 18, 2007.
In a decision eagerly awaited by
prosecutors, the SJC ruled that,
where the Commonwealth proceeds
on a "per se" theory of
operating under the
influence, prosecutors are not
required to present expert
testimony on retrograde
extrapolation to admit a breath
test result if the test was
given within 3 hours of the
arrest.
When proceeding only on an
"under the influence" theory
with a breath test result, the
Commonwealth is required to
present expert testimony
establishing a relationship
between the test results and
intoxication as a foundational
requirement of the admissibility
of such results.
The
SJC ruled that retrograde
extrapolation testimony is not
required to admit the results of
a breath test so long as the
test is conducted within a
reasonable period of time after
the driver's last operation of
the vehicle. The court defined a
reasonable amount of time as 3
hours. Additionally, if the
Commonwealth charges the per se
and under the influence theories
in the alternative and proceeds
to trial on both, the breath
test result is admissible
without expert testimony. The
Court reasoned that in such a
case, the jury would be
instructed that if they find the
defendant operated a motor
vehicle with a blood alcohol
content of .08 or greater, he is
guilty of violating the OUI
statute.
Policy Strategists, LLC is proud
to have lobbied and passed
legislative language that has
passed a rigorous court
challenge and been upheld.
Policy Strategists, LLC also
advocated for two other
important roadway safety laws.
One targets the most dangerous
hard core drunk drivers, chronic
repeat offenders. Drunk driving
was the only crime for which
offenders were forgiven the
prior convictions if those
convictions were ten or more
years old. Regardless of the
number of convictions over a
lifetime of a drunk driver, only
those within a 10 year window
were counted to determine
penalties on a new conviction.
The change removed that 10-year
window for those with a third
and subsequent drunk driving
offenses, regardless of the
dates of the prior convictions.
Additionally, only the second
law of its kind in the country,
those convicted of a
drunk
driving offense now pay a $50
fine that is deposited in a
Victims of Drunk Driving Trust
Fund to provide victim
services. The Massachusetts
fund generated more than
$750,000 in its first year.
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