“In February, we announced our plan to create a retirement savings program for private sector employees. Today, the United States Department of Labor’s proposed regulation expands the “safe harbor” to certain cities, which is an important preliminary step. We will continue to engage with the DOL, as we have in recent months, to ensure that the requirements set forth in the final regulation enable the City to move forward with a workable retirement savings program that promotes the success of families and in turn, the success of our city. Just 43% of working New Yorkers have access to a retirement savings plan, with low-income, immigrant, minority and female New Yorkers disproportionately affected. Successful implementation of the City’s plan will help right this wrong and set people up on a path to succeed long after they’ve stopped working.”
Thursday, August 25, 2016
CM Torres NYPD Security Cameras Installed at These Locations
Community Board 7 has been notified that the NYPD security cameras funded by Council Member Ritchie Torres have been installed. The following are the locations of the cameras:
E 198 Street & Valentine Ave
E 194 Street & Valentine Ave
E 194 Street & Briggs Ave
E 194 Street Between Marion & Decatur Ave
We all hope these cameras address the quality of life and public safety concerns the community cares about and which we as a Board have received complaints about for a long time. Please see the attached photo of what one of the cameras looks like. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Thank you.
Andrew Sandler District Manager
Bronx Community Board 7
229-A East 204th Street Bronx, NY 10458
P: 718-933-5650/51
100 PERCENT Thursday August 25, 2016
100 PERCENT
By Robert Press
Dirty Tactics in Politics
First, with the Bronx Voice on vacation this week I did not want you the reader to miss this column as the Bronx Democratic primary draws near. A few key races are heating up, and you need to know more about them.
First up is the 33rd State Senate race. Here incumbent Gustavo Rivera is facing the toughest challenge of his short political tenure. Now he beat his opponent two years ago, but this is a different Fernando Cabrera from two years ago. The big difference is that candidate Fernando Cabrera is being funded by a pro Charter School PAC to the tune of up to Two-Hundred Thousand dollars according to Candidate Gustavo Rivera. So why would this worry the incumbent if he defeated his opponent before?
When Gustavo defeated the incumbent years ago he had a PAC give him Two-Hundred Fifty Thousand dollars, and he knows that money talks and BS walks. I am not saying that Senator Rivera is not a good elected official, but just look at his district. Has the district improved since he took office, and how? Also remember that his opponent is the city councilman who covers a good part of the state senate district, and that while there are no more state discretionary funds, a city councilman gets Five Million New York City dollars in Discretionary funding to dole out.
Senator Rivera is trying hard for his constituents, but when you have an informational session on SNAP (the old food stamp program) with fellow State Senator Liz Krueger, do it in your district in the Bronx (where your constituents need it), and not in the posh Manhattan district of your mentor. To be fair, there was the Kingsbridge Armory story about Councilman Cabrera holding out his endorsement, but it appears that the Ice Center proposal is all but dead.
On to the 78th Assembly District race. This race is getting nasty now, as incumbent Jose Rivera's minions are now not only going after his opponent, but also me. Comments have gone up on facebook by two of his supporters that I am on the payroll of candidate Ischia Bravo, that I am a crook, that I am a racist, and that I hold power over elected officials. I showed these comments to Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. last night at the Chubby Checker Concert, and he said to ignore them. He added that he pays no attention to facebook chatter.
Well Assemblyman Jose Rivera we have known each other for over twenty years, and it is you who is trying to be bully here as you have in the past. I will let everyone know the reasons why you should not be re-elected. Be a man Assemblyman Jose Rivera, since you have no record to run on just hang it up. I expect more of what has been going on from you towards me, and keep doing what you are so you can lose the election.
Jeff Klein's Riverdale Concert Has Audience Twisting With Chubby Checker
Last night at the Jeff Klein Summer Concert Series the crowd of over 500 people got a surprise twist from the Chubby Checker Concert in Seton Park. Instead of just staying on the stage famous recording star Chubby Checker came off the stage to say hello, and twist among the people. The photos below will show the rest of the story.
Above - Before the concert State Senator Jeff Klein, Bronx BP Ruben Diaz Jr., and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz make sure they, Chubby Checker, and the audience will be well protected as the elected officials join with 50th Precinct Commanding officer Deputy Inspector Terrance O'Toole who had several officers on patrol.
Below - Rock and Roll legend Chubby Checker. Checker who is 74 years old and real name is Ernest Evans tries to get the three elected officials to do the Twist.
Above - Councilman Cohen, BP Diaz, Senator Klein, Assemblyman Dinowitz, Dinowitz's son Eric, Chief of Staff Randi Martos, and Congressman Eliot Engel's Chief of Staff Bill Weitz all pose with Chubby Checker before the concert.
Below - It's time for the concert to begin, and Chubby Checker is introduced by State Senator Jeff Klein.
Above and Below - Chubby Checker performing. That is the Whitehall building across the street from Seton Park in the background.
Above and Below - Chubby Checker went into the audience to say hello and do the twist.
Above and Below - Chubby Checker does the Twist with some members of the audience.
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Announces $2.95 Million Settlement With Hospital Group For Improperly Delaying Repayment Of Medicaid Funds
Continuum Admits That It Did Not Fully Reimburse Medicaid For Erroneously Billed Claims For Over Two Years
Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Scott J. Lampert, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (“HHS-OIG”), Eric Schneiderman, New York State Attorney General, and Thomas P. DiNapoli, the New York State Comptroller, today announced a $2,950,000 settlement of a civil fraud lawsuit against Beth Israel Medical Center d/b/a Mount Sinai Beth Israel (“Beth Israel”), St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center d/b/a Mount Sinai St. Luke’s and Mount Sinai Roosevelt (“St. Luke’s Roosevelt,” and together with Beth Israel, the “Hospitals”), and Continuum Health Partners, Inc. (“Continuum,” and together with the Hospitals, “Defendants”) for willfully delaying repayment of over $ 800,000 in Medicaid overpayments. The settlement resolves claims under the federal False Claims Act and the New York State False Claims Act.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “When Continuum learned that it had received over $800,000 in potential overpayments from Medicaid in 2011, it had an obligation under the law to return those funds within 60 days. Instead, Continuum delayed repayment for more than two years and only fully repaid the Medicaid program in 2013. With this settlement, Continuum has made admissions and is paying $2.95 million for its fraud on Medicaid.”
HHS-OIG Special Agent in Charge Scott J. Lampert said: “Any threat to the financial health of Medicaid is a threat to the vulnerable citizens who depend upon it for critical services. Today’s settlement should send a message to providers that this behavior will not be tolerated, and we will pursue justice in these cases.”
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said: “Repaying Medicaid for false claims is not only vital to the integrity of the program, but it is also the law. We will not allow hospitals to drain important resources from the system, and will continue to ensure that the program is properly reimbursed for the funds that it is owed.”
New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli said: “Our audits of the defendants revealed $700,000 in Medicaid overpayments. After we were contacted about this matter, we quickly partnered with law enforcement to recover taxpayer dollars, including further overpayments that came to light only afterwards. I thank U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara and his office for their perspicacity in seeing that justice was served. There have been too many cases of Medicaid waste, fraud and abuse, and we will continue to partner with law enforcement to combat Medicaid fraud statewide.”
The United States Complaint-In-Intervention (the “Complaint”) alleges that between 2009 and 2010, CONTINUUM erroneously submitted claims to Medicaid for payment due to a software error. In 2010, Continuum was alerted to the software error by the New York State Comptroller. In February 2011, an internal investigation by CONTINUUM identified approximately 900 claims totaling over $1 million that may have been wrongly submitted to and paid by Medicaid. This list, created by the whistleblower who filed this qui tam lawsuit, contained all of the claims that were affected by the software glitch. Rather than using the list to repay the claims, CONTINUUM terminated the whistleblower, failed to bring this list to the attention of the Government and took nearly two years to complete its repayments. Specifically, between 2009 and 2010, DEFENDANTS erroneously billed 444 claims to Medicaid. These claims were identified in the whistleblower’s list on February 4, 2011, yet DEFENDANTS did not fully repay these claims until March 2013, i.e., nearly two years later, in violation of a Federal law requiring recipients of Government funds to repay the Government within 60 days of discovering the overpayment.
DEFENDANTS moved to dismiss the Government’s Complaint and, in a first-of-its-kind decision, Judge Edgardo Ramos denied the motion in an opinion that was referred to in the New York Law Journal as “the most significant case interpretation” of the “reverse false claims provision” of the federal False Claims Act. Brian Feldman, Health Care Overpayments and Reverse False Claims, New York Law Journal, September 8, 2015.
Today, U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos approved a settlement to resolve the Government’s claims against DEFENDANTS. Under that settlement, DEFENDANTS agree to pay $2,950,000 to resolve the claims under the federal and New York false claims acts. In the settlement, DEFENDANTS admit, acknowledge and accept responsibility for the following conduct:
- During the relevant time period, the Hospitals had managed care agreements with Healthfirst, Inc. (“Healthfirst”), a managed-care organization (“MCO”), and rendered care to numerous patients who obtained their Medicaid managed-care plans through Healthfirst.Pursuant to their contracts with Healthfirst, the Hospitals obtained from Healthfirst contractually fixed managed-care payments for services rendered to the Healthfirst beneficiaries.
- Pursuant to Medicaid regulations, the Hospitals were entitled to receive as payment for services rendered to Medicaid managed-care patients only the amount paid by the MCO and were not permitted to seek additional payments from Medicaid or, with certain limited exceptions, the patients.
- Beginning in or around 2009, due to a software compatibility issue, the Healthfirst remittances contained coding that caused the Hospitals and Continuum to mistakenly submit claims on behalf of the Hospitals to the Medicaid program, as a secondary payor, for additional payment for services rendered to enrollees of Healthfirst, above and beyond what they had received from Healthfirst for these services, and Medicaid paid Beth Israel and St. Luke’s Roosevelt for such claims.
- In September 2010, the New York Office of the State Comptroller (the “Comptroller”) brought to Continuum’s attention a small number of claims submitted by Continuum on behalf of the Hospitals that had been wrongly billed to Medicaid as a secondary payor.
- In late 2010 and January 2011, Relator and other Continuum staff members gathered and analyzed Continuum’s billing data in order to discover possibly affected claims.
- On February 4, 2011, Relator sent an email to certain members of Continuum’s management, attaching a spreadsheet (“Relator’s Spreadsheet”) containing 890 claims of which 444 had been erroneously billed to Medicaid.
- Continuum terminated Relator on February 8, 2011.Continuum reimbursed Medicaid in February 2011, for only five of the improperly submitted claims.
- In March 2011, and continuing through February 2012, the Comptroller brought additional affected claims to Continuum’s attention, at which time Continuum would return the overpayments.
- Continuum never brought Relator’s analysis to the attention of the Comptroller.
- Continuum did not fully reimburse Medicaid for claims erroneously billed to Medicaid for over two years and did so in more than thirty tranches after February 2011, beginning in April 2011 and concluding in March 2013.
The Complaint in this case was filed under the federal False Claims Act, which punishes violators who submit false claims to the Government or knowingly attempt to avoid an obligation to repay federal funds. The allegations of fraud stated in the Complaint were first brought to the attention of the Government by a whistleblower, who filed a lawsuit under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act. Those provisions allow private parties who have knowledge of fraud committed against the Government to file suit on behalf of the Government and share in any recovery. The United States may then intervene and file a complaint, as it did here.
Mr. Bharara praised the investigative work of the Office of the State Comptroller. He also thanked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, and the Office of the New York Attorney General for their assistance in this case.
MEET MILO THE STANDARD POODLE
This is MILO a three years old Standard Poodle who is sitting patiently outside a juice bar West 238th Street in Riverdale this morning. His owner often changes the color of Milo's top, paws, tail, and most of his hair to make the pooch look even more adorable. If you are on West 238th Street in Riverdale you may be able to see Milo. By the way Milo posed for several photos, and liked this one the best.
BRONX STREET TO BE RENAMED IN MEMORY OF LONGTIME ACTIVIST AND ASSEMBLYMAN
Friends, family members and elected officials will gather on Wednesday, Sept. 7th at the corner of Ely Street & Strang Avenue in the Bronx, to rename the intersection “Honorable Samuel Bea Jr Way” in memory of the state lawmaker who is best known for his 30 years of service as district manager of Community Board 12.
The celebration and sign unveiling, officiated by Council Member Andy King (12th C.D.), will take place at 3 p.m.
Samuel Bea Jr. became Community Board 12’s district manager in 1977 and retired in 1996. He was re-elected three times to the New York State Assembly. He protested against sex shops on Connor Street and protested against the MTA’s attempt to reduce service on the #5 Dyre Avenue line.
Mr. Bea voted against the repeal of the commuter tax and voted for an increase in the minimum wage bill that was passed in the Assembly.
He was the recipient of numerous awards from the Edenwald-Gunhill Tenants Association, the Northeast Bronx Caribbean Chamber of Commerce, the Bronx Borough President’s Citation Award, the National Council of Negro Women and the Williamsburg Branch NAACP.
MAYOR DE BLASIO ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES LIZ VLADECK AS HEAD OF NEW OFFICE OF LABOR POLICY AND STANDARDS
The de Blasio Administration today announced the appointment of Liz Vladeck, an experienced, highly respected labor lawyer and advocate, as Deputy Commissioner of the new Office of Labor Policy and Standards (OLPS).
“The first Labor Day was celebrated here in New York City over a hundred years ago, and today we mark another important milestone in our City’s efforts to support working families,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “The strong leadership of Commissioner Salas and Deputy Commissioner Vladeck will grow our ability to protect, educate and empower workers across New York City’s five boroughs.”
The announcement comes just days before Labor Day, a time to commemorate the social and economic achievements of American workers. Mayor de Blasio announced the establishment of OLPS within DCA earlier this year, alongside the appointment of Commissioner Salas. OLPS will serve as the City’s focal point for research, advocacy, and relevant enforcement of related to labor issues in New York City, and will, for the first time, give working families a dedicated voice in City government.
City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito first proposed the creation of OLPS at her 2014 State of the City address.
“From extending paid sick leave to over one million New Yorkers, to making public transportation more affordable, and to standing up for vulnerable caregivers and carwash workers, this City Council is fully committed to protecting workers’ rights and to making our city a fairer and more just place for all people to work and live,” said City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. “The Office of Labor Policy and Standards will help educate and empower New Yorkers, and will ensure that the rights of all workers are protected. I look forward to working with Commissioner Salas and Deputy Commissioner Vladeck to strengthen the enforcement of our labor laws.”
“With Deputy Commissioner Vladeck now at the helm of OLPS and building her team, we are plowing ahead and working towards the Office’s goals of advocating on behalf of working families through policy, research, and community outreach,” said Department of Consumer Affairs Commissioner Lorelei Salas. “With the addition of OLPS to DCA’s portfolio of work, we can truly and holistically foster thriving communities by encouraging a fair and equitable marketplace for consumers.”
“I am honored by the confidence that Mayor de Blasio and Commissioner Salas have shown in me, and I intend to do everything I can to ensure this new office fulfills its goals to assist in the protection and empowerment of working people in New York City,” said Deputy Commissioner Liz Vladeck. “The creation of this office and the decision to house it in DCA show the commitment of the Mayor, the City Council, and the Commissioner to fighting inequality in our city. I am thrilled to become part of the team dedicated to realizing that mandate.”
Deputy Commissioner Vladeck, a third-generation New Yorker, has worked within the New York City labor movement for many years as both in-house and outside counsel for a number of unions. She got her start as a union organizer on local and national organizing and internal union campaigns, and served for a number of years on the Board and Executive Committee of Jobs with Justice – a coalition of labor and community groups. She also worked in Russia for several years with the nascent independent labor movement there, leading both a national organizing project and local campaigns, as well as advising on legal work in the field of labor and employment. She earned her law degree at Columbia Law School and holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College.
The new office will ensure New York City continues to be at the forefront of new issues impacting workers in today’s economy, particularly in our city’s unique and diverse economy. OLPS will be a leader in recommending new policies and programs that protect New York City workers and ensure rules, regulations, and laws designed to improve working conditions are enforced properly, and that workers and businesses know and understand those laws. Through extensive outreach to workers and employers; research and investigation; and ultimate pursuit of violators, the office will continue the enforcement of local labor laws.
The Office of Labor Policy and Standards will also work closely with the Council to expand upon the City’s labor policy and enforcement work, and with other state and federal agencies to ensure workers are aware of their rights at every level of government.
By engaging individual workers, communities, advocates, employers, and government partners to identify key labor issues facing working families in New York City, OLPS will seek to develop policy recommendations and also conduct enforcement of key municipal labor laws. OLPS will continue DCA’s enforcement of, and education about the City’s Paid Sick Leave and Commuter Benefits laws, which DCA has successful implemented over the past two years. DCA continues to lead the nation on advocacy around the importance of paid sick leave and to serve as a model for other jurisdictions looking to enact and implement sick leave and commuter benefits laws.
Under the leadership of Paid Sick Leave Executive Director Nicolas Smithberg, the agency has now closed more than 800 paid sick leave cases, securing more than $3.9 million in paid sick leave fines and restitution for more than 14,500 employees. DCA’s work has been particularly impactful for those in low-wage professions, such as security guards, home health aides, restaurant workers, and retail workers, who are now receiving sick leave as required by the law. DCA’s extensive outreach and education campaigns also informed millions of New Yorkers about the laws and helped both employers and employees to understand their rights and responsibilities under the law.
Also joining Deputy Commissioner Vladeck in the Office of Labor Policy and Standards is Sarah Leberstein, who will focus on policy and research, particularly with respect to those working in the paid care industry. Leberstein previously worked at the National Employment Law Project, a research and advocacy group for low-wage workers and the unemployed. Her work there focused on improving and enforcing labor standards, with particular emphasis on home care and domestic workers. She is a graduate of Wesleyan University and Fordham Law School, and was the recipient of an Equal Justice Works fellowship. She also organized healthcare and building service workers with the Service Employees International Union.