 |
||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||||
Dear ALAG Members, ALAG Leadership, including John LaHood, President; James Pettis, Pres Elect; and Dan Day, Past Present, met recently with Mr. Brian Looby, the new Chief of Health Facility Regulation as a meet and greet to discuss ALAG Issues. (Please see picture attached.) The meeting started with us sharing ALAG history with Mr. Looby and discussing his recent history as Legal Counsel at the Medical Association of Georgia prior to his taking this position in April. We were very pleased with his attitude toward ALAG and other associations, which was like a breath of fresh air! We discussed the recently proposed Proxy Caregiver Rules that are currently in front of the DCH Board. The Public Hearing on these Rules was held June 22nd at the 2 Peachtree Building at 10:00 AM on the 5th floor. We also discussed the recently passed legislation SB 178 regarding establishment of an Assisted Living Community Licensure. There will be a workgroup developed to discuss these rules and ALAG will be asked to be at the table. There was also a town hall meeting on June 22nd at 11:30 AM at the 2 Peachtree Building as well on the 5th floor. As many of you will recall, we have historically had Quarterly PCH Meetings with HFR in which we and our peer associations meet with HFR to discuss issues from our membership. Mr. Looby has agreed to continue those meetings with us and we are quite pleased. Mr. Looby also agreed that to improve communication between his office and providers that they would send any policy changes and other announcements to ALAG so we will be able to send out to our membership. This should greatly improve our communication with the department and help us to keep our membership more informed. Previously, providers would have to navigate the HFR website to take notice of these important changes. This should be a tremendous value to our membership. Lastly, we offered to sponsor regular training space for all PCH Providers to attend training by HFR on any new issues that arise. We are hopeful that Mr. Looby will take us up on that recommendation as we feel it would be very helpful for our members as well as all PCH Providers across the state. Thanks for allowing us to represent you! This report will also be posted on our website at www.alag.org Steve Neff Dear ALAG Members & Conference Attendees: We would once again like to thank those of you who attended this year’s 2010 ALAG Spring Conference held at Sea Palms Golf & Tennis Resort on St. Simons Island. Not only did we have a great turn out of over 70 attendees and vendors, but we also received an overwhelming amount of positive feedback regarding this year’s lineup of speakers and topics! The conference began Thursday, April 22nd with a fantastic and entertaining speaker from the Alzheimer’s Association, continued with pertinent information from Hospice, GA State Patrol, Sexuality & Aging within Assisted Living Communities, H1N1, Diabetic Diets, and last but not least, the ever so vital & critical information shared by Ms. Vickie Flynn with ORS regarding the re-write of PCH policies and procedures. Attached are handouts and slides from the conference. As you will note, there was a great deal of information shared, however nothing compares to the value of attending. For those of you who were unable to attend, we encourage you to plan on attending next year’s event. The ALAG Board of Directors has already begun plans for Spring 2011 and dates will be posted on the ALAG website www.alag.org soon. We will also include ALAG Regional Training Workshops planned throughout the state this fall. We look forward to hosting another great event and to seeing you all there. As you all know, this is a wonderful time to network, as well as earn CEU credits. If you have further questions or need additional information, please feel free to contact our office. Warmest Regards, ALAG Lobbyist P.O. Box 3364 Biographical Information Mr. Neff currently owns a Legislative Consulting/Association Management firm, The Neff Group, Inc. His firm represents and manages numerous clients in the areas of Healthcare, Insurance and many other professional fields. Prior, Mr. Neff served as the Legislative Liaison for the Georgia Student Finance Commission. There Mr. Neff represented Georgia’s famed Lottery funded HOPE Scholarship Program, along with all other scholarship, grant and loan programs. Mr. Neff has influenced hundreds of pieces of legislation and secured hundreds of millions of dollars in the Georgia State Budget over a fourteen year career. Mr. Neff started his legislative consulting career as Legislative Assistant for the Georgia Nursing Home Association. He then served several years as Legislative Consultant at Omni Resource Group, Inc., a widely known and respected legislative consulting firm. Mr. Neff’s background consists of providing legislative and budgetary counsel to state agencies, trade associations, as well as private industry. Within these categories, he has worked with Banking, Brewing, Corrections, Communications, Higher Education, Healthcare, Insurance, Mining, Pharmaceuticals, Staffing and others. Mr. Neff is specialized in the development of legislative, as well as, budgetary and regulatory agendas. He has been particularly successful in helping his clients navigate these processes. During his career in government affairs he has achieved a solid, dependable and respectable reputation among some of Georgia’s most influential policy makers and business leaders. Mr. Neff is widely known in Georgia’s political and business arena and currently serves on the Georgia National Guard’s Youth Challenge Academy Selection Committee, the Hall County Chamber of Commerce Issues Committee and has worked with numerous other policy, advisory and task forces over the years. Mr. Neff received his BS degree in Biology Pre-Medicine with a minor in Business Administration, from North Georgia College and State University. He resides in Gainesville, Georgia with his wife Tiffany and son Walker. Legislative Affairs Committee
Robin Sippy Jessie L. Petrea Martin J. Miller
|
||||||||||||
 |
HOME ABOUT ALAG ALAG DIRECTORY EDUCATION & EVENTS POLICY & AFFAIRS MEMBERS ONLY CONSUMERS LINKS CONTACT US |
|||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|