NYMEP Calling! Provider Group Links Board With Members via Phone Tree Albany, N.Y. Hoping to foster a better relationship between its board and general members, the New York Medical Equipment Providers Association has implemented a membershipwide calling system.

The Phone Tree is organized so that each executive board member periodically calls five to six general members to update them on industry issues. "The executive committee sets the agenda on what to call general members about, and the focus ranges from Medicaid/Medicare issues and seminars to issues at the state level," said Heather Loukmas, NYMEP staff director. "The overall response is that [providers] like receiving the calls and feel more in touch with what's going on."

In other news, the NYMEP 2000 annual meeting at The Sagamore resort, Bolton Landing, N.Y., drew 90 attendees, 20 companies and 15 exhibitors, according to Amy Cocuzza, NYMEP associate staff member.

NCAMES Pushes for RT Licensing Cary, N.C. The Respiratory Care Practice Act requiring respiratory therapists to be licensed won approval from the North Carolina House and is in front of the state Senate Health Care Committee for review.

"The act has been introduced by various groups and rejected several times in the past, and this is the furthest it has gotten in the legislative process," said Beth Bowen, executive director of the North Carolina Association for Medical Equipment Services. "We are utilizing our membership with the North Carolina Retail Merchants [Association] and employing its strong lobbying arm to monitor the progress of the bill, which is expected to be voted on soon," she says.