HJNO May/Jun 2019

Healthcare Journal of New Orleans I  MAY / JUN 2019 31 For weekly eNews updates and to read the journal online, visit HealthcareJournalNO.com Zanewicz, chief business officer for Tulane Uni- versity School of Medicine and Louisiana state lead for the Southeast Xlerator Network. “I am excited to be working so closely with my colleagues at NOBIC and LSU Health as we develop a strategy to help not only Louisiana – but the entire Southeast region,” Zanewicz said. “And as we have seen in his long-term success managing the New Orleans BioFund, Kris Khalil brings the perfect blend of collaboration, innova- tion, energy, and investment savvy to the South- east Xlerator Network team.” Nicole Honoree, LSU Health’s assistant vice chancellor for economic development and stra- tegic initiatives, and Patrick Reed, director of technology management at LSU Health and site lead on the network, concurred, jointly noting that “this grant further solidifies the evolving align- ment among our key local and regional partners in support of life sciences innovation.” The network will also engageXavier University’s College of Pharmacy as well as academic health centers and economic development partners throughout the state. The Southeast Xlerator Network was announced in October as one of four regional hubs being created through the Institutional Development Award (IDeA) Program developed for states that have historically had low National Institutes of Health research funding and dispro- portionately few SBIR and STTR awards. CMS Applauds Louisiana Medicaid for Preventing Fraud, Waste Louisiana was recognized by the federal Centers for Medicare &Medicaid Services (CMS) for implementing best practices aimed at elimi- nating waste, fraud, and abuse in state Medicaid programs. Louisiana is one of only eight states to receive this honor. Dr. Rebekah Gee, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health, which administers the state’s Medicaid program, said this achievement highlights the outstanding diligence of theMedic- aid program team to design systems to prevent and detect fraudulent activity. “Preserving the integrity of this program is a top priority at the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH), and we are proud to share our innovative and creative practices with other states to further strengthen program integrity while eliminating waste, fraud and abuse,” said Gee. CMS’s Medicaid Promising Practices in Pro- gram Integrity project supports states’efforts to reduce improper Medicaid payments by sharing practices other states have found to be effective.  Within LDH and its partner managed care organizations, there aremultiple systems in place to detect and prevent fraud. These include the use of pattern matching algorithms and other analytics to look for potentially fraudulent bill- ing practices. Also, each managed care organization has its own program integrity unit that works with the department to share data and information that is critical to fraud prevention and identification. The other states recognized by CMS were Cali- fornia, Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, andWisconsin,making Louisiana the only South- ern state to achieve such an honor. LSUHealth NOMatch Day to Determine LA Physician Supply Envelopes revealing the number of new doctors who will train in Louisiana were opened at the LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine Match Day Ceremony on March 15 at the Mercedes- Benz Superdome Iberville Club Lounge. For grad- uating medical students, it is the culmination of months of interviewing with academic health centers and hospitals that have residency pro- grams.  After the ceremony ended, the students danced a second line to Champions Square on Jefferson ParishMedical Society Celebrates 60 Years Jefferson Parish Medical Society celebrated its 60th year with an officer installation dinner, cohosted with Orleans Parish Medical Society at Metairie Country Club. Officers, pictured left to right, are Drs. Jonathan Boraski, John Wales, Gabriel Rivera-Rodriguez, Mark Rice, and Robert Chugden; and seated, left to right, Drs. Lindsay York Fantaci, and Harold Miller.