[NYAPRS Enews] Burke, Bearden Confirmed as New Heads of OPWDD, CQCAPD

[Harvey Rosenthal]

Governor Cuomo Announces Unanimous Senate Confirmation of Courtney Burke
as Commissioner of OPWDD and Roger Bearden as Chair of CQCAPD

Albany, NY (April 11, 2011)

 

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that the State Senate
unanimously confirmed Courtney Burke as Commissioner of the Office for
People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) and Roger Bearden as
Chair of the Commission on Quality of Care and Advocacy for Persons with
Disabilities (CQC).

 

OPWDD provides services, support and advocacy to approximately 126,000
individuals with developmental disabilities and their families. CQC is
charged with overseeing and improving the quality of care for people
with disabilities and other vulnerable persons.

 

"These are the right people to lead these agencies and bring the needed
reforms to the care of the developmentally disabled in our community,"
Governor Cuomo said. "I thank Senators McDonald, Huntley, DeFrancisco
and Majority Leader Skelos for their swift confirmation of Commissioner
Burke and Chairman Bearden."

 

Commissioner Burke said, "I am honored to be confirmed as Commissioner
of the Office for People With Developmental Disabilities and I want to
thank Governor Cuomo, Senators DeFrancisco, McDonald and Huntley, as
well as the members of the Senate for the trust they have now placed
with me to lead this agency. I look forward to working with stakeholders
and government partners as we implement the needed reforms that will
support the highest-quality services for individuals with developmental
disabilities."

 

Chairman Bearden said, "It is an honor and privilege to be chosen to
serve. I look forward to working with the Governor, the Legislature,
advocates and families to ensure that New York meets its fundamental
responsibility to ensure that people with disabilities receive the
highest possible quality of care. I would like to thank the Governor for
this nomination and Senators DeFrancisco, McDonald and Huntley for the
speedy confirmation."

 

Most recently, Courtney Burke was the Director of the Rockefeller
Institute's New York State Health Policy Research Center, where she
oversaw all health policy research projects at the Institute and was the
project director for the Institute's recent research on county
variations in Medicaid long-term care. The Rockefeller Institute is the
public policy research arm of the State University of New York. Ms.
Burke previously worked for six years as the senior research scientist
in the health and Medicaid studies program at the Institute. Her
research focuses primarily on health policy issues related to Medicaid
and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), health reform and
private insurance coverage. She also has written about nonprofit
organizations' dependence on Medicaid funding and the effects of the
state fiscal crises on nonprofits.

 

Prior to joining the Institute, Ms. Burke was employed by the New York
State Office of Advocate for Persons with Disabilities for several
years, including as the senior policy analyst, and by the New York State
Department of Health. She was named one of The Business Review's
(Capital Region) "40 Under Forty" honorees for 2010.

 

Roger Bearden previously served as the Director of the Disability Law
Center of the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest in New York City,
where he supervised project directors and program staff and was the lead
attorney on major law reform cases, including cases seeking community
integration for persons with mental illness in nursing homes and adult
homes.

 

>From March to August 2009, Mr. Bearden was Chief Health Counsel to New
York State Senator Thomas K. Duane, then serving as Chair of the Senate
Health Committee. In that role, Mr. Bearden led Senate staff
negotiations on the Family Health Care Decisions Act, which allows
family members or other surrogates to make major medical decisions for
incapacitated individuals who did not previously designate a health care
agent or provide instructions.

 

Previously, Mr. Bearden was a staff attorney with Disability Advocates,
Inc., a nonprofit law firm in Albany, where he advocated and litigated
on behalf of thousands of individuals with mental illness and other
disabilities in some of the largest and most complex federal cases in
the field. Mr. Bearden graduated from Brown University and Harvard Law
School before clerking for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh
Circuit.

 

Senator Roy J. McDonald, Chair of the Senate Committee on Mental Health
said, "I look forward to working with Commissioner Courtney Burke and
Commissioner Roger Bearden. I want to thank Governor Cuomo for
recommending good people to work on developmental disabilities issues,
which have become very significant in our society today. These are
difficult and important jobs, but we will stand beside these new
commissioners to help out wherever possible."

 

Senator Shirley L. Huntley, Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on
Mental Health said, "Those who are most vulnerable deserve to be treated
in a compassionate and respectable manner that protects them and their
rights. I truly believe that Commissioner Burke and Chairman Bearden
will perform admirably in their duties. New leadership and an emphasis
on accountability, transparency, and quality care will undoubtedly lead
our developmental disabilities facilities and treatment systems to be
one of the best in the nation. I congratulate both the Governor for
these selections and the Commissioners on their confirmations."

 

Ann Hardiman, Executive Director of New York State Association of
Community and Residential Agencies said, "I commend Governor Cuomo for
his selection of Courtney Burke to serve as Commissioner for the Office
for People with Developmental Disabilities. Coming from a distinguished
career in working to improve health care policy, Ms. Burke is a natural
choice to lead this office. Her experience in government and Medicaid
policy, combined with years of advocating for persons with disabilities,
gives Ms. Burke a rich background to draw upon as she leads the OPWDD."

 

Harvey Rosenthal, Executive Director of New York Association of
Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services said, "The confirmation of Roger
Bearden to serve as Commissioner of the CQCPAD signifies the beginning
of a new era of re-energized advocacy and leadership for this vital
state agency. Mr. Bearden brings a career of public service to this
position, during which he has fought tirelessly on behalf of New Yorkers
with psychiatric and other disabilities. I applaud Governor Cuomo for
selecting Mr. Bearden; there is no doubt that the delivery and quality
of healthcare services and will be significantly advanced through his
leadership at the CQCPAD."

 

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