State health officials are pursuing a 10-point health agenda that focuses on preventing chronic disease among New Yorkers.

Citing a range of public health issues — such as obesity, infectious disease, and chronic illness — officials yesterday laid out specific Prevention Agenda goals for improving health. By 2010, officials seek to lower the percentage of New Yorkers who smoke to 12% from the current 18.2%, to reduce the infant mortality rate to 4.5% from 5.8%, and to drop obesity rates to 15% from 22.9% of adults statewide.

The agenda is a “call to action” for local health departments and health care providers, the state’s health commissioner, Dr. Richard Daines, said at a news conference in Albany, where he was joined by the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Julie Gerberding.

Officials said other categories they want to improve include chronic disease; infectious disease; community preparedness, and mental health and substance abuse.

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STATE: NO MORE REIMBURSEMENT FOR PREVENTABLE ERRORS

The state Medicaid program will stop paying for “never events,” or certain preventable medical errors, according to health officials.

The policy, which targets errors such as operating on the wrong patient or leaving a sponge inside a patient after surgery, is poised to take effect October 1, officials said.

The state policy takes a cue from the federal government, which announced in August that Medicare would no longer reimburse hospitals for cases that resulted in preventable errors, injuries, or infections.

Last week, at least one private insurer in New York, Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield, also announced it would not pay for preventable errors. As of last week, the company asked hospitals not to bill for care that resulted in an error. In a statement, the company said it was in the early stages of implementing the policy.

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STATEN ISLAND HOSPITAL GETS $5 MILLION BAILOUT

A cash-strapped Staten Island hospital has received a $5 million bailout from the state government.

The funding, to help Richmond University Medical Center meet its financial obligations, was included in the 2008-09 budget, with about $2.5 million from the executive branch, $1.25 million from the Senate, and $1.25 million from the Assembly.

The 440-bed hospital is one of three hospitals on Staten Island. Previously, the site housed St. Vincent’s Hospital, which went bankrupt. RUMC was established in January 2007.

“This is a collaborative effort pulling together resources from the Executive and Legislative branches to support this facility through a particularly difficult period,” the state’s health commissioner, Dr. Richard Daines, said in a statement.

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MOUNT SINAI NURSES SIGN NEW CONTRACT

The nurses at Mount Sinai Medical Center have accepted a new contract, following several months of negotiations. The three-year contract was ratified last week by the union representing Mount Sinai’s 1,900 nurses, the New York State Nurses Association. The contract increases the base salary of nurses by 3%. Previously, the starting annual salary for a nurse at Mount Sinai was $68,003, hospital officials said.

Earlier this year, the nurses picketed outside the Upper East Side hospital. Negotiations for the new contract, which expired December 31, stalled over wages and a plan by the hospital to reclassify how it counts paid time off. The new contract gives nurses the option of participating in the new “paid time off” program or keeping their old vacation plan.

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SLOAN-KETTERING HIRES AUTHOR OF ‘BREAST CANCER FOR DUMMIES’

A veteran breast cancer surgeon and author, Dr. Monica Morrow, has been named chief of the breast service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center’s department of surgery.

Previously, Dr. Morrow was chairman of surgical oncology at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. She also has headed up clinical breast programs at the University of Chicago Hospital and Northwestern Memorial Hospital. In addition to academic writing, Dr. Morrow is the author of several books, including “Breast Cancer for Dummies.” For Dr. Morrow, the appointment means a return to Sloan-Kettering, where she completed her surgical oncology training in the early 1980s. Dr. Morrow earned her medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia.

esolomont@nysun.com