MN HIV Services Planning Council
Meeting Minutes for May 13, 2003
Division of Indian Work

 

 

I.          Welcome and introductions; lighting of the candle

Paul called the meeting to order at 12:35.  Introductions were made.  Megan lit the candle.  We’ve been caught up in a lot political chaos lately and she asked that we each seek examples of things that bring us more peace and serenity.

 

II.          Review the minutes and proposed agenda

MOTION:  Debra moved Megan seconded approval of the proposed agenda.  Passed unanimously.

 

The minutes were passed by unanimous consent.

 

III.   Open forum - Public Policy update, Bob Tracy, MAP

Bob Tracy handed out information from the MAP Legislative Action Agenda.  MAP has been focusing on the state’s mandate to offer HIV and STD prevention information with the comprehensive sex education programs.  Currently the House has a bill with the choice of abstinence only and comprehensive education for schools.  The Senate bill reinforces abstinence only.  MAP is also currently trying to get additional funding to retain the K-12 regional training sites.  The other big battle has been the “no promo homo debate” which was trying to repeal the human rights of GLBTQ.  Bob said the true goal is to remove options for GLBTQ youth.  It has currently failed in the House and was defeated in the Senate.  The minor consent law is another area of focus.  Currently it allows minors to receive services for pregnancy, STDs and substance use issues without consent from their guardian.  The House would like to eliminate this confidentiality for minors.  This is something the state will be dealing with for a while in Bob’s opinion.  Another area of potential problems is GAMC.  If the state cuts general assistance medical care for those with HIV/AIDS they will have to resort to other programs for their healthcare needs.  Eligibility requirements might also change.  Both of these potential changes could have a tremendous impact on those that the Planning Council serves.  Currently the state has not backed off on its commitment to provide case management, insurance, and ADAP through DHS.  Until there is resolution on some of the budget issues the state won’t know the full ramifications.  Bob suspects there may be a special session.  From what he’s hearing they need to hear from the public on resolving the revenue issue.  Tim asked if there is a committee of the Planning Council that will take the lead on legislative issues such as case management hours.  Debra reported that the HIV Positive Committee had a discussion this morning about reviewing legislative policy issues that may be coming up and will continue discussing and working on recommendations. 

Bob said that individual conversations with legislators might have an impact.

 

IV.              Co-chair update

Paul announced that Sarah is on vacation this month.  The carryover process has begun.  There will be a Planning & Priorities Committee meeting devoted to the carryover proposal tomorrow from 9 am to 11 am at MAP.  The co-chairs of the NA&E and HIV committees have been invited to attend.  May 21^st is the next meeting in a series of three on the counseling, testing and referral system.  The Planning Council will be changing the meeting time in July.  There will be a retreat in July, on the meeting day – July 8th and the August Planning Council meeting will be cancelled.  Beginning in September the Planning Council will meet from 9 am to 12 noon.

 

V.       Epi Update - Tracy Sides, MDH

Tracy began her presentation with a little background on the chain of causation model and information about incidence vs. prevalence.  In 1985 HIV infection became a name based reportable disease in Minnesota.  The state does not include positive, anonymous tests in surveillance data.  Often MDH is able to link the results of those who test anonymously with a name-based report if a unique identifier like a birth date was used.  If they are not able to link an anonymous report to a name they do not include the count in the total reported at the end of the year.

 

Based on a national context Minnesota ranks low in AIDS rate (3.2) per 100,000 for 2001.  An AIDS diagnosis is used for comparison because not all states report HIV infection.  These figures are often used by federal funders when determining the formulas for calculating yearly awards.  Mary Doyle shared that HRSA is currently planning to begin including HIV rates in formula funding beginning in 2005.  Dave feels that the application of formulas based on AIDS rates have had an impact on the decrease in Title II funding this year.  Bob O. suggested the Planning Council write a letter expressing concern about this policy with the hope of effecting a change prior to 2005.

 

Discussion moved to the epidemic in Minnesota reported through the end of 2002.  As of December 31, 2002 a total of 4,598 people were living with HIV/AIDS in Minnesota.  The number of people who were diagnosed in another state and moved here vs. the number diagnosed in Minnesota who moved elsewhere were both exactly 439. (!)  In 1995 and 1996 the number of AIDS diagnoses and deaths both decreased dramatically due to the introduction of new medications.  Currently approximately 80% of the counties in Minnesota have a least one case of HIV or AIDS so it’s truly a statewide issue.  Of those currently living with HIV/AIDS 26% live in suburban areas and the percentage of new infections in suburban areas is 34%.  Eighty percent of those currently living with HIV/AIDS in Minnesota are men.  Ironically, in the African born population the rates are 50% men and 50% female, which is probably due in large part to heterosexual transmission. 

 

VI.              Epi Profile introduction - Luisa Pessoa-Brandão – MDH

Historically the epi profile has been put together primarily for the Task Force and MDH to use in identifying and prioritizing target populations.  HRSA and CDC are now requiring a joint prevention/care Epi profile.  MDH will be soliciting thoughts from the Planning Council and the grantees on what is critical to incorporate into the profile from the care perspective. The Needs Assessment & Evaluation Committee of the Planning Council will be doing the bulk of the work on this project for the Planning Council.  The epi profile is a document that describes the effect of HIV/AIDS in Minnesota in terms of socio-demographic, geographic, behavioral, and clinical characteristics. The three core questions are: what are the socio-demographic characteristics of the general population in our service area; what the scope of HIV/AIDS is in our area; and what are the indicators for risk of infection in our area.  Questions that they are looking at to add regarding services are:  what are the patterns of service utilization and what are the numbers and characteristics of persons who know they are HIV positive but are not in primary care.

 

Any interested members are encouraged to attend the Needs Assessment & Evaluation Committee meeting on May 27^th.  Any questions or feedback can be directed to Luisa at 612-676-5596 or email at luisa.pessoa-brandao@health.state.mn.us.

 

VII.   Joint co-chair vision - Paul Tucker

Julie passed out a proposed motion, that the Task Force has already voted on, that is a shared vision statement for the Planning Council and Task Force.  MOTION:  Linda moved David B. seconded adopting the shared vision statement.  The shared statement is:  The Planning Council and Task Force share a common vision of a coordinated, holistic system of HIV prevention and care planning for the state of Minnesota.  AMENDED MOTION:  change the word holistic to comprehensive.  Passed unanimously.

 

VIII.          Linkages work group discussion and decision

Paul shared that information was passed out at the beginning of the meeting and also at last month’s meeting when Julie gave a presentation from the Linkages Workgroup.  This information contains proposed motions on linkages to send the recommendations to the G-HAT and joint co-chairs for an implementation plan that will be discussed and approved by the Planning Council. These motions will be voted on today.  Julie explained the summary of recommendations being presented.

MOTION:  David B. moved Dave R. seconded approving all three motions.  Efren asked that we replace the word philosophy with the word strategy on motion 3.  Passed with 19 ayes and one abstention (J. Hanson).

 

IX.     Title I update – Michelle McCafferty

Michelle gave the report and handed out an update.  She estimates that the grantee staff currently spends about three months working on the application and the other nine satisfying conditions of award.  The EMA has been selected as a RARE site along with three other sites.  HRSA emphasized study populations in the acceptance letter that are a bit different than the groups identified by the grantees and Planning Council so she’s assuming there will be further discussion and negotiation on this part of the project.  The grantees recently held a vendor fair December 10^th – another resource fair with service and prevention providers as well.  The program development series is continuing – marketing and grant writing are coming up in May and June.

 

X.      Title II update - Jeff Buckles

Jeff reported that Project Ujima has filed its first report.  Jeff has copies of the report for those interested.  Dental benefits will be changing July 1^st from Delta Dental to MMIS (Medicaid) providers with a saving of about $10,000 per year, which DHS can now redirect to other services.  The formulary committee just met on the 17^th of April will be meeting again in July, tentatively the 17^th again.  The committee has been very well attended and has been very active so far.  Fuzeon has been a hot topic it costs at $20,000 per year per person so they’re trying to figure out a way to add that to the ADAP formulary that wouldn’t take away from other services.

 

Jeff then introduced two new staff.  Amy Moser is the temporary policy and planning person.  Kathy DeHoop is the new administrative assistant.  The SAMSHA grant update has been completed.  It’s for a $2.5 million, five-year grant.  The first five treatment centers have been picked and DHS hopes to hear from SAMHSA by the end of summer.  Ama is on maternity leave.  Linda Atlas will be at the African American HIV/AIDS University in California this summer.  She’s one of only 36 people to be invited to go this year.  There will be an adherence forum on June 15^th at All God’s Children.

 

XI.            Committee reports – written reports, time for questions, discussion

·        Executive Committee

·        Planning and Priorities Committee

·        HIV Positive Committee

·        Needs Assessment and Evaluation Committee

·        Community Participation Committee

·        Operations Committee, forwarded by Executive Committee

ACTION ITEM: Community Member Attendance Policy submitted for approval

Dave R. presented the community member attendance policy to members.  The Operations and Executive Committees have both approved the policy and have forwarded it on for a final vote.  The reference to unexcused vs. excused absences will be removed.  The last two sentences of the reinstatement portion will also be removed. Dave R. further clarified that the by-laws subcommittee is in the process of reviewing the Planning Council member attendance policy.  Any changes that are made on Planning Council member attendance will probably be carried through in the community member policy.  MOTION:  David B. moved Sarah S. seconded approving the community member attendance policy with the above changes noted.  Passed with one abstention (G. Velez).

 

XII.       Announcements, next agenda, meeting evaluation

Julie announced that the Task Force is conducting another training that Planning Council members are invited to attend.  Both will be held on June 19^th.  One is on Latino cultural competency; the other is on the community planning process for the Task Force.

 

On June 4^th DHS will be offering a satellite hookup to HRSA training on cultural competency from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m.  Please contact Dave R. if you want to attend at the Roseville site or the 444 Lafayette site in St. Paul.

 

Documents distributed at or before the meeting:

·        Agenda and April 8, 2003 meeting minutes

·        Title I update outline

·        Title II update

·        Committee meeting summaries

·        MAP’s Legislative Action Agenda

·        Linkage’s Recommendations Summary

·        Proposed Linkage’s Motions

·        Recommended Linkages Activities

·        Meeting evaluation

·        Commissioner’s Task Force June training schedule

 

MOTION:  David B. moved Sarah S. seconded adjournment of the meeting.  Passed unanimously.

 

Adjourned at 3:20 p.m.