MN HIV Services Planning Council Meeting

December 13, 2005

9:00 am to 12:00 noon (or earlier)

Redeemer Missionary Baptist Church

116 East 32nd St, Minneapolis

Minutes

 

Council Members Present:

Council Members Absent:

Aaron Keith Stewart

Gilbert Achay - Excused

Ama Sabah

Lois Crenshaw - LOA

Andy Ansell

Rae Eden Frank – Excused

Antonio Marante

LeMonte Graham – Excused

Bob Hanson

Andrea Jenkins – Unexcused

Dan Capouch

Dean Halland – Excused

Ephraim Olani

Gary Novotny – Unexcused

Eric Meininger

Osmam Ahmed - Unexcused

Francis Mark

Ron Schut - Excused

Gwendolyn Velez

Binta Johnson - Unexcused

Jim Lawser

 

John Cyzon

 

Lee Lewis

 

Pat Kramme

 

Paul Eknes-Tucker

 

Randy Hornstine

 

Sarah Senseman

 

Susanne Pfeil

 

Willie Wesley

 

Consultants Present:

Guests Present:

Becky Kroll - CLEAR

Mary Dwyer - DHS

 

Curt Peterson – Rural AIDS Action Network

G-HAT Present:

 

Diane Knust - Hennepin County

Julie Hanson Perez – MDH

Jonathan Hanft – Hennepin County

Joe Freesmeier – Hennepin County

John Suhr – Hennepin County

Eduardo Parra – Hennepin County

Staff Present:

 



Lori Lippert

Jennifer Fisher

 

Wendi Kistner


I.          Welcome and introductions; lighting of the candle                                            

The meeting was called to order at 9:05am.  Introductions were made.  Patrick lit the candle in remembrance of the people who have been orphaned because of HIV/AIDS.

 

II.        Review the minutes and proposed agenda                                                          

Aaron Keith reviewed the minutes.  Change made to part VIII – change B to D

Ephraim wanted to discuss the issue of translation/interpretation and was asked to bring that up in the open forum time. 

Minutes were accepted by unanimous consent.

 

III.      Open Forum                                                                                         

Ephraim has concerns about funds for translation not being used when there is a big need.  He suggested that one reason the money is not used is that there is no money to cover printing costs after something has been translated.  Lori observed that this fund is for translation and interpretation, not for printing.  In general, there are no funds allocated for printing costs in any language.    This issue was forwarded for discussion to the Planning and Priorities committee.

 

Curt Peterson, acting director of the Rural AIDS Action Network, gave a brief update on changes & plans for RAAN.  RAAN is in the process of moving their offices to more rural locations in January.  They are opening five new offices in addition to moving the main office.  Case managers who are currently working part time out of their homes will begin working fulltime, out of offices, in 2006.  Leslie Bakken who have been the medical director for RAAN for many years, is stepping down from her position.  She will be replaced by three regional medical directors.

           

IV.        Co-chairs Update                                                                                             

·         Appreciation for Mary Dwyer’s years of service

In November Mary Dwyer left her staff position with the Planning Council after four years of service.  She was asked to attend today’s meeting so the council could celebrate her new job and thank her for all that she has done. 

 

V.         Staff Update                                                                                                  

·         Facilitation training is scheduled for the 1/26/2006 Executive Committee meeting

Training on facilitation and the role of being a co-chair will be conducted at the January Executive committee meeting.  Anyone who is currently a co-chair is strongly encouraged to be there as well as anyone else who would like to attend.  The training will be facilitated by Monica Sausen who is with Hennepin County Human Services and Public Health Department.

·         We would like to collect the remainder of these forms – please turn them in by the end of the meeting.

·         The newsletters are printed and ready for distribution. 

                                                           

VI.        Committee written reports; time for questions, discussion                                 

A.      Executive Committee – The hiring process has begun for both PC staff positions.  The reauthorization paper is complete (just need to complete cover letter) and will be sent out to MN Delegation of Legislatures.

B.       Needs Assessment and Evaluation Committee - Focusing in on what assessment activities are going to be for the next year and how it will fit into the 3 year plan. 

C.       Planning and Priorities Committee – The Comprehensive Plan is ready to be approved by the Planning Council.  This vote needs to happen today because it is due to Washington by January 1.  Dan thanked everyone who contributed to writing, gathering materials, and critically thinking through this process.  Lori gave a special thanks to Jim, Eric, and Francis for going through the comprehensive plan so thoroughly.  Lori gave a short presentation on how the comp plan fits into the overall responsibilities of the Planning Council is involved in.

MOTION:  Francis made a motion to accept the comp plan as written.  Dan has some additional edits.  FRIENDLY AMENDMENT MADE AND ACCEPTED:  Comp Plan is accepted with additional minor edits.  DISCUSSION:              Objective 1C (p59) – Andy inquired as to why the term “sexual orientation” is not included in this section.  After some discussion it was decided that the terms “sexual orientation” and “men who have sex with men (MSM)” will be added to this section and all other applicable sections.  FRIENDLY AMENDMENT MADE AND ACCEPTED:  Comp Plan is accepted with additional minor edits, including adding “sexual orientation” and “injection drug use” to Objective 1C and any corresponding places in the text.  ACTION ITEM: Comp plan has been accepted with minor changes, including sexual orientation and injection drug use references, by unanimous consent.

 

BREAK -  Before the group took its break Julie Hanson Perez announced that she had brought copies of the prevention comp plan and anyone interested could take one

 

VII.      Committee report, continued                                                                             

D.      Operations Committee - Starting next meeting this committee will begin giving quarterly attendance reports so people are reminded of their obligations and know their attendance status.  The committee continues to work on By-laws.  There will be a Council member election in February so now is the time to recruit new members.  There are 5 applications that we have already.  Blank applications were made available and people encouraged to recruit new members.

 

A Council member asked the council to revisit the policy regarding stipend.  It was decided that further discussion will take place during the open forum at next month’s Planning Council meeting as well as at Operations Committee.  Jim indicated that in order to give compensation it needs to fit in with HRSA’s allowable reimbursable items, such as ink cartridges or mileage. 

E.       Community Voice Committee – Committee agreed to suspend meeting for December because of being short-staffed and general holiday busy-ness.

F.       Community Participation Committee – The newsletter is done.

                                                                                                                                                           

VIII.    Title I update, Jonathan Hanft                                                            

·         General Staffing update – John Suhr is the newest member in contract administration and is taking Joe Freesmeier’s place.  Joe has been promoted to supervisor.

·         Planning Council staffing update – still working with HR to get both positions posted.  Once posted there will be a 2 week period where people can apply.  Jonathan will send a link to everyone in the PC so interested people can apply.  Mary Dwyer’s position is handled through the Support Staff Supervisor and the posting is currently out internally. 

·         Planning Council Grantee – The MOU has gone through the process of legal review and no content changes have been made to the version that was adopted last month by the Council.  Now it is being circulated for signatures.

·         Diane Knust gave a brief report on the ‘Train the Trainer’ workshops that Hennepin County recently put on.  Two sessions were offered in December on Friday & Saturday.  On Saturday over half the people that attended are living with HIV.  If more people are interested in taking this training there is the possibility of bringing him back.

·         Quality Management – Diane reported that Hennepin County is half way through the training with service providers.  The trainings have been well attended.  After the training sessions on January 20th & February 17th they will be ready to create a workplan. 

·         Unit Cost/Unit Rate Contracting Presentation (Jonathan Hanft and Joe Freesmeier) – Jonathan and Joe gave a presentation explaining the way in which Hennepin County is managing some contracts—through a unit rate contracting, versus through giving a lump grant for a lump set of services.  Not all CARE Act services are under this kind of system yet, but it is the County’s goal to move as many contracts as possible to this method within the next few years.  This is a change the County is making throughout all its contracts, not just with the CARE Act services.  Unit Rate contracting is based on a definition of a service unit and payment is based on how many units of service were provided to clients. (Examples of a service unit: one home-delivered meal; one hour of a care advocacy session).  The presentation showed the process for defining a “unit” and for setting a rate for each unit.  They explained that there is money built into the unit rate to cover a percentage of administrative time.  For example, if a unit itself cost $80 to provide, the rate would be set higher, say $100, to allow the provider funding to cover non-client-specific activities such as attending staff meetings or trainings.  The County expects to move 1-2 services each year to this method of contracting.  There was time for discussion.  Many questions centered around concerns that agencies operate differently from one another and clients require varying amount of time and service.  The County staff responded that if more time is needed and more service is delivered, then the agency will be reimbursed for those services.  For example, if a client goes to one agency and gets one hour of care advocacy service, the agency will get paid for one hour of service.  If another client goes to another agency and gets two hours of service, the agency will get paid for two hours of service.

 

IX.       Title II and ADAP update, Dave Rompa                                                

·         DHS is having a difference of opinion with Gilead Pharmaceuticals over what is an allowable rebate cost.  Until it is resolved DHS is limiting its dealings with Gilead, though Gilead products are still available through MN ADAP.

·         DHS is working on closing the cases of people who have not paid their portion on the cost share program.  To date, 3 cases out of 24 have been closed.  These are three people DHS has not been able to locate/contact.  By the end of the year they will have closed 6 more cases, unless the clients make their cost share payments.

·         Medicare part D has gone in to effect, as has DHS’s cost share assistance program. 

 

X.                  Announcements, evaluation, next agenda

·         The 2006 meeting calendar for January – March is out.  Staff will get the entire calendar to members when the conference rooms have been scheduled.

·         It is Andy Ansell’s 40th birthday!

 

Adjourn 11:59 a.m.

 

Meeting Summary:

  • Open Forum Curt Peterson from RAAN gave an update on that agency’s process of regionalizing their operations.

·         Facilitation training is scheduled for the 1/26/2006 Executive Committee meeting

  • Needs Assessment and Evaluation committee is working on a plan for needs assessment activities for the next three year cycle.

Planning and Priorities Committee finished the Comprehensive Plan and brought it to the Council for a vote.  ACTION ITEM: Comp plan has been accepted with minor changes, including sexual orientation and injection drug use references, by unanimous consent.

  • Operations Committee is working on attendance and will present a report at next mtg.
  • Community Voice Committee didn’t meet in December.
  • Community Participation Committee has the newsletter is done and being distributed.
  • Joe Freesmeier at Hennepin County got a promotion and is being replaced by John Suhr.
  • The processes for replacing Mary Doyle and Mary Dwyer are underway.
  • Hennepin County gave a presentation on unit-cost contracting.
  • DHS is beginning to close cases of people who are not paying their cost-share.
  • Medicare Part D went into effect, as did DHS’s Medicare Part D cost assistance plan.

 

Documents distributed at or before the meeting:

  • Agenda and Minutes from November 8th  meeting
  • Committee Reports for November (summary sheet)
  • Final draft of the 2006-2008 Comprehensive Plan
  • Comprehensive Plan workplans
  • Planning Council newsletter
  • HRSA handouts
  • 2006 Meeting schedule
  • Extra conflict of interest forms
  • Action Item form for approval of Comprehensive Plan
  • Blank Planning Council applications

 

Planning Council office 612-596.7894, or toll-free 888-638-3224 – web address is www.mnhivplanningcouncil.org

MDH’s website address for Epi data is www.health.state.mn.us/divs/idepc/diseases/hiv/index.html or call 612-676-5414

 

WK/JF/lgl