MN HIV Services Planning Council Meeting

March 14, 2006

9:00 am to 12:00 noon

Redeemer Missionary Baptist Church

116 East 32nd St, Minneapolis

Minutes

Council Members Present:
Gilbert Achay	Francis Mark
John Cyzon	Eric Meininger
Rae Eden Frank	Ojuolape Olagbaju
LeMonte Graham	Ephriam Olani
Dean Halland	Susanne Pfeil
Bob Hansen	Ama Sabah
Jim Lawser	Ron Schut
Lee Lewis	Sarah Senseman
Antonio Marante
Council Members Absent:
Andy Ansell (excused)	Gary Novotny (excused)
Dan Capouch (excused)	Aaron Keith Stewart (excused)
Lois Crenshaw (leave of absence)	Gwen Velez (unexcused)
Patrick Kramme (excused)	Willie Wesley (unexcused)
Consultant:
Becky Kroll - CLEAR
Guests:
Elizabeth Namarra
G-HAT:
Julie Hanson Perez - MDH	Debra Riley - DHS
Jonathan Hanft – Hennepin County
Staff:
Lori Lippert

I. Welcome and Introductions; Lighting of the Candle

The meeting was called to order at 9:15 am. Antonio lit the candle for in memory of those in third world countries where HIV treatment isn’t working. He also lit the candle in memory of an HIV+ friend living in Venezuela.

II. Review the Minutes of February 14, 2006 Meeting and Proposed Agenda

Changes were made to minutes. Minutes were approved, with changes, by unanimous consent.

Order of agenda items was changed to accommodate open forum guest who was late to meeting. Agenda was accepted, with changes, by unanimous consent.

III. Co-chair’s Update, Aaron Keith Stewart

Lori reviewed Planning Cycle and pointed out where the PC is in the cycle.

IV. Title I Update, Jonathan Hanft, Hennepin County

Jonathan provided a staffing update and details of the 2006 grant award.

V. Title II and ADAP Update, Debra Riley, MN Department of Human Services

Project Officer doesn’t know when Title II award will be announced. When it is, the Title I and II grantees will put together a proposed “Year 10” budget to be presented at next month’s PC meeting.

Medicare Part D Update. People between 135 – 150% Federal Poverty Guidelines (FPG) are eligible for assistance from the Minnesota AIDS Project. Applications are currently being accepted. People below 150% of FPG are eligible for to have premiums paid for MCHA insurance policies. MCHA is resisting approving these applications for insurance coverage. DHS sent a letter to the Attorney General’s office to get an opinion about whether or not MCHA is required to allow people on MCHA Medicare supplement plans to convert to non-Med sup plans. If necessary, DHS will continue to pay MCHA Medicare supplement policy premiums. Everyone below 150% of FPG has now been switched to Medicare Part D which is covering 100% of their medication costs.

Closures of clients who haven’t paid cost share premiums. DHS is finished with phase I & II closures. Only two in phase I were closed. Those two clients were lost to follow up. Of 42 people who were identified as ready to be closed in phase II, no one actually was closed. In phase III 107 people have been identified as needing to be closed by end of March. To date, 33 have made arrangements to make payments. Everyone in this cohort has until March 31 to make arrangements to make up overdue cost share payments. Debra and Jonathan provided more detail on changes in the cost share assistance program. Debra said that closure happens in 2 phases, drugs are closed in the first two months and then insurance is closed in three months.

In the ensuing discussion a Council member expressed concern about people losing access to drugs. Lee requested an interim report from DHS on the status of closures.

Phase III is the last phase of “catch-up” closures. From here on out people will get notices and be closed as they first begin missing payments.

Title II Comp Plan: Title II Comp Plan and SCSN were both completed by February 1^st, 2006.

DHS will have a forum for Planning Council, community members, and PLWH. The forum is set for March 28^th from 3-6 p.m. at African American AIDS Task Force. The Title II Comp Plan has essentially the same text as the Title I Comp Plan but the goals and objectives are different. DHS will ask if the Planning Council wants to participate in the monitoring of the Title II Comp Plan. There will also be a forum on the Access to Care Study and the new case management standards developed last year. This forum is set for April 10^th from 3-6 p.m. at Turning Point.

VI. Open Forum

Elizabeth Namarra is a guest from Sub-Saharan African Youth and Family Services in Minnesota. The organization works with African-born PLWH/A. She came to discuss her experiences and to inform the Council about the needs of the people with whom she works. The number one problem she sees is culture and language and not knowing what resources are available. Elizabeth gave examples to show that there needs to be culturally appropriate services for people who don’t understand English and don’t know anything about HIV or HIV services and medical care.

Lori pointed out that there are goals in the Comp Plans to address some of the issues Elizabeth talked about including prioritizing culturally appropriate services and health education and risk reduction where PLWH can learn about services available.

VII. Committee Reports (Community Participation Committee is on Hiatus)

Lee asked if people to read the reports on their own since there are no action items.

VIII. Overview of available Data Sources, Lori Lippert, Interim Staff Coordinator

Lori then gave an overview of the materials that Council members have to use for reference as they do prioritization and allocation. Binders were made available to members to keep Prioritization and Allocation materials organized. Many of the materials, in particular the large documents, are available on the Planning Council website. Some materials will be coming as we go along in prioritization process. Community forum input info will be available in May. In April Eduardo will give a brief report on provider input from provider site visits. Everyone will get SAR summaries at learning stations in the upcoming months. Full SARs will be posted on the web.

Antonio suggested that on the web, member communities are identified. Eric expressed concern about doing this and Sarah asked if it’s appropriate even to have member’s agencies identified unless they are part of GHAT. Lori suggested we talk about it in Operations committee.

IX. What Is a SAR and What Is a SAR Summary? Becky Kroll, CLEAR

Becky gave a brief training on the sources of the data used in service area reviews (SARs).

X. Learning Stations

Members attended two learning stations for three service activities: Case Management, Emergency Financial Assistance and Child Care. Printed SAR summaries for each of these service activities is available. Full SARs will be posted on the PC website.

XI. New Meeting Space, Lori Lippert, Interim Staff Coordinator

Planning Council meetings will be moving to Plymouth Congregational Church on the corner of Franklin and Nicollet Aves. The space has better lighting, rent is less, has a microphone system, and has additional space for break out sessions that is divided from main meeting room by screens. Our next meeting (on April 11) will be at Plymouth Congregational Church.

XII. Announcements, Evaluation, Next Agenda

No items.

Meeting Adjourned at 12:00 noon

Meeting Summary:

· Debra Riley gave updates on Medicare Part D, closure of clients who have not paid their cost share premiums, and the Title II Comp Plan forum.

· Elizabeth Namarra, from SAYFMS, spoke at the open forum about the needs of African PLWH/A.

· Lori went over all the reference documents that are available for Council members to use in prioritization and allocation.

· Members attended two learning stations and were given information about Case Management, Emergency Financial Assistance, and Child Care.

· The Planning Council is moving its meeting space and will be meeting at the Plymouth
Congregational Church (on the corner of Franklin and Nicollet). The exception to this is the July meeting which will be held on the first floor of Human Services Building (525 Portland Ave S in Minneapolis.)

Documents Distributed Before or At the Meeting:

· Agenda

· Minutes from February 14, 2006 meeting

· Committee Reports

· Prioritization and Allocation Table of Contents

· EFA, Child Care, and Case Management SAR Summaries

· Sources of Information Used in SAR

· Quiz on Data Sources with Answers

· Comprehensive Case Management SAR

· Title I Update

JH/WK/lgl