MN HIV Services Planning Council Meeting

September 12^th, 2006 9:00 am – 12:00 noon

Plymouth Congregational Church

1900 Nicollet Avenue, Minneapolis

Minutes

Council Members Present:
Hazel Erickson	Francis Mark
Michael Behl	Karin Sabey
Jim Lawser (Co-Chair)	Rev. G. Allen Foster
Bob Hansen	Gilbert Achay
John Cyzon	Dollina Odera
Gary Novotny	Ama Sabah
Antonio Marante	Randall Guilford
Robert Pioli	Ephraim Olani
Andy Ansell (Co-Chair)	Rae Eden Frank
Council Members Absent:
Lee Lewis - excused	Ojuolape Olagbaju - unexcused
LeMonte Graham - excused	Susanne Pfeil - unexcused
Joseph Smith - unexcused
Consultant:
Becky Kroll - CLEAR
Guests:
Jennifer Houston – WestSide	Erika Kimball – MSW Intern with DHS
Charles Hempeck - RAAN	Chelsea Anderson – MSW Intern with DHS
G-HAT:
Jonathan Hanft - Hennepin County	Julie Hansen Perez - MDH
Redwan Hamza - DHS
Staff:
Wendi Kistner (minutes)	Tim Sullivan

Quorum Present? Yes

I. Welcome and Introductions; Lighting of the Candle

The meeting was called to order at 9:07. Jim lit the candle for all of the past and present Planning Council members. He thinks it is important for everyone to be aware of why they are here. Introductions were made. Andy thanked everyone for their level of sharing during introductions.

II. Review the August 8^th Meeting Minutes and Proposed Agenda

Andy asked that an election be added to the Operations portion of the agenda. The agenda was approved, with addition, by unanimous consent. The minutes were approved by unanimous consent.

III. Open Forum

No items.

IV. Co-Chairs Update

A. Jim told the Council that Tim gave a great orientation on Friday to introduce new members to the CARE Act and the Planning Council. This will be an ongoing process as new members join the Planning Council. Ongoing trainings for all Council members will be done as needed.

B. RWCA Conference – Andy attended the CARE Act Conference in Washington D.C. at the end of August. This conference is held every two years for all Planning Councils and consortia. Andy was most struck by the opening presentation about Ryan White and his legacy. The rest of the conference was comprised of workshops. Andy distribute handouts of the workshops for Council members to review. He has the conference program and a CD available for Council members to borrow. Overall he felt the conference was worthwhile. During the conference several EMAs spoke and they seem to be doing things the same way as the MN Council. Andy also met with Sheila McCarthy and the project officer to look at the roles and responsibilities for Planning Council with Title I and Title II. No information was given on reauthorization.

V. Staff Report

A. RWCA Conference – Tim feels the Planning Council is doing its work very well and didn’t feel he learned anything new at the conference on how to do things better. He feels MN is ahead of the curve. He also told Council members that if there is strong interest in the workshop presentations they can be uploaded to the website.

B. Contact Information Update – Tim asked Planning Council to complete a new contact information form. This information will be shared with all Planning Council members so only list information you don’t mind sharing.

C. Conflict of Interest Forms – It is time for the conflict of interest forms. All Council members need to sign this on an annual basis. Once Council members have read and signed the forms they can return them to staff.

D. Review of Administrative Mechanism – Tim thanked everyone for completing the evaluation form. He asked everyone who did not complete it before to do so today. This is vital to the Title I application packet. The Planning Council is responsible for making sure the Title I grantee has fulfilled what was asked of them. While the Council determines where there are gaps and where the money should go the grantee is responsible for evaluating the service providers.

E. Reflectiveness – Some concern has been voiced to staff that there is a lack of African American women on the Council. During the last election no applications were received from African American women. One was recently and will be considered for the open positions. Tim also reminded Council members that each time a new member is added to the Council reflectiveness must be maintained. Tim asked Council members to recommend anyone they think would be good on the Council.

VI. Title I Update, Jonathan Hanft, Hennepin County

A. CARE Act Conference – The funding is going to be changing to include HIV/ non-AIDS cases. Now half is a formula and the other half is a competitive application. In 2007, the formula will include non-AIDS cases. Jonathan attended a session about a centralized database for all providers. He has looked at some systems. He also attended a workshop about tiered case management systems. In 1995, when MN first received funding it was decided that since most of the HIV/AIDS cases were in the EMA it made sense to do planning for Title I and Title II together. A MOU was recently created between Title I and the Planning Council to define roles and responsibilities and this same model will be used for Title II and the Planning Council. SPNS (CSAD) was done in the Twin Cities 2 years ago for special populations (African born PLWH/A). Two additional studies were done in Floridia (Palm Beach) and California (Orange County).

B. Application – The next three weeks will be quite busy because staff will be working on the Year 12 application.

C. FY 2007 1^st Quarter Expenditure Report – Jonathan presented a spreadsheet entitled Expenditure Report by Quarter Title I/Title II. Jonathan walked Council members through this document. This is a good way to see how service area allocations are being spent. By this time service area allocations should be about 25%. Some may be higher or lower for different reasons. If there are specific questions they should contact Jonathan. Questions/Comments:

· Ama asked why Dental Care and Home Health Care are over 30% since they seem like ongoing costs. Home Health Care is limited and they might be spending down their CARE Act money first and then they rely on other funding sources for the remaining portion of the year. Dental care spending has been going up over the last few years. Two years ago DHS had a contract with Delta Dental but this was identified as a barrier so now the contract is back with DHS.

· Ama also asked if the Planning Council can reallocate funds later in the year if some services are over spending while others are under spending. Jonathan said yes.

· Karin asked if the increase of spending with HH dental came at the same time that a cap was imposed on MA dental coverage in 2003. Redwan feels that was likely the case and that the Delta Dental cancellation came at the same time.

· Andy said he knows some contracts are not sole source funding for some providers. He asked if providers need to show the grantee where their other funding sources come from. Jonathan said they need to see what their entire program budget is and where additional revenue is coming from and they need to submit updates at six months.

· Francis asked how CARE Act money as a payer of last resort works into this process. Jonathan gave an example of primary medical care. If they are eligible for this service they need to use this before CARE Act money is used. They will use an eligibility person to help them find these services. Site visits are done to make sure this is happening. Non-discretionary funds are kept at some organizations for whatever is needed so services are not discontinued based on lack of funds.

· Randall asked for clarification that a provider is allowed only what is allocated to them to distribute through the year as they see fit.

· Gary asked how vendors submit bills. Jonathan said right now some submit monthly and some submit a unit rate bill. They are working to switch everyone to a unit rate.

· Antonio asked if service areas will continue a pattern, how do we ensure that funding does not run out by the 4^th quarter. Jonathan said by the 2^nd quarter they can look at utilization and shift funds if needed.

Jonathan will present on the 2^nd quarter report in a couple months.

D. Carry-Over Approval – The expenditure report presented in Title I update letter “A” does not include carry-over funds. The carry-over request was approved. At the end of each grant year there is an opportunity to carry forward those leftover funds to the next grant year. In June this number was reported to the Council. A proposal was presented to the Planning & Priorities committee, then to the Executive committee, and finally sent to the Planning Council for final approval. Once approved a request is submitted to HRSA and money can be dispersed to service areas for use in the last five months of the current grant year. Jonathan gave Council members an idea of where the carry-over funds will go. These funds go to already selected providers because there is a short window of time where the money can be spent. Questions/Comments:

· Andy asked if there is a provision that carry-over funds go back to HRSA if they are not spent because in the future carry-over funds will no longer be a guarantee. He said this is true. MN carry-over money could be taken away and given to a state where it is needed.

· G. Allen asked how it was determined that money would be used to create a DVD on the Latino population. Jonathan said this is a pilot program. They are beginning with Latinos because it needs to be in another language and members from the community need to volunteer to be involved in the making of the DVD. The amount of funding covers 1/3 of the cost to produce the DVD.