Guests in Attendance: April Vestal, Frankie Tomblin, Alicia Tyler, Chuck Conner, Shannon Bell, Parr Thacker, Jane Horst, Jacquelynn Copenhaver, Ken Shannon, Jodie Jackson, Carla Campbell, Olivia Ostrow, Matt Wilson, Marcus Speaker, Georgianna Tillis, Billie Hall, Patti Crawford, Malinda Turner, Sonnie Strader, Kim Robinson

Chairman Dennis McCutcheon called the meeting to order.

Introductions were made and two new advisory panel members were welcomed to the meeting: Craig Robinson, Executive Director at New River Health Association and Judy Thomas, community member from Cabin Creek

Motion to approve the consent agenda was made (Welshonce/Foster – unanimous)

November Meeting Date – Hilda brought to the committee’s attention that the November 2001 meeting date is scheduled on the week of Thanksgiving.  After checking with the Days Inn for availability of rooms, the committee agreed to move the November Advisory Panel and Committee Meeting Dates to Monday, November 26, 2001.

Committee Reports

LRC Committee- Parr Thacker reported on the Mobile Lab, a project of WV CONSULT at WVU.  This project consists of several laptop computers that can be taken virtually anywhere in the state in order to provide training opportunities for consortia.  A high speed connection is available via a satellite.  For more information or to schedule training please contact Mark Allen.  One of the projects the committee is working on is a Learning Resource Web Page and will include reviewed web sites and software sites for palm devices, patient tracking, tutorials for community members, IDS resources, presentations in PDF format, bi-annual technology opportunities and a database of rural cases that identify things that are uniquely rural for use with students.

Student/Community Member Committee Retreat – Marcus Speaker, Chairman of the Student Advisory Committee reported on the outcomes of the Community Member/Student Panel Retreat held on January 21-22, 2001 at the Days Inn in Flatwoods.  Recommendations are highlighted in the notes from the retreat
http://www.wvrhep.org/comm/stuadv/min/2001-01.htm
Recommendations from the retreat will be circulated to RHEP committees for feedback and comment in the coming weeks. Marcus announced that he will be graduating in May and that Billie Hall, MSIV at WVSOM will be the new chair for the coming year.

Evaluation Committee – Jodie reported that with Annie McIntosh’s retirement no community members are currently members of this committee.  Jodie requested that any community members interested in membership on the evaluation committee contact her or Jennifer Allen.  Jodie stated that there was a discussion in the committee meeting about sites that are reporting residents doing rotations in their consortium on TRACKER.  These residents are showing up on the student roster at the few sites that have residents to report.  The evaluation committee determined that this is not the place to report residents and Jodie asked for the advisory panel to determine whether or not to place another way of reporting residents into TRACKER.  Would this information be useful and valuable in the future?  Hilda felt the information would be valuable and Alicia agreed that expanding residency training is a goal.  Hilda suggested that Jodie and Alicia work with Mike McCarthy to determine the fields that should be added to TRACKER so that residents can be reported separately.  A motion was made by the panel that resident information should be collected in TRACKER and that Jodie and Alicia are to work with Mike to determine the appropriate fields and accomplish this task (Degges/Mitchell – unanimous). Jodie also reported that the committee has been discussing the definition of students in TRACKER reporting.  These definitions are currently:
RHEP – spends 20% of their time in IDS and community service
IN – At a RHEP site, but does not fulfill the requirements (does not happen very often)
Other Rural – not at a RHEP site, but attends IDS and community service activities
Out – An out of state student on a rural rotation

Jodie explained that there has been some confusion about how to count these students in TRACKER.  The committee decided to stick with these definitions and present these to the school committee.  Jodie reported on the status of the SERFE (Student Evaluation of Rural Field Experience) on-line surveys.  There were a few bugs that needed to be worked out at the beginning.  Helen Baker, Alex Lubman, Ken Shannon, Mike McCarthy and Jodie Jackson are currently working on this project.  This is a collaborative effort of all the schools and we have developed a unique system that fulfills part of the PERD report recommendation and provides information for rural health research.

Faculty Development – April reported that the Faculty Development Committee has been busy planning the next faculty development conference.  This year’s conference theme is “A Clinical Teaching Toolkit” and will feature many different programs such as service learning, dealing with difficult students and computer skills training.  The conference will be held September 14-16, 2001 at Canaan Valley Resort and Conference Center.  This year we will be teaming with the Mountain State Geriatric Education Center.  They will be offering training to field faculty on Sunday.  Special training will be offered to On-Site Clinical Directors of WVRHEP on Friday morning.  Date saver cards will be going out soon.

Recruitment & Retention – Alicia Tyler gave the committee report.

1. Dr. Rick Latos and Dr. Tony Besarab gave a presentation on the shortage of nephrologists in the state.  This subspecialty is needed because of an increasing prevalence of End State Renal Disease, largely due to an aging population and high rates of diabetes. A subcommittee was formed to review recommendations for recruitment of nephrologists under the J-1 visa waiver program.

2. The 2000 Recruitment & Retention Report was presented. Since 1991, 263 graduates of our schools and training programs have been recruited to rural West Virginia.  This includes 92 physicians, 50 nurse practitioners, 2 nurse-midwives, and 51 physician assistants -- about 60 percent of whom received one or more state financial incentives.  We are evaluating our financial incentive programs.

3. Three students were awarded Health Sciences Scholarships:  Bill Apostolon, a WVSOM student; Pamela Edens, a WVU nurse practitioner student; and Heather Eglinger, an A-B College physician assistant student.

4. The West Virginia Hospital Association is surveying hospitals on their need for health professionals, including nursing and allied health fields.  A task force on workforce issues is being formed and will include representation from the R & R Committee.

Executive Director’s Report

Extra copies of the 2000 Annual Report and 2001 Recruitment and Retention report were made available.
Update on Legislative Authorization – Hilda reported that the bill to reauthorize the RHI Act has passed the house and is currently in senate government organization slated for its first hearing on March 21.  Hilda passed out an information sheet detailing the additional appropriation request for RHEP that was developed and approved by the Finance Committee.  This can be used when speaking to Legislators.  Hilda asked members to contact their legislators if they haven’t already and ask for support.  Hilda highlighted the meeting with the Governor’s staff in February and noted that the $500,000 requested last year had been included in the Higher Education request and was determined by the Governor’s office to be in what they termed the “Improvement Package”. The Governor’s final Higher Education Budget included our current budget but not the $500,000 increase. The Governor was not aware of this at the time it happened and his staff made a commitment to try and find the $500,000 for us.  At this point, it will be important for as many of us as possible to make contact with members of the Senate Finance committee about our request.  When speaking to the Legislators, it will be important to highlight what the program has meant to you and the impact in your own communities.  We should also let our legislators know that we are aware that the Governor’s office is trying to get us the $500,000 which is detailed in the first paragraph of the one sheet detailed appropriations increase request.  Hilda thanked everyone for the wonderful job in contacting and speaking with Legislators concerning our reauthorization and increased budget request.

Hilda reported on the National Study on Partnership Functioning results in which 127 individuals from WVRHEP responded to the questionnaire.  We received a glowing report in terms of partnership functioning and decision making.  Compared to other partnerships, we scored well.  In the areas of communication and meetings, we scored significantly higher.  This report is available on the web site at:
http://www.wvrhep.org/reports/
Hilda read a note of thanks from Sandy Baker for all the kind thoughts, cards, flowers and prayers during her illness.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:53 PM