West Virginia Rural Health Education Partnerships

 

Advisory Panel Meeting Minutes

 

Monday, March 17, 2003

 

Days Inn, Flatwoods

 

 

Members in Attendance:  Gaye Mitchell, Steve Smith, James Welshonce, David Ryan, Carla See, Georgianna Tillis, Richard Meckstroth, Imogene Foster, E. Jane Martin, Carla Campbell, Bill Shires, Elizabeth Degges, Alison Witte, Sharon Hanna, Lynne Sandy, Sandra Pope, Dennis McCutcheon, Hilda Heady

 

Guests in Attendance:  Ralph Utzman, Ron Carlson, Ken Shannon, Alicia Tyler, Anna Reno, Stephen Thomas, Patti Crawford, Chuck Conner, Malinda Turner, Jodie Jackson, Sonnie Strader, Penny Asbury, Debra Riggs, Elaine Mason, Michelle Kopf, Derrick Day, Elizabeth Richmond, Judy Koehler, Parr Thacker, Robert Blake, Jacquelynn Copenhaver, Lora Adkins, Margaret Novacich, Kim Robinson, Sonya McClelland, April Vestal.

 

 

Chairman Dennis McCutcheon called the meeting to order.

 

Introductions of attendees were made.

 

Call to move the Consent Agenda – The consent agenda was passed unanimously (Welshonce/Smith).

 

Comments from the Chancellor – not able to be in attendance because of another commitment

 

Demonstration of TRACKER enhancements – Postponed until the May meeting

 

Committee reviews and group reports – 

 

Policy 2002-01 - Finance Committee and Advisory Panel have agreed by mail and email to approve this policy.  This is for information to the committee.

 

2002-03 – HIPAA Policy – All students will have this training and will show compliance on-site.  The School committee has reviewed this policy and has been circulating it since November.  Regulations go into effect April 13.  Draft by Ron Carlson.  The policy was accepted and approved by the panel (Degges/Mitchell).

 

Finance - Margaret reported that the finance committee met today to approve 2nd quarter report and 03-04 budgets.  They were unable to complete the agenda and will start having 4-hour meetings on panel dates to get caught up.  The subcommittee has not been meeting.  A group of Site Coordinators has been meeting to help Ron with zero based budgeting.  They will have some information to present to the committee by the May meeting. 

 

Recruitment & Retention – Alicia Tyler reported that Bob Whitler presented on HB2212 on medical malpractice.  WV has the strongest tort reform in the country.  He is very happy with the bill and states that it will help a lot with recruitment and retention of physicians.

 

Cindy Persily presented on legislation that almost passed this year addressing the nursing shortage in the state.  This included initiatives to recruit more nurses, and develop an initiative around retention.   It was lost due to time and the committee would like it to be seen on the special call.  It is revenue neutral.  Nurses have agreed to a $10 increase in licensure fees to support a proposed WV Center for Nursing. 

 

AHEC – Hilda reported that out of the budget meeting this morning it was decided to develop a subcommittee on how consortia could use their R&R money to expand training opportunities for medical residents and for recruitment and retention activities at the community level.  Members volunteered to plan a retreat in June for all the partners to learn more about the site requirements for graduate medical training and to gain more information on how to best use available funds.

 

Evaluation – Jodie reported that the definition of students should only pertain to students of higher education and not students in technical and vocational schools.  This was brought before the school committee and they would like to review the legislation and make a recommendation after the review.  At some consortia sites there are preceptors located in forbidden cities.  Hilda stated that there was some confusion on how sites in one of these cities were listed on the web site and has referred the matter to the School Committee for their review and discussion at their May meeting.  The committee felt an “other rural” rotations should be counted under a school unless the student utilizes RHEP resources. 

 

At the end of IDS at a consortium, students complete an evaluation.  This is not totally anonymous.  Although there is some value and the committee considers them of value to the sites, ORH will no longer be putting these into bar chart analysis.  These charts do not give enough information.  There will be possible changes made to the SERFE in the next several months and the IDS questions could be added.  The Evaluation committee would like for the sites to continue entering IDS information into Tracker until these changes are made. 

 

Response rate of SERFE – (Handout was distributed to the panel) Anything below 65% is in red to alert you.  Schools and sites have been given pointers on how to increase response rate.  Chuck shared an idea their consortium had to increase their response rate.  They decided to create their own incentive, which includes a t-shirt and $5.  There is also a drawing that gives one winner $250.  The consortia believe the information is important.

 

Jim Nemitz reported in the R&R meeting about Congress passing the creation of a workforce investment board in each region.  These boards will work with groups with compatible missions.  www.work4wv.com  Region I has been selected as a pilot project for developing a workforce investment board.  Alicia can provide a copy of the article and it will be mailed to the group. 

 

 

Executive / Associate Director’s Report –

 

Hilda thanked the committee for their thoughts and prayers for her mother. 

 

The allocation for the community support line has stayed the same.  It did not receive any cuts.  There were cuts to the schools but it is yet to be seen the effect of these cuts.  The two most significant items were the medical liability act, which had very successful tort measures that went into it, and the passage of the tobacco tax, an increase of 55 cents.

 

Ron Carlson gave a report on his activities.  He stated he has been to all 13 consortia and is halfway through another set of visits.  He has been working on financial policies, including drafting a policy to account for transactions, working with northern AHEC group and 501C3 process, and gathering background information on the process of matching state administrative funds for health professions training with Medicaid funds to pull down more federal matching dollars.

 

Hilda reported that Dr. Neal’s office called to inform her that an article featuring the CARDIAC project would be in the Wall Street Journal tomorrow.

 

The New York Academy of Medicine (which headed the study we participated in last year) has received a large grant from Kellogg to train community groups how to establish partnerships.  This is an opportunity we will be pursuing.  It is for $50,000 each year for 3 years.  The letter of intent is due May 9.  At least one community member and one campus faculty is needed for input.

 

At last year’s NRHA annual conference Hilda won a drawing for an all expense paid trip to Salt Lake City to attend this year’s annual conference.  Hilda has decided to have a drawing among community members who are interested and available to make the trip to select someone to use this free trip. Forms to apply for this free trip were passed out.  They should be distributed to anyone interested, with preference given to community members.  Applicants can register by email or fax.  The drawing will be April 2 at 5pm.

 

Hilda announced she will be staying on as principle investigator for AHEC and that Sandra Pope has been appointed Associate Director of AHEC.

 

With no other business, the meeting was adjourned.