WV Rural Health Education Partnerships

State Advisory Panel

Meeting Minutes

March 15, 2004

Members in Attendance: Tom Hefner, Gaye Mitchell, Steve Smith, Alison Witte, Imogene Foster, Hilda Heady, Richard Meckstroth, Sandra Pope, Bill Shires, Dennis McCutcheon, Georgianna Tillis, Sharon Hanna, Loretta Jones, Bobby Brown, Henry Taylor

Guests in Attendance: Connie Simmons, April Vestal, Derrick Day, Margaret Novacich, Gail McClung, Martha Cook, Sheryll Tennant, Ralph Utzman, Debbie Curry, Jon Willis, Stephen Thomas, Kathryn Greenlief, Jane Sullivan, Amber Crist, Penny Asbury, Carla Campbell, Chuck Connor, Alicia Tyler, Jodie Jackson, Patti Crawford, Malinda Turner, Dalena Riggs, Rhonda Carpenter, Sonnie Strader, Judy Koehler, Elaine Mason, Lew Holloway, Robert Blake, Parr Thacker, Susan Anderson-Borror

Introductions of any new members or guests:

No new members or guests were present. The Chancellor was absent due to attending a budget meeting.

Call to Move the Consent Agenda

The consent agenda was approved as presented. (Pope/Mitchell).

Finance Committee

The committee approved the second quarter reports. There were reviews of the fund balances and the committee is recommending a freeze on fund balances until further notice. Our moratorium on capital expenditures is still in place. There is the possibility of mergers of the sites and the committee looked at the community side of the program.

Recruitment/Retention

Alicia reported on the Health Sciences Scholarship Program (HSSP) awards made in November. Twelve medical students received $20,000 scholarships and eight nurse practitioner students received $10,000 scholarships. A total of $320,000 in HSSP awards was made. Legislative auditors reviewed HSSP this year as part of an overall audit of state scholarship programs. Auditors were impressed that the RHEP Recruitment & Retention Committee had formed a subcommittee to improve the awards process and reduce defaults. Among medical students who received HSSP, the best outcomes are in family practice. More students in family practice apply for HSSP and serve their obligations than medical students in other fields.

Among state graduates since 1991, there are 142 physicians practicing in rural WV, 59 nurse practitioners, and 60 physician assistants. All completed RHEP rotations and many received one or more of our state financial incentives. The Coordinated Placement project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson and Benedum Foundations will have continued funding for two years.

Executive/Associate Director’s Report

Hilda reported the dinner at Legislative Day was a big success there were 280 RSVP’s made. The PERD report is on the website and the recommendation of the report was a reauthorization of four years. The language for the recommendation of Legislative action on capital purchases was submitted and no action was made. The reauthorization was four years on the original bill. When the bill went to Senate Government Organization it went to one year and then went to house and passed in the house for only one year. We have to do another PERD review in 2004-05. We have called the staff to schedule a meeting to come up with requirements and a timeline for the report. Our beginning budget will be reduced by $553 thousand dollars in community and school side that equals to a 7.5 to 8 percent reduction. The resolution that the panel passed to look for consolidations in cost savings in November will need to be a part of the plan. Hilda said that we have to move quickly and do this by July1, 2004. We have to address legislators to see what happened and what expectations are on the reauthorization for of only one year. Hilda recommended a restructuring task force be formed and meet on the dates of March 29 thru June 30. This task force should have a strong presence of the schools, local reps from local consortia boards and finance committee members. The information on page 11 of the annual report should be reviewed by the task force. The task force needs to look at where we have been successful and not so successful. Information on page 12, the health profession shortage areas, will also be considered. The dates for this group to meet are March 29, April 20 and May 11. The presentation of plans will be on May 17 during the Advisory Panel Meeting. The task force will meet again on June 7 for any changes that need to be made. Full implementation will need to begin by June 30 and proceed over the next year. However, cost saving measures need to be implemented immediately. After the June 7 meeting, we may have an email vote or conference call to look at the panel approving the overall plans.

Hilda pointed out the recruitment map on page 11 of the annual report. We have 16 recruits in Greenbrier County. Bobby reported an average of $585 dollars a student week to train students and some consortia are as low as $329 and as high as $4,078 (this figure was later revised to approximately $1,400. due to data analysis problems) per student week. (Note: Corrected data analysis figures for July 1, 2003 to December 31, 2003 indicate an average cost per student week of $352 with 4 consortia falling below the average and 8 above the average) We need to see if we can form a merger to get these costs under control. In the November meeting, Judy and Elizabeth gave a presentation on their merger and the savings they have made. We must save on expenses and costs. We only have one year to get this program in line. Radical changes will have to be made by each consortium. The finance committee understands that it will not be done all in one day. We have to be accountable for our expenditures and look at the possibilities of merging and reducing our expenses. We need to get our communities involved and everyone to be supportive of this program and make the changes that need to be made. The advisory panel entertained a motion to empower this task force and to go with their recommendation of freezing fund balances. Bobby is to form an Ad-hoc committee to roll out this plan (Mitchell/Foster).

Tom Hefner brought up the possibility of the merging of AHEC and RHEP areas. Motion to approve the freeze of the fund balance set for RHEP consortia’s that are unencumbered funds until further notice. (Smith/Shires)

The task force will be made up of the Chuck Conner, Connie Simmons, Dennis McCutcheon, Arnie Simonse, Imogene Foster, Dan Brody, Dick Meckstroth, Sharon Hanna. Mandate staff members Margaret Novacich, April Vestal, Sandra Pope, Jodie Jackson and Sheryll Tennant and Henry Taylor. Hilda will send out an e-mail message to see if others are interested in serving on this task force.

Dennis passed out a letter from Dalena Riggs with ROVER sent to Hilda as Executive Director requesting the rural areas of Brooke and Hancock Counties be added to their consortium. The Advisory Panel approved this request (Brown/Mitchell). Dick Mecksroth gave a little background on this letter. This summer their clinics may be closed down for remodeling and dentistry may need other sites to accommodate students while this is going on.

Chuck approached the advisory panel with a few words of encouragement for the upcoming changes and discussions.

There was a motion and second to adjourn (Brown/Mitchell)