CFAC Meeting Minutes 03/28/11

Members Present: Nancy Baker, Bob Carey, Joe Crowder, Bill cook, Howard Graves, Debbie Hamrick, Leslie Huntley, Joseph Sentelle, Christine Smith, Tracey Turner, Rosemary Weaver

Members Excused:  James Lane, Carolyn Burton, Ruth Ann Bradshaw, Kristie Sluder

Members Absent:

WHN Staff: Arthur Carder, Dick Graham, Kelley Stines

Guests:  Cathy Kocian, Rich Munger, Mark Sentelle

Team:  Consumer Family
          Advisory Committee

Date:   3/28/11            

Time Started:  5:45 – Community
          Connections, 6:00 – Regular CFAC

Time Ended:  8:00  

TOPIC

DISCUSSION/FINDINGS/CONCLUSIONS

RECOMMENDATIONS/ACTIONS

Community Connections

Buncombe County – Successful  NAMI W. Regional Conference. Had many walk-ins who hadn’t registered. Upcoming NAMI Walk April 30^th.  CIT training last week w/ Avlle Police Dept brings total of trained officers/911 staff to over 200.

Joe Crowder - Looking at setting up a consolidated provider list/registry.

Joe Sentelle – Met w/ Mayor’s committee last week. Handing out flyers for mall event on April 13^th.  

Nancy, Debbie, Leslie - to visit Magnolia House next week.

Yancey (Bob) – In June a group in Yancey holds week-long camp Funshine at County Recreation Park. Children sponsored and don’t pay anything. Adults and kids can come.

Rosemary Disability Partners – now an employment network with SSA covering 6 of 8 counties WHN serves. Successful Operation Medicine Drop on Saturday.

Nancy –participated in waiver-related County Commissioners meetings. Monarch began contacting parents for feedback as part of upcoming Innovations waiver.

Kelley – send note to Donald asking about WHN getting involved with scholarships to Camp Funshine.

Welcome & Introductions

Bill opened meeting with welcome and introductions of members.

Approval of Agenda

Approved as submitted.

Approval of Feb Minutes

February minutes approved with 2 corrections: 1) On p.3 – include that Bob made the motion & Rosemary seconded it to support consumer-ran business. 2) Last item, Bob’s term runs through 2013.

Kelley to make corrections before posting to the web.

Action/ Crisis Items

Joe Crowder asked CFAC to consider removing the last item on small groups meeting at 5:00 before regular CFAC since there is  currently a lot of effort devoted to waiver initiatives. Also, suggested CFAC consider moving two CFAC meetings to same county location that the Board Meetings will be held.

Medicaid Waiver Update (Dick Graham, Director Consumer & Community Relations)

Dick expressed thanks to CFAC members for supporting Medicaid Waiver in the communities over the past several months. CFAC members and colleagues were recognized for networking efforts, for attending meetings and getting colleagues involved.

Handouts: 1) Waiver Workgroups; 2) WHN Staffing Plan & ad for position opened on Consumer & Community Relations team; 3) WHN Waiver Milestones.

Waiver Workgroups: WHN is anxious to have participation from CFAC & community members on waiver workgroups. Initially participants need to be present at the meeting. May be option later to teleconference. CFAC Reimbursement includes:
 -  per diem supplement for up to 2 meetings per month

 -  mileage for meetings attended as CFAC representative

Question: How should members volunteer to participate on waiver workgroups?

Answer: Contact Kelley if interested in participation so we can track CFAC participation on the different groups, and Kelley can help notify of meeting dates/times. If you’re a member of another organization or a community member who is interested, tell Dick or Kelley which group you’re interested in working with.

Staffing Plan: Shows WHN Milestone and Timelines. This document has yellow/blue highlights. It was given to the Board of Directors on Friday 3/25/11.  Staffing plan is conservative showing minimum staff required. Funding for positions must come out of LME Fund Balance - can’t come out of service funds. Pages 1-2 show proposed staffing. 

Consumer and Community Relations (CCR) team will have 3 functions under the Waiver:
1) System of Care – currently Rose Stouder is System of Care Coordinator for all counties. Will add 1 position due to needing help with additional responsibilities from state.
2) Community Relation Specialists – currently Jen Branham (Northern Counties) and Andrea Morris (Southern Counties). Andrea‘s position is opening. Handed out job flyer.

 3) Peer Support Specialists (new) - county-specific positions that involve follow-up after consumer contacts WHN Access Call Center, help train/educate enrollees who have benefits under the waiver. Consumer education includes how to use services, how to participate in person centered plan (PCP), and other trainings such as suicide prevention.

Concern 1: Peer Support Specialist applicants may worry about losing disability benefits if they had to quit due to relapse/illness. Could positions be considered as part time with job share? Response: (Arthur Carder) handout shows total full time employees needed, at a minimum. Not ruling out job sharing yet – would be a Board approved decision. Job descriptions to be ready in next couple of weeks.

Concern 2: Location of   PSS office space – CFAC strongly supportive of locating PSS employees in the counties instead of at WHN main office. Preferable due to travel time going back and forth, and availability to the communities. Recommendation was made that WHN negotiate with counties to secure office space. Rutherford already agreed.

Concern 3: Would Peer Support Specialist help w/ transporting consumers to appointments?  Initially funding is tied up. WHN eventually hopes to see regional transportation plans set up to help consumers w/ no access to transportation, especially with first-time services.

Bob Carey made a motion that CFAC go on record to the Board asking that WHN make as much of an attempt as is possible and is reasonable, to consider placing some of the new waiver staff positions in the rural counties, not limited to the new  Peer Support Positions. Motion seconded by Rosemary Weaver. Motion was passed unanimously.

Waiver Milestones: Draft document shows when tasks occur in implementation. Discussed methods of educating consumers.  Initial letters going out to consumers direct them to look on our website, and provides a contact name if consumer can’t access to the Internet. All providers must be re-credentialed by LME, but not consumers. Rosemary encouraged CFAC members help CCR educate consumers above participation on waiver workgroups.  Dick welcomed the help.

Kelley – maintain log of CFAC member participation, and facilitate meeting communications.

CFAC Support & Advocacy Plan (Nancy Baker)

Nancy has copies of Enrollment contracts that are being sent out to providers. These Enrollment Contracts don’t seem too difficult to complete. Lots of work still to be done, especially with Information Technology (IT) system demands. Nancy will provide links to this info on the web.

Nancy – provide CFAC with link to web information on Provider enrollment.

Nominating Committee Update (Leslie Huntley)

2 positions opening - Chair and Treasurer. Bob’s term as Vice Chair doesn’t end until 2013 because bylaws require chair and vice chair terms be staggered by one year. Not required in bylaws, but traditional, to first ask the person currently holding position if they would like to be considered for another term. CFAC Chair Bill Cook declined nomination, current Treasurer Rosemary Weaver accepted nomination. Nominating Committee recommended Nancy Baker as next CFAC Chair, and Rosemary for re-election as treasurer. Call was made for nominations from the floor – none were heard. CFAC Members voted to elect Nancy as new Chair and Rosemary as continuing Treasurer, with new term starting April 2011. Thanks to hard work of Bill over his term, and to Tracey Turner for work on membership committee. Agenda suggestion was to be more specific when something is up for vote. For example: Elections for Chair and Treasurer to be held.

Update from State Consumer Empowerment Team
(Cathy Kocian)

Discussed some highlights from March State/Local CFAC conference call. Questions from the CABHA meetings are posted on the web - provides good information in simple terms about CABHAs. Reminded members of volunteer opportunities (handout). PBH has some good basic documents on waiver overview. Specifically mentioned “Individual and Family Guide 2010.” Several members requested links to PBH documents mentioned in update. Budget cuts are coming from the State.

Cathy Kocian to send out links to documents mentioned in update:

Links provided by Cathy Kocian in 3/28/11 email

§  PBH http://www.pbhcare.org

§  Individual and Family Guide 2010 (3rd Revision) http://www.pbhsolutions.org/docs/Ind_Fam_Guide2010%20-%20Images%20Included%2020101104.pdf

§  NC MH/DD/SAS Health Plan http://www.pbhsolutions.org/consumerfamily/healthplan.asp

§  NC Waivers: What they are and their Benefits to Consumers http://www.pbhsolutions.org/consumerfamily/benefits.asp

§  NC Innovations Waiver http://www.pbhsolutions.org/consumerfamily/innovations.asp

Western Regional CFAC Reports (Leslie Huntley)

Congratulations to Bob for good job as spokesman regarding WHN’s proudest accomplishments.  Joe Crowder’s issue concerning time to get ER beds was sent directly in directly as one of the first received. A delicious lunch was catered by consumer-run business. Suggestion for WHN to host a regional meeting after the Waiver implementation. 1) Meeting Handout listing local CFAC’s hot topics; and 2) meeting highlights (by Leslie)

 Special note: Mecklenburg’s impressive four star system of rating providers, and Piedmont’s success with Recovery Education Centers (REC), especially in their rural counties. These conferences are very beneficial – well worth the trip.

March 16^th Conference Call (Bob)

Hot topics included: 1) CABHAs; 2) Waiver; 3) Budget.  Other topics included White paper (mentioned earlier) from LME’s - Piedmont, Smokey and Eastern. Cathy Kocian felt confident that division is not moving in this direction. Teleconference touched on splitting (b) / (c) waivers, discussing I waivers. Monthly teleconferences will continue at least until we learn more on the budget. Direct questions from minutes to Bob.

Cathy to provide CFAC members with links to teleconference minutes and white paper.

Peer Employment & State report (Rosemary Weaver)

Budget Task team wrote to State requesting no cuts in advocates, or in the Community Empowerment Team. Presentation was made on Supports Intensity Scale (SIS) that’s coming in the I/DD world. Task team supporting teleconference calls with local/state CFAC will start to compile next survey. Probably no more than 20 questions.

Peer Employment Committee – recommended to WHN to stop Peer Support Specialist training until more jobs materialize. Decision is supported by feedback from some of the larger CABHAS who said they couldn’t support PSS jobs at the rate people are being trained. Arthur thanked them for this feedback since it impacts current negotiations for waiver PMPM. Under waiver, PSS is a regular service. Kelly Crosby is the contact at state if you have questions.

Membership Update
(Tracey Turner)

For consideration at next meeting:

• Recommendation to change bylaws to accommodate a CFAC of 20 members (2 per county + 4 at large). Currently there are 2 at large.

§       Need to determine if conflict of interest would be created by having Providers on CFAC, especially when CFAC starts monitoring providers.  Only applies to provider employees in executive/management or decision making position. Tracey read wording from Board Policy.

§     Need members to bring training ideas to help train new members when they come on board, as well as refresher training for current members. Consider what you don’t know, and what might be weak points. Next month we’ll make a list.

§     Tracey to supply Board Policy for members to consider.

§     CFAC - bring ideas for training to next meeting.

By Laws

Appointed committee to revise Bylaws: Bob Carey, Bill Cook, and Joe Crowder

Action Crisis Plan

Joe Crowder suggested we eliminate Action item for Small Groups meeting at 5:00 since it’s been on hold several months. Also suggested scheduling 2 CFAC meetings in same locations/counties where Board plans to meet.