Health Committee
July 12, 2006 - 7:30 am
DRAFT MINUTES
Members: Sean Clark, Chairman; Sandy Price, Vice Chairman; Larry Cornell, Mike McKee, Carol Tytler, Ron VanDee and Tom Williams
Others Present: Scott Schrader, County Administrator; Katrina Spicer, Secretary to County Administration; Jackie Gailor, Director, Health Department; Michael Kilmer, Director of Administrative Services, Mental Health Department; Dennis Whitt, County Auditor; Corey Preston, Cortland Standard; Neils Schulz
Absent:
Mr. McKee made the motion to adoption of the minutes of the June 7, 2006
meeting; seconded by Ms. Price. All members voting in favor, minutes approved as printed.
RESOLUTONS:
Health Department
1.
Authorize Agreements CWSN (NYS Facilitated Enrollment Program) –
Mr. VanDee moved adoption; seconded by Mr. Cornell.
Ms. Gailor explained that this is an ongoing grant and allows for
subcontracts with other agencies to do facilitated enrollment.
Ms. Tytler inquired about if the money is split evenly.
Ms. Gailor explained that at this time it is but explained that in the
future a new grant may not be the same. Ms.
Tytler and Ms. Gailor discussed the difference between rural and city.
Ms. Gailor explained that the state pays according to the number of
approved referrals. Mr. McKee
inquired about other agencies. Ms.
Gailor explained why the other agencies are not part of this.
She added that County staff does provide some of these services.
All members present voting in favor; none opposed; resolution approved.
Mr. Williams inquired about Family Counseling Services and at the last meeting there was discussion about their account practices. Mr. Schrader referred the inquiry to Mr. Kilmer. Mr. Kilmer explained that he had discussed this with Mr. Gardner and he is working on making the changes. The committee agreed that it appears to be moving forward. Mr. Williams asked if any money has been received by Family Counseling Services yet. Mr. Schrader responded that no money has been released.
2.
Authorize Agreement/Accept Funds/Lead Poisoning Prevention Grant –
Mr. Cornell moved adoption; seconded by Ms. Tytler.
Ms. Gailor explained that this is another ongoing grant that provides
some funding for nursing services, environmental health and supplies.
She added that this funding has remained the same for years.
Mr. McKee inquired about tracking.
Ms. Gailor explained that there is not a real high number of high blood
level lead poisoning cases but they do track them. Additionally she explained some State regulations and they
may be changing. Ms. Tytler
inquired about Kindergarten screening and if this testing is part of that
screening process. Ms. Gailor
explained that the question is asked if the testing has been done and if it
has not then they must have it done. All
members present voting in favor;
none opposed; resolution approved.
3.
Authorize Agreement/Environmental Health/Laserjet Printer Maintenance– Ms.
Price moved adoption; seconded by Mr. Williams.
Ms. Gailor explained that the printers in Environmental Health need
maintenance. Ms. Tytler inquired
about the wording and asked for clarity.
Ms. Gailor explained the service contract and what is included.
All members present
voting in favor; none opposed; resolution approved.
4.
Establish Petty Cash Account/Jacobus Center – Ms. Tyler moved
adoption; seconded by Mr. Cornell. Ms.
Gailor explained that a voucher for reimbursement came across her desk
regarding a ZAP Luncheon and rather than reimbursing staff for this type of
service she would like to have Petty Cash available for this office.
Ms. Tytler asked who would be in charge of the petty cash and Ms.
Gailor explained that Elaine Lambert would be.
Ms. Tytler asked if the Treasurer was on board with this.
Mr. Schrader explained that yes he is and the County Auditor audits
petty cash accounts periodically. All
members present voting in favor;
none opposed; resolution approved.
5.
Accept Funds/Jacobus Center (SUNY Cortland Power Planet for Women) –
Mr. Cornell moved adoption; seconded by Ms. Tytler.
Ms. Gailor explained that this allows the County to accept the funds.
All members present
voting in favor; none opposed; resolution approved.
6.
Authorize Agreement/ Jacobus Center (Healthcare Purchasing Partners
International) – Ms. Price moved adoption; seconded by Mr. McKee.
Ms. Gailor explained that this resolution would allow the County to
contract to purchase pharmaceuticals at the lowest rate from a preferred
provider. All members
present voting in favor; none opposed; resolution approved.
7.
Transferring Funds/Nursing Division – Mr. McKee moved
adoption; seconded by Mr. Van Dee. Ms.
Gailor explained that funds for Jean Heady as a consultant were taken from
professional services expenditure line in the budget.
She added that additional funds need to be transferred to professional
services for payment of the auditing. Ms. Gailor further explained that Ms.
Heady has completed the consultant work and briefly discussed her
recommendations. She added that
by September the County should be able to keep all referrals and the quality
is improving. Ms. Gailor added
that work still needs to improve on productivity. Mr. McKee asked if there was a positive impact from Ms. Heady’s
visit. Ms. Gailor responded, yes.
Ms. Tytler if there will be a problem taking the funds from the medical
fees and services account. Ms. Gailor explained that there will not be, the funds in
that account were more than had been anticipated.
All members present
voting in favor; none opposed; resolution approved.
8.
Authorize Agreement/Accept Funds/Administration/Special Programs (Cancer
Services Program) – Mr. VanDee moved adoption; seconded by Mr.
Cornell. Ms. Gailor explained
that the additional funding from this grant would cover medical expenses for
people who qualify for covered services. She added that if the funding is not used the State will take
it back. Ms. Gailor added that
all the funding would likely be used. All
members present voting in favor;
none opposed; resolution approved.
9.
Authorize Agreement (Educational Institutions) – Mr. Cornell
moved adoption; seconded by Mr. McKee. Ms.
Gailor explained that there are a variety of educational institutes that are
interested in placing students in unpaid internship programs in Cortland
County Health Department. Ms.
Gailor discussed the County’s responsibility in regards to these students.
She added that some of the schools interested in this are Morrisville,
Syracuse University, SUNY Binghamton and Weslyan.
She discussed that contracts are needed for these internships.
Ms. Tytler inquired about the difference of these contracts from other
contracts. Ms. Gailor explained
that when this resolution was originally drafted for this meeting the only
school that was interested was Morrisville, but in the last ten days or so
other schools have contacted the Health Department.
Mr. McKee asked about having a program like this with TC3.
Ms. Gailor explained that there has been an ongoing agreement with TC3.
She added that the County benefits from these agreements and liability
insurance is provided. Mr.
Schrader agreed with this. All
members present voting in favor;
none opposed; resolution approved.
10.
Amend Agreement/Amend Budget (NYS Office of Alcohol & Substance Abuse
Services) – Mr. Cornell moved adoption; seconded by Ms. Price.
Mr. Schrader explained that additional funding from New York State was
being awarded and Catholic Charities applied and was awarded these additional
funds. He added that this would allow the County to receive these
funds. All members
present voting in favor; none opposed; resolution approved.
Ms. Tytler
inquired about a new Executive Officer for Catholic Charities.
Committee members discussed that no one has been hired yet but Catholic
Charities is working on it.
DISCUSSIONS/PRESENTATIONS:
Mr. Clark presented and explained a resolution that supports a bill in
Congress to the committee for discussion.
He added that he would like to see the support of Cortland County on
this. He would like to have
everyone review the documents he had provided.
Committee Members discussed the documents and Mr. Van Dee expressed his
support and his belief that this bill was about fifty years late in coming.
Mr. Clark introduced Neils Schulz from the Cortland Citizens for
Progressive Reform. Mr. Schulz
gave a brief background of him and named and discussed some other groups that
are also in support of this bill. He
added that he views this from a small business prospective and it can improve
the healthcare systems and have a positive economical impact.
Ms. Price inquired about the timetable surrounding this bill. Mr. Schulz explained that this bill has been in Congress for
about a year and there are currently 72 congressmen that are supporting it.
He discussed the nationwide support of this bill.
Mr. Clark discussed the list of cosponsors of this bill that he
distributed. Mr. Williams asked if there was a companion bill in the
Senate. He was informed that
there was not at this time.
Appeal to Endorse Congressional H. R. 676 – H. R. 676 US National
Health Insurance Act
- Mr. VanDee moved adoption; seconded by Ms. Tytler.
Mr. Williams asked if the medical community and the hospital have
addressed their views on this bill. Mr.
Williams added that he is not opposed to this bill but he would like to look
closer at the financial impact of it. Ms.
Tytler explained that there are costs involved in this and expressed that she
has attended forums on this subject. Mr.
Whitt express that he had discussed this with Chairman Brown and she would
like to pin down the costs to individual counties, like Cortland County, of
this type of bill. He expressed
that certainly there are pitfalls and expressed that there is a problem as to
which this will cover. He further
discussed that for Cortland County the burden may be shifted elsewhere but the
big question is the funding source. Mr.
Schulz discussed the funding and where it can be shifted.
He added that an estimate of 30% of healthcare is in the administrative
end of it and he believes that this figure is underestimated.
He added that the administration of healthcare has become a burden
itself. Ms. Tytler expressed that
if everyone has the same system then that system would be simplified and
uniform, which will result in a simplification of the administrative costs.
Mr. Schulz expressed that the US is losing nurses and he further
discussed some reasons for this. Mr.
Williams inquired about what the Board of Health thinks about this.
He added that he believes there is a need for a program like this but
is this the correct one. Mr.
Schrader explained that this is a concept resolution and it needs to be
defined more. Mr. Schulz
expressed that a resolution is needed to ask the Federal Government to do
something. Mr. Van Dee expressed
that maybe if the counties speak up the Federal Government will start to do
something. Ms. Price asked for a
vote on this resolution by the committee and added that before it is voted
upon by the full Legislature it can be discussed further.
Mr. Clark, Ms. Price, Mr. Cornell, Ms. Tytler and Mr. Van Dee voting
in favor; Mr. McKee and Mr. Williams opposed; resolution approved.
Mr. Cornell made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Mr. Clark adjourned the meeting at 8:15 am.