13 Jun 2011 - Florida HIV/AIDS Advocacy Network (FHAAN). Monthly Committee Meeting: Product and Policy Advocacy. Date: .
Florida HIV/AIDS Advocacy Network (FHAAN) Monthly Committee Meeting: Product and Policy Advocacy Date:
Monday – May 9, 2011 Time: 2:00 p.m. (ET) – 3:00 p.m. (ET) 888.627.7005, 110097# (Thanks to Mick Sullivan and Tibotec!)
Meeting Notes and Action Items Committee Co-Chairs: Jesse Fry Michael Ruppal
Alsentzer, Dorothee Bargar, Ken Boughton, Shirley Brock, Scott Feiler, Jess Ferri, Mario
Welcome Roll Call Quorum Determination Meeting Guidelines
Review of Missions and Goals
Members Attending: Hoke, Steve McCallister, Syd McKay, Butch Momah, Vivian Paquette, Andrew Penmann, Erin Poole, David
Cmte Quorum = 33% Active members
Puckett, Dwight Scavnicky, Michelle Sieks, Roxanne Talley, James Tyler, Alvin Vitale, Rick
Met with 63% (12 of 19).
Mute phone when in listen mode. Do not put phones on hold. State your name prior to speaking. Committee and members must adhere to our FHAAN Operating Agreement, including our consensus process and code of conduct. Mission: To identify our audiences and educate them on our issues
Minutes Review/Approval from Previous Meeting
http://bit.ly/mszILu (4/25/2011) - pending approval
Agenda
Discussion
Old Business: 1. Legislative Session/Budget Update
o Budget was passed early on o Medicaid bill was discussed in length and passed-very long roll out plan o Authorizes the Agency for Health Care Administration to change eligibility—hold public hearings, similar to Rule 64D. The rollout period goes well into 2014-before the managed care plans have to assume risk
Plan of Action
Q-Do you think there is any fear of line item vetoes by the Governor? A-Don’t think he would line out a program that was not mentioned. If an increase was provided (3 million for ADAP, 2 million for AICP), it would have stuck out. Also, some of the money in last year’s budget, for ADAP that came from General Revenue, nonrecurring was replaced by tobacco
Old Business: 2. DOH Public Hearings/Eligibility
o Senate discussed taking out the medical loss provisions, however they made it into the bill o Governor still has to sign the bill o Ryan White: did not get the 3 million for ADAP, or 2 million for AICP o Total of just over 4 million in cuts to make up for revenue deficit, no more stimulus money o They were looking for things to cut up until the last minute o Good job advocating for no cuts from the HIV/AIDS community o Medically needy and Meds AID need program remain intact. Medically needy will continue to cover HIV drugs for approximately 2000 Floridians living with AIDS who make too much money to qualify from Medicaid. o Continue monitoring the Agency for Health Care Administration as well as the Senate committees to see what projects they are working on during the summer months. Michelle Scavnicky reported that there were over 200 people in attendance at the Tampa Public hearing and approximately 30 individuals provided verbal comment. The majority were in opposition of any reduction or changes in eligibility. There was discussion of how many individuals in each area of the state would be impacted if changes were made to 200%. Mario Ferri provided public
trust fund money. Q-How were the letters of gratitude received? A-We didn’t get any bad feedback and we may want to do a second round of thank you’s.
Q-Is the governor expecting cuts in all categories under Ryan White or everything? A-Our understanding is there needs to be cuts in the overall budget (i.e., Ryan White, HOPWA and CDC, supplemental funds, ADAP), however, not sure how cuts will be taken.
comment and stated that the Bureau was seeking recommendations as to the changes versus just stating the opposition.
New Business: 3. Response to Article on Bureau Site Visit from HRSA
Michael Ruppal reported that there were over 300 in attendance at the Miami Public hearing and an estimated 1,000 letters have been submitted to Suzanne Stevens. He explained that the state will likely have to make a recommendation to lower the eligibility since they do not know what the FY2011 budget amounts will be. In addition, the allocation process should be distributed this week and Florida should get that information soon. Michael provided the following background information on the report: o The way it was written and publicized was negative o All states that have ADAP waiting lists received site visits, Florida was not singled out o Some statements were personalized and some things were completely inaccurate o We spoke with the Bureau and they explained that they tried to point out errors during the site visit and addressed how things were handled. o The HRSA guidance came out for the grantees/states in April, and that was when the report was written and the site visit was in January. o It is our understanding that the intention of the report and its tone was to put more pressure on the states to do more.
The following key points/questions were suggested to ask in the request to the bureau: 1) The due date for the response to the existing report from January has already passed and should be provided to us. 2) All ADAP wait lists states are under restricted draw down on a monthly basis from HRSA. It would be helpful operationally to know what the impact of funding flow is. 3) Although the report has been public for over a year, there was another review/audit conducted where money was owed to the Federal government. Is that going to have a negative impact? Q-If we look at other states, has transparency been another factor as well? A-Not necessarily, however the level of data distributed to the community was consistent in the report.
o Since we have not seen the full response yet, it is suggested to get the Bureau’s response and copies before FHAAN takes any action.
Michael suggested that the chairs of the network (Joey Wynn and Jesse Fry) write a letter on behalf of FHAAN and consider asking the three key points and include a copy of response to the site visit report. It was suggested that the Product and Policy Advocacy committee ask on behalf of the Network. James Talley motioned “In the interest of time and expediency, we have Jesse and Joey put together a letter of the questions addressed, as well as ask for the response from the Bureau”. Motion seconded. Motion approved unanimously. Michael confirmed that they would send a first draft of the letter to the co-chairs within 24 hours.
Announcements
No further business to discuss, the call ended at 2:45PM.
Next FHAAN Product and Policy Advocacy Committee Meeting:
Monday June 13, 2011 @ 2pm (ET) This meeting takes place the 2nd Monday of each month at 2pm (ET)
Location: Webinar (online registration email to be delivered by one week in advance) Call-In #s: 888.627.7005, 110097# (Thanks to Mick Sullivan and Tibotec!)
