BOH minutes 092309 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH September 23, 2009 Board of Health Minutes Transcription completed by Anne Miles Cassell 5 September 23, 2009 Rosemary Summers asked the Board for their thoughts on going forward with a request to the Commissioners for a study. Chris Harlan wanted to know how many homes were needed to have a viable study. Steve Yuhasz replied that a very high percentage would be necessary for a grant and unless enough property owners were willing to work together the County would be reluctant to expend funds for a grant. Ms. Harlan stated that there is a system in place to take care of failing systems. Mike Carstens asked about the homeowners association? Tom Konsler responded that it is not participated in by all property owners. Michael Wood stated that sewer and water hookups would be an advantage to the community. Jim Stefanadis noted that there were water lines already in existence in parts of that area. Anissa Vines said that it was important for the Board and Environmental Health to remain non-political in this debate and that the residents understand clearly what the Health Department can and cannot do. Steve Yuhasz asked what was included in the Mill Creek Study. Tom replied that a door to door effort was done by local residents to achieve a 100% participation by the area residents, but that it took several months to achieve this. The study included water sampling by environmental health staff and analysis of all water parameters by the state public health lab, a health questionnaire conducted by phone interview, and a cancer cluster analysis conducted by the NC Cancer Registry. C. Medicaid Case Management Reductions During the 2009-2010 Legislative Session, the General Assembly faced a severe shortfall of funds to balance the state budget. As one means of balancing the budget, the Legislature directed the Division of Medical Assistance (DMA) to cut $41 million in state funds from case management services in the 09-10 fiscal year and $72 million in the 10- 11 year. These services include 22 separate case management programs in health, social services, community based organizations, and mental health. Health Department programs affected by this are Child Service Coordination (CSC), Maternity Care Coordination (MCC), Maternal Outreach Workers (MOW), and Health Check. Populations affected include: pregnant women, children from 0-3 at-risk for development delays, and all Medicaid recipients of these services in Orange County. 509 women and children in Orange County received either MCC or CSC services in 2008-2009, and that was with long-term vacancies in 3 positions. The DMA staff was directed to return to the Legislature with a plan for achieving the savings by August 1, later extended to September 1, to accommodate a stakeholder approach to developing a plan. During July and August a stakeholder group met weekly to discuss definitions and data presented by DMA. Models of case management coordination were discussed, with DMA clearly favoring a single entity managing all case management and care coordination services and with a feeling that a single case manager should be able to handle any client, regardless of