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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFinal Minutes of March 23, 2022 MINUTES - Draft ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH March 23, 2022 ORANGE COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT MISSION STATEMENT: To enhance the quality of life, promote the health, and preserve the environment for all people in the Orange County community. THE ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH MET ON March 23, 2022 virtually via Zoom. BOARD OF HEALTH MEMBERS PRESENT: Bruce Baldwin — Chair, Keith Bagby—Vice- Chair, Brian Crandell, Commissioner Jean Hamilton, Aparna Jonnal, Sam Lasris, Lee Pickett, Shielda Rodgers, Alison Stuebe, and Tony Whitaker. BOARD OF HEALTH MEMBERS ABSENT: Jessica Frega. STAFF PRESENT: Quintana Stewart, Health Director; Dana Crews, Community Services Director; Micah Guindon, Financial and Administrative Services Director; Victoria Hudson, Environmental Health Director; Carla Julian, Compliance Manager; Alvina Long, Public Health Nursing Director; Dr. Monica Meng-Haggerty, Dental Director; Kristin Prelipp, Communications Manager; Thomas Privott, Soil Scientist I; Ashley Rawlinson, Public Health Program Manager; and La Toya Strange, Administrative Support I. GUESTS PRESENT: None. I. Welcome New Employees: Ms. Stewart introduced Allison Lipscomb and Caroline Pruitt. II. Public Comment for Items NOT on Printed Agenda: None. Bruce Baldwin, Chair, read aloud the policy regarding public comment including that each person receives a maximum of 3 minutes to comment. He also noted that the maximum time for public comments would be a total of 15 minutes. III. Approval of the March 23, 2022 Agenda Motion was made by Alison Stuebe to approve the agenda, seconded by Aparna Jonnal and carried without dissent. IV. Action Items (Consent) A. Minutes of February 23, 2022 Meeting Motion was made by Alison Stuebe to approve the minutes of February 2022, seconded by Tony Whitaker and carried without dissent. V. Educational Sessions A. Alliance Health (AH) Update Members of Alliance Health's Leadership Team provided an overview of their company and its activities. Below are some highlights. S:\Managers Working Files\BOH\Agenda &Abstracts\2022 Agenda &Abstracts/ March Page 1 MINUTES - Draft ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH March 23, 2022 • Realignment o The AH Network Development Team's goals to align their model with the providers in OC were to enhance quality performance, improve patient outcomes, and improve quality performance which will result in greater access to care. o Building relationships with OC providers by: ➢ Meeting with them one-on-one to foster strong relationships and respond to their concerns. ➢ Meeting with organizations and county agencies to understand how they service members and to identify areas of opportunities to enhance member experience. • Reimbursement o Prioritizing provider contract details and making certain authorizations are loaded quickly to ensure timely payments. • Problem Resolution o Set up an additional email to help triage realignment issues more quickly. • Provider Network Growth o Beginning December 2022, AH will be responsible for managing physical and behavioral health as well as pharmacy benefits for members of AH's Tailored Plan. o AH Provider Network Team is working to build a physical health network focusing on integrated and continuity of care. • AH Care Management Department is responsible for the following programs: o Care Management, AH Complete Care, and Tailored Plan Care Management programs. • Innovations Program Update o All members actively engaged in supports with Cardinal received a welcome letter from AH. All members have a permanent Care Manager and Case Worker assigned. o Written communication about the care team structure along with the team members' contact information will be sent to each member enrolled in the Innovations Waiver. • Registry of Unmet Needs (RUN) Update o All members of Cardinal RUN prior to 12/1 have transitioned to the Alliance RUN. o Members retain their place in line on the OC registry. o Members do not need to resubmit documents to maintain their place on the registry. • AH has been aligning their processes and expectations to support members with self- direction under Cardinal and have developed a cross-divisional workgroup to evaluate self-direction training offered by Care Management and AH's contracted providers. The BOH had questions and comments that were addressed by various members of Alliance Health. B. Housing Update Corey Root, Director of the Orange County Housing & Community Development (OCHCD), will provide an update on its services and activities. Below are some highlights of Ms. Root's presentation. • OCHCD has four divisions. o Community Development— HOME, bonds, rehab & repair ➢ Creates and preserves affordable housing. ➢ Rehab programs keep people in housing. S:\Managers Working Files\BOH\Agenda &Abstracts\2022 Agenda &Abstracts/ March Page 2 MINUTES - Draft ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH March 23, 2022 o Housing Authority— Housing Choice (Section 8)Vouchers ➢ Helps people pay rent in apartments in the community. ➢ Vouchers are prioritized for people exiting homelessness. o Partnership to End Homelessness — Coordination & grants, direct service, rapid re- housing, street outreach, prevention ➢ Works with service providers and property owners to house people with very low income. ➢ Provides assistance to prevent homelessness, bring housing stabilization and to help those that are living unsheltered. o Community Stability— Emergency housing assistance, Eviction Diversion program, housing helpline ➢ Since 2020, OC, with partnership with towns, has assisted in providing $8.9 million for rent and utilities to 2182 households. ➢ Those with extremely low incomes received the most assistance. • Ms. Root also encouraged the BOH members to join one of the board's associated with the OCHCD and provided information on directing landlords that are interested in housing those with vouchers. The BOH had questions and comments that were addressed by Ms. Root. C. Accreditation Update Ashley Rawlinson, Public Health Program Manager, Healthy Carolinians of OC Coordinator and Agency Accreditation Coordinator, provided a presentation on how the N.C. Local Health Department Accreditation program specifically addresses Board of Health roles and responsibilities. She reviewed the purpose of accreditation, discussed specific Board of Health- related activities around five domains and clarified how the Board is involved in these activities. Below are some highlights. • OCHD is preparing for the site visit scheduled to occur winter 2023. • All LHDs in NC have completed the Accreditation process at least twice. • Basic components of the Accreditation process o Self-Assessment of the Agency ➢ Comprised of 147 activities and 41 benchmarks • Agency Core Functions and Essential Services ❖ Assessment, Policy and Assurance ■ Facilities and Administrative Services ■ Governance o Site Visit— peer voiunteers ➢ Peer volunteers ➢ Documentation reviewed, facility tours, interviews conducted ➢ Site Visit Report— results/recommendation o Board Adjudication • Accreditation provides a framework for a health department to: o Improve management. o Identify performance improvement opportunities. o Improve relationships with the community. o Develop leadership. • The Law o Senate Bill 804 S:\Managers Working Files\BOH\Agenda &Abstracts\2022 Agenda &Abstracts/ March Page 3 MINUTES - Draft ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH March 23, 2022 ➢ Established NCLHDA Board within the NC Institute for Public Health. ➢ Mandates all LHDs to obtain and maintain Accreditation. o 10A NCAC 48B ➢ Defines scoring requirements by core function. ➢ Describes benchmarks and activities. • Board Role/Responsibilities include: o Hear/review LHD reports, input on community health improvement efforts, educate and advocate with community leaders about community health issues. o Discuss the need for new/amended rules or ordinances and have policies for rulemaking and appeals. o Review financial reports and approve fees and budgets. o Review and approve the Health Director's job description and performance evaluation. o Must receive training on BOH roles and responsibilities and have an annually updated handbook/training policy procedure. o Attend meetings regularly so quorums are reached, contribute to discussion during Board meetings, review meeting minutes and complete required trainings promptly. VI. Action Items (Non-Consent) A. BOH Appointments The Board of Health voted to recommend Brian Crandell to his 1 st full term and Aparna Jonnal to her 2nd full term. As the Board decided on one motion for the reappointment of both members, each of them abstained on the vote in regards to voting on their own reappointments. Motion to reappointment Brian Crandell and Aparna Jonnal and forward to the Board of County Commissioners was made by Shielda Rodgers, seconded by Lee Pickett, and carried without dissent. B. BOH Nominations Committee Sam Lasris' 31 term as the Dentist Representative will be ending at the end of his term in June 2022. Jessica Frega's At-Large Representative seat will also be vacated as she previously announced that she'd be leaving. Bruce Baldwin, Chair, mentioned forming a nominations committee to look at applications and conduct interviews to fill these seats. Board members, Keith Bagby, Jessica Frega, Brian Crandell and Sam Lasris, will be joining Dr. Baldwin on that committee. VII. Reports and Discussion with Possible Action A. BOH Subcommittees Bruce Baldwin, Chair, led a brief discussion on the overview of the BOH subcommittees including the state Accreditation requirements of developing a strategic plan and reviewing the Community Health Assessment (CHA). Healthy Carolinians of OC chose three priority issues— Access to Care, Substance Abuse and Health Equity. In May 2020, the BOH elected to choose these same priorities, form subcommittees, and change the name of Substance Abuse to Substance Use Disorders. Dr. Baldwin continued by stating that the BOH subcommittees will S:\Managers Working Files\BOH\Agenda &Abstracts\2022 Agenda &Abstracts/ March Page 4 MINUTES - Draft ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH March 23, 2022 identify goals and objectives for improvements in OC as well as make some recommendations that will assist in supporting those improvements. He also mentioned that the subcommittees would review issues on a macro-level (e.g. marketing, system-wide issues, advocacy, and policies). Keith Bagby conveyed his concern regarding duplicating efforts that other agencies may be in the process of or may have already executed. Dr. Baldwin's response was that the Board would coordinate with other agencies in attempt to prevent that from occurring. Quintana Stewart mentioned that, prior to COVID, the objective was to look at larger community health action plans developed by Healthy Carolinians and determine which policy advocacy pieces the Board can help move forward. Ms. Stewart expressed that's she's excited and looking forward to the subcommittees doing so; while also agreeing with and acknowledging Mr. Bagby's concern. She stated that that our agencies will complement each other's work. Lastly, Dr. Baldwin stated that he would like a document created that provides information detailing each subcommittee's responsibilities. B. Media Items Kristin Prelipp, Communications Manager, briefly mentioned that many of the articles dealt with mask mandates being lifted and some of the reasons some people may continue wearing masks. Ms. Prelipp also stated that there was an article about the State of Emergency and its expiration date. It was activated March 20,,2020 and is set to expire May 1, 2022. Media items were in the packet which focused on Orange County's events and our involvement in various efforts. C. BOH Health Director Report Quintana Stewart, Health Director, briefly highlighted the following items from her report. • At the request of the NC DHHS, the OCHD Family Home Visiting Program has agreed to see some Chatham County patients enrolled in their Care Management for High-Risk Pregnancies (CMHRP) and Care Management for At-Risk Children (CMARC) Programs. Chatham County opted out of these programs leaving these patients displaced for services. • Effective April 1, 2022, Medicaid coverage for pregnant people has been extended from 60 days to one year postpartum. The American Rescue Plan Act signed into law on March 11, 2021 makes this additional pathway an option for states to expand this coverage. NC has adopted this state plan amendment. D. COVID-19 Update Quintana Stewart, Health Director, gave a brief update on the COVID-19 status in Orange County (OC) as well as took questions from the Board. Some highlights of her presentation are below. • NC DHHS released their newly coded dashboard surveillance. There are seven dashboards providing information on vaccinations, respiratory virus surveillance, cases and deaths, hospitalizations, outbreaks, wastewater monitoring and reports. Currently, the reports do not display information at a county level, only at the state level. S:\Managers Working Files\BOH\Agenda &Abstracts\2022 Agenda &Abstracts/ March Page 5 MINUTES - Draft ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH March 23, 2022 • According to the county alert system, OC is in the low-level community spread. OC is moving in the right direction. • The contracts for the state vendors that conduct our vaccination and testing clinics are ending on June 30, 2022. The BOH had questions and comments that were addressed by Ms. Stewart. VIII. Board Comments Tony Whitaker, Engineering Representative, gave a brief update on the Gaines Chapel neighborhood sewer issues. Mr. Whitaker stated that they're still in the data gathering mode. He will take this information to the Health Equity subcommittee, that will meet next Wednesday evening, where they will figure out a strategy to go in more depth, establish specific tasks to support staff and the information gathering. There is a Gaines Chapel community event on Saturday, April 2nd from 10am-12pm which is being described as a block party. This will be a multi-departmental outreach to the community. This is give all a chance to meet community leaders, fellow citizens, and to better understand the issues that they're interested in talking about. Mr. Whitaker commended Victoria Hudson on her work with this event and invited all of the Board members to attend. Keith Bagby gave an update on the Family Success Alliance (FSA). With a total of eight Navigators, the FSA is fully staffed with one part-time and seven full-time employees. Including the lone male, there were four new Navigators recently onboarded. Ms. Stewart added that the Navigators are no longer confined to the zones of Chapel Hill and Hillsborough; they are now available to serve everyone in the entire county. Dana Crews added that the Navigators will be at the Gaines Chapel Community Event. Lastly, Dr. Baldwin reminded all that next month's Board meeting will be in-person at Whitted in the BOH Conference room. He indicated that there will be a dial-in number for those unable to make it to the meeting in person and that he looks forward to seeing everyone next month. VIII. Adjournment Bruce Baldwin moved to adjourn the meeting at 9:10pm and Sam Lasris seconded. The next Board of Health Meeting will be held April 20, 2022 at 7:00pm at the Orange County Health Department, 300 West Tryon Street, Hillsborough, NC at 7:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Quintana Stewart, MPA Orange County Health Director Secretary to the Board S:\Managers Working Files\BOH\Agenda &Abstracts\2022 Agenda &Abstracts/ March Page 6