Minutes of the
CONSUMERS COMMITTEE
CHAIRS: CHARMAINE GRAHAM
CONSUMER-AT-LARGE: DAVID MARTIN
Tuesday, October 18, 2022, 2:00PM – 4:00PM
Link to Zoom Video Recording of Meeting
Minutes
Paul Carr
Billy Fields
Lawrence Francis
Yves Gebhardt
Charmaine Graham
David Martin
John Schoepp
Rob Walker
DOHMH:
Jose Colon Berdecia
Gina Gambone
Graham Harriman
David Klotz
Kimbirly Mack
Scott Spiegler
Agenda Item 1: Welcome & Roll Call, Ice Breaker, Moment of Silence, Reminder to Review Rules for Respectful Engagement, Approval of the Minutes
Introductions were conducted, and then the icebreaker, the ABC’s of Gratitude were conducted. Mr. Fields led us in a moment of silence.
Mr. Schoepp asked if the committee could review one of the Rules of Respectful Engagement could be read at each meeting. Issue of time was considered.
Agenda Item 2: Introduction & Welcome to the Consumers Committee
Staff Liaison Melanie Lawrence presented a slide set on the basics of committee membership and the role of the Consumers Committee.
David Klotz will review the process for electing the consumer at large from the previous year. Elections must wait for mayoral appointments. Currently there is no timeline for appointments.
Highlights of the presentation and accompanying discussion:
· Ryan White was signed into law in 1990 – attempts to fill in the gaps in care PWH experience. The legislation mandates a community participatory process and representative community participation. The expectations of all Council and community members are to lift up their voices and the testimony of other impacted populations. “Bring the community into the room with you” – this mechanism is the result of intense community pressure – through activism, protests, and continued pressure on the political system to create a system of care for PWH.
· Committee discussed text pulled from the by-laws, including “appropriate representation”.
· Issues with the new procurement system the Council must work with was discussed.
· Mr. Schoepp asked how gift cards would work once in person/hybrid meetings commenced, as well as how issues of conflict will be handled.
· Mr. Martin reiterated the need to distribute information for the meeting with sufficient time in advance. He also requested additional information about issues relevant to the CC should be included in the meeting packet (in the style of Darryl Wong).
· Mr. Schoepp expressed concern about having adequate time to discuss and conduct votes.
· Unaligned consumers (not volunteers or peer workers) are not employed by agencies.
· Melanie will send out a cheat sheet for Robert’s Rules of Order
· Mr. Francis is asking for more time for orientation to the CC – a Council orientation is required for all new members, but not all CC members are on the Council, and there is great value to the refresher.
· Planning Session Work Plan includes benefit navigation, an update on the implementation of the Aging directive, update on the Quality Management Plan
· New members are not in the room – unfortunate, but they will need this information
o Can do another session to review this info with new members
New York Eligible Metropolitan Area Ryan White Part A Quality Management Program
Presentation by Gina Gambone, Acting Director, Quality Management
Highlights of the presentation and discussion:
· Overview of the QM program, plan, activities, priorities, goals and objectives
· HRSA PCN 15-02 requires all Eligible Metropolitan Areas (EMAs) must establish a clinical quality management program, to provide direction
· QI activities comprise of patient care, health outcomes and patient satisfaction
· Defined quality management vs improvement vs assurance.
· NY EMA QM Program is a partnership of the NYC health department with the AIDS Institute and includes a variety of stakeholders
· Working to engage RWPA providers without undue burden
· Key activities include training, capacity building and peer learning opportunities
· Conference will not happen this or next year in response to providers request to change how they engage with the information
· Racial equity training close to completion
· Some activities are led by the Research and Evaluation Unite (REU) such as performance management, quality indicators, canned reports
· Development and distribution of best practices
Discussion:
· Mr. Martin noted there are no unaligned consumers in decision making capacity.
· QM will host 2 peer learning collaboratives, one on October 27th and again in January or February
· Would like to integrate consumers into the collaboratives due to the pause on the conference
· Currently the only consumers involved in decision making are those on the committee
· Mr. Fields shared his dismay at learning the conference won’t return for at least 2 years – concerned that this will lessen provider interaction with consumer feedback. Feels like a disservice to consumers
o Peer Learning QM session takes the full conference and breaks it in two, bringing together the same stakeholders – consumers, providers, council and committee members – will present their QI projects, allowing everyone to give feedback and ask questions
o The conference is not going away – just wanted to rethink the approach as one day a year isn’t enough to interact with peers and share information
· Mr. Carr asked who the consumers on the committee are.
· Mr. Fields asked if the peer learning collaboratives in addition to the conference
· QM program is hoping to recreate the flavor of the conference in shorter and more frequent meetings
· Mr. Francis asked why the conference and additional meetings occur- seems like the decision was made without consumer input.
· Ms. Gambone said the feedback will be considered – the QI conference is a substantial effort – plan was to allow a reset with more intimate training opportunities.
· Planning Council Director Harriman emphasized that consumers want to clearly see themselves in the plan
o Improve specificity of where consumers voices can inform quality improvement
· Mr. Carr expressed feeling a lack of consumer involvement in making the timeline and plans for the QM plan – feels like consumers are not in the room when the critical decisions are being made.
Lapel Pin Subcommittee
Consumer at Large, David Martin, described the process and shared updates.
· Encouraged PC lapel pin being worn to events and meetings to raise awareness, foster dialogue, highlight membership, and aid recruitment.
· Since April 2022, subcommittee has met to develop processes for designing and manufacturing the lapel pin. Considered Visual AIDS-affiliated artists but favored pursuing idea to engage youth and young adults, given that they are the focus of work.
· Proposed idea to the Fashion Institute of Technology and Pratt Institute. FIT’s guidelines could not accommodate group’s need; however, Pratt was amenable to subcommittee’s scope of work and readily adopted lapel pin design challenge plan.
· Subcommittee is working with Pratt faculty to incorporate lapel pin design challenge into the student’s coursework for two design classes.
· Frequency of meetings was modified the from bi-weekly to monthly.
· DOHMH procurement remains a challenge to production logistics.
· Anticipate receiving initial design concepts soon.
· Mr. Harriman thanked Mr. Martin and acknowledged the enormous amount of effort he has contributed to moving design project forward.
Meeting extended 5 additional minutes
· Mr. Fields expressed his pride and joy in being involved in the committee and the great work they get done
· Mr. Martin asked the committee to make space during CC planning meetings to discuss the agenda of the lapel pin subcommittee. Discussed posting meeting schedule to website.
Nominations & Vote for Consumer-at-Large
These will be conducted upon receipt of mayoral appointments.
Public Comment/Other Business
1. Allowances of PWH to help defray higher costs are being usurped by HASA’s computation of rent. This will harm consumers.
2. Medicaid fee for service will be back in effect in April 2023 – would be good to have Adrian Guzman present on this – impacts agencies who depend on 340b income.
3. Concerns about the procurement process the Council is subject to. Impacts space rental, food purchases, gift cards and more – need to let the mayor know this is disruptive to programs and services. Can the contract be renegotiated?
a. Can write a letter
b. Needs to be examined
Meeting closed at 4:15
