Integration of Care Minutes – June 26, 2024

By
David Klotz
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0
476

Minutes of the Meeting of the

Integration of Care Committee

Veronica Fortunato & Steve Hemraj, IOC Co-Chairs

Wednesday, June 26, 2024

10:00am-11:50pm

Minutes

Committee Members Present:

Steve Hemraj (Co-chair), Michael Ealy, Dorothy Farley, Billy Fields, Deborah Greene, Christopher Joseph, David Klotz, Marcelo Maia, Jeff Natt, John Schoepp, Brenda Starks-Ross, Gretchen Ty

Staff: Jeff Klein, Doienne Saab, Guadalupe Plummer, Adrianna Eppinger-Meiering; Scott Spiegler, Johanna Acosta,

Agenda Item 1: Welcome, Roll Call & Moment of Silence

Steve opened the meeting followed by a roll call and a moment of silence.  The minutes from the April 17th meeting were approved with no changes.

Agenda Item #3: Overview of Emergency Financial Assistance (EFA) Service Category an

Jeff K. provided an overview of the Emergency Financial Assistance (EFA) service category and implementation to date within
the NY EMA, including:

  • Tri-county steering committee approved uptake of EFA as new service category and approved directive in February 2018 (revised in June 2021 with a raise to the spending cap from $2,000 per client per year to $5,000)

  • Planning council (PC) allocation was initially $250,000 in grant year 2019 and 2020, but approved an increase to $927,305 in 2020 due to needs driven by COVID-19 pandemic

  • Active client count more than tripled from 88 in the 2019 grant year to 302 in the 2023 grant year

  • PC allocation for 2022, 2023, and 2024 grant years was $1,599,825

  • Only 1 organization in the tri-county region has been the sole service provider for entire EMA

  • Goal of revising current service directive: allow for inclusion of service provider within NYC to enhance reach and maintain efficiency of service spending

    • Agenda Item #4: EFA Fact Sheet Review

      Jelani C. displayed the EFA fact sheet and reviewed its components, including:
    • Goals of the RWPA EFA ProgramEligibility criteriaActive clients’ demographics and proportions represented in priority populations64% active clients reside in NYC. Deborah G. asked if that figure could be disaggregated by borough to see whether more Bronx clients are being served since the provider is in Westchester. Jelani C. agreed to retrieve that data. Deborah G. explained that Tri-county region does not have intersecting services and
      “one-shot” deals like NYC which may lead to higher needs for EFA in Tri-county than NYC. Gretchen T., Marcelo M., and Billy F. explained that while there are more services in NYC, they are not always able to fill emergency needs. Scott S. explained that having a service provider in NYC would lessen the administrative burden on the current sole provider and allow for clients to be better connected to other services in NYC.

    • EFA clients served and units delivered. How EFA funds were spent and how the planning council
      • allocation compared to actual expenditures per year. Christopher J. asked about excess underspending in 2022. Scott S. explained that while the allocation amount doubled from the previous year, the sole provider could not double the scale of spending due to staffing limitations. Technical assistance was provided by the recipient. Christopher J. asked whether the federal 1115 waiver presents payer of last resort conflicts for EFA payments; David K. explained that the PC has investigated this and had a NYS Health Department presenter speak on the issue. Billy F. asked if items paid for could be disaggregated by the proportions being spent in boroughs of NYC and the Tri-county. David K. said that information would be useful in the future for PSRA committee to allocate funds for NYC and Tri-county. Scott S. said recipient will ask the provider directly for this information..

      Agenda Item #5: Review and Discussion of EFA Service Directive Draft Revisions

    Jeff K. displayed the current approved February 2018 *revised June 2021) EFA service directive and reviewed how the contents were laid out. He then displayed the draft revised directive and reviewed the proposed changes, including: updating source footnotes to refer to the NY 2022-26 Integrated HIV Prevention and Care Plan.

  • Removal of the boilerplate “program directive” as it is reflected in the framing directive which applies to all service directives
  • New bullet was added to Client and Agency Eligibility section indicating: “At least one (1) funded agency service site must be geographically located within the five (5) boroughs of New York City and have the capacity and reach to serve clients from New York City and their specific needs.”
    Deborah G. asked if the similar provision for the Tri-county could be made more specific. It was updated to mirror the language of the new bullet to include: “At least one (1) funded agency service site must be geographically located within the Tri-county region with the capacity and reach to serve clients from Tri-county region and their specific needs”

    • The revised draft
      directive was approved by consensus and will be sent to the Executive Committee
    and full Council for review and approval in July.
    There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.

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