Meeting of the
Needs Assessment Committee
Amanda Lugg and Marcy Thompson, Chairs
June 11th, 2021, 10:00AM -12:00PM
Zoom Video Call: https://zoom.us/j/4708943670
Members Present: Leonardo Ruiz, James Walkup, Tim Frasca, John Schoepp, Francine Cournos, Karen McKinnon, Matthew Lesieur, Norine Di Giulio, Charmaine Graham, Randall Bruce, Fay Barrett, Amanda Lugg (Co-chair), Billy Fields, Fay Barrett, Marcy Thompson (Co-chair), Finn Schubert, Maiko Yomogida, Micah Domingo, Jonathan Reveil, Jennifer Irwin,
DOHMH, PHS, NYS and Other Staff: Ashley Azor, Andrea Feduzzi, Graham Harriman (Gov’t Co-chair), Cristina Rodriguez-Hart, Claire Simon, Bryan Meisel, Arley Pelaez, Kimbirly Mack
Welcome/Introductions/Moment of Silence/Public Comment/
Review of the Meeting Packet/Review of the Minutes:
The meeting opened with technical difficulties, followed by introductions and an icebreaker. A moment of silence was led by Fay Barrett in honor of Pride. The minutes were accepted.
SMI & HIV RWPA Recommendations Line-by-Line Editing
Technical difficulties did not abate.
Ms. Lawrence presented the draft of recommendations specific to the Ryan White Part A portfolio and live edited during the meeting.
Highlights of the discussion follow, with changes reflected in the recommendations:
- A rigorous discussion of how to best identify PWH with SMI and the routinization of mental health evaluation referrals throughout all parts of the portfolio.
- Couch language in opportunity to access additional support services
- Self-report must be accompanied by another confirmatory channel – either an evaluation or prior diagnosis
- Initial idea was to for a two-stage process to provide a lighter lift screening followed by something diagnostic: Appropriately assess and obtain a diagnosis for all clients who may have SMI using a two-stage process, where clients are recommended to be screened and then screened
- Ms. McKinnon noted a resource for inclusion, regarding stigma, that will be released later in June
- Corrected STARR to STAR Project
- Ombudsman will be a central point for ensuring engagement and coordination in care – initially through a consultancy before becoming a permanent part of Behavioral Health model
- Will have to navigate multiple systems to ensure coordination
- Unsure if a lawyer is the correct person to ensure this coordination
- Is an ombudsman the correct title? An ombudsman deals with mal administration – seems correct.
- People are often blocked by the institutions they need answers for – advocacy is challenging because of a lack of response – idea is to position someone with clout to ensure answers are delivered.
- Important to ensure patients are seen in outpatient settings after an inpatient visit. RW can make sure this happens – but OMH will have to be involved, but these recs are specific to RW.
- How to best ensure that people receiving disparate care from multiple sites and providers have care coordinated
- Need to understand how many people with lived experience are employed throughout the portfolio
- If and how case conferencing currently happens throughout the portfolio
- How to operationalize the recommendations.
- Often think of case conferencing without the client, that needs to change
- Thinking about permanency of telehealth – how to best utilize this change to support PWH with SMI
- Named types of burnout staff experience, to be specific about provider experience and needs for support
- Have to think about true experience of staff – need to lower client loads and sustain continuity of care over longer periods
- Utilize systems that are already created – such as UniteUs
- Push to streamline data collection must happen across multiple systems
- Should there be a data streamline subcommittee?
- Quality Management/Policy committee can/should address this issue
- Fund program lines for people to take on these tasks
- Recognized that ombudsperson should work across all programs
- Include all licensed sites -name article 28, 31, 32
- What will trigger high-cost services?
- Concern for losing focus on SMI
- People who are not SMI should still receive services
- Highlight that HIV testing needs to be
The recommendations will be incorporated into the upcoming Behavioral Health directive the Integration of Care committee will work on in the fall (next planning session).
After review of the RWPA PWH and SMI recommendations, the recommendations were approved by the committee and will go to the Executive Committee and Planning Council for approval.
Mr. Schoepp made a motion for the approval of the recommendations. Mr. Frasca seconded
Slides were approved by the NAC vote of: Yea 11, Nay 0, Abstained 2
Public Comment
None
