Council for Allied Health in North Carolina


V. Reports

Council Financial Statement – Treasurer Alan Brown Brown announced that the Council had secured funding for the next two years through a continuation grant by the Duke Endowment. Brown shared a copy of the budget that they had sent the Duke Endowment, showing the breakdown of the money allocated to cover the Council’s various expenses. He made particular note of the $25,000 that had been allocated to do the job vacancy reports that Fraher had spoken of. Yoder said that the budget was very modest. He said that it will not allow the Council to do many of the things that the Council would like to do. Brown commented that this was a good point, and said that if Council members have the opportunity to approach their professional organizations to make a request for further support of the Council, that this would be good even if these organizations could only provide in kind support. He pointed out to the Council that some expenses were not listed in the budget, such as maintenance for the Council’s website. Some basic things such as this were not budgeted because it was known that there were not enough funds to cover such expenses, but that any support that could be provided by the professional organizations would help to change this. Yoder added that Andrea Catanero Doherty has consented to serve as the Council Webmaster pro bono. We very much appreciate her service to the Council in this capacity. Diane Groff said that Karen Luken and her were working on a letter that they would be happy to share with other individuals. The letter discusses ways in which the Recreational Therapy Association (in this case) can benefit from its Council member and at the same time addresses things that the association can do to help support the Council. Groff said that the letter attempts to make the relationship between the Association and the Council clear in that both can benefit the other. She said that ultimately they could share the template of the letter with anyone who is interested in sharing such a letter with their professional associations. Fowler said that the Council should recognize the efforts that had been made by Yoder, Heilig, Bacon and Brown to work with Duke Endowment to get continued funding, they worked hard to help the Duke Endowment see the need and the benefit, Fowler said. Federal and State Legislative activity affecting Allied Health Professions – Porter Porter said that the NC General Assembly would convene again on May 9th for its short session. Bills that were considered last time but were not addressed could be addressed in the short session. She said that although the short session is not typically known for allocating new funding, in reality it often does in the form of expanded or continuation funding. Porter said that this justifies a continued effort by the Council to seek funding during the short session. Porter reported that right now most of the work of the Legislature is being done in committee meetings. There are several legislative committees that are of concern to the Council. One is the House Select Committee on Health Care, which has been investigating all aspects of healthcare. Another is the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee, which has been looking at all things related to Medicare/Medicaid as well as state employee healthcare benefits. Each of these committees has a subcommittee. The House Select Committee on Healthcare has a subcommittee on Access to Healthcare. This subcommittee is having a meeting January 10th to address people’s access to healthcare across the state, which is an abiding interest of the Council. Other committees of interest to the Council are the following: The Healthcare Workforce Study Commission – Tom Bacon serving as one of the Governor’s appointees on this commission. The Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse The Legislative Committee on New Licensing Boards – meeting periodically, may be of interest to the council. These committees can be attended either in person or heard over the Internet, Porter said. In the federal government, The Congress just recently completed the passage of spending bills for health and education. Discretionary Spending allocated for big programs that have to do with health services are really below what was allocated last year, Porter said. There had been a 1% across the board cut in funding for health services. This means that money for the NIH, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, Maternal and Child Health, etc. from which the state gets much of its funding for healthcare will have tighter budgets in the coming year. Porter advised visiting the Thomas website (http://thomas.loc.gov/) for more specific information on federal legislative matters and said that she would put a link to the Thomas website on the Council website. Executive Director – Yoder Yoder said that he included in everyone’s packet the report that he gave the Advisory Board on December 16th, which summarizes the Council’s activities in 2004 and 2005. He said that since he last reported to the Council he had been at the Summit Workforce Meeting in Missouri. This meeting will reconvene in the spring and Yoder said that he has an invitation to participate when it reconvenes. One of the major financial contributors to the Summit meeting was Dr. John Short, President and CEO of Rehab/Care which has rehab facilities across the United States. Dr. Short has consented to be the keynote speaker for the Council meeting in May. Immediately following the Summit meeting, Yoder reported that he spoke to the Deans of Allied Health to the College System in Ashboro. He then went to Kentucky and presented to the Kentucky Allied Health Consortium, a group interested in gathering together an allied health council. Yoder concluded by saying that he continues to meet monthly with the HealthCare Works! Coalition.