Meeting of the
POLICY COMMITTEE
Sharen Duke, Chair
February 14, 2013
AIDS Service Center of NYC
41 East 11th Street, 5th Floor
3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Members Present: Sharen Duke, Yves Gebhardt, Graham Harriman, Matthew
Lesieur, Jan Carl Park
Members Absent: Kareem Clemons, Sandy Guillaume, Adrian Guzman,
Lorna Littner, Esther Lok, Paul Meissner, Gloria Searson, Kimberleigh Smith,
Dorella Walters
NYC DOHMH Staff Present: Rafael Molina, Nina Rothschild, DrPH, Anna
Thomas, Darryl Wong
Others Present: Randall Bruce, Marissa Darcy, Elizabeth Lovinger, Mallory
Lowenstein, Katherine Weeks
Material Distributed:
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Agenda
Minutes from the January 28, 2013 Policy Committee Meeting
Memo from Committee Member Adrian Guzman re Proposed
Recommendations on HIV criminalization to the Planning Council
Positive Justice Project Consensus Statement on the Criminalization of
HIV in the United States
Assessment of Governor Cuomo’s Executive Budget Proposal
Human Services Council’s Statement and Analysis of Mayor
Bloomberg’s Preliminary Fiscal Year 2014 Proposed Budget
Village Care Public Policy Observer State Budget Update
Article from the Times Union on Loss of Funding for NYS After Feds Find
Overcharging
Care, Treatment and Housing Program Updates on Healthcare Policy
Care Coordination Flow Chart
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Chart on HRSA Service Categories and Manatt Report Findings
Policy Committee Open and Closed Items
Planning Council Calendar for February 2013
Welcome/Moment of Silence and Remembrance/Introductions/Review
of the Meeting Packet/Review of the Minutes: Committee Chair Sharen
Duke welcomed meeting participants. Jan led the moment of silence,
addressing the recent death of former Ryan White Grant Administrator JoAnn
Hilger. Meeting participants introduced themselves. Nina Rothschild
reviewed the contents of the meeting packet. The minutes from the previous
Policy Committee meeting in January were accepted for posting on the
Planning Council website at nyhiv.org.
Positive Justice Project’s (PJP) Consensus Statement on the
Criminalization of HIV Transmission: Matthew Lesieur noted that laws
criminalizing HIV transmission do not match the way in which HIV in
transmitted. Both the prosecutions and the sentencing are way out of line.
Committee members voted to forward the PJP’s Consensus Statement to the
Executive Committee and, if the EC agrees, to the full Planning Council for
sign on.
Medical Monitoring Project: The Policy Committee briefly considered the
legal implications of disclosure of sexual behavior by Persons Living with
HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s
proposed questionnaire for the Medical Monitoring Project (MMP), a CDC
initiative. Graham Harriman stated that the MMP is surveillance, and names of
respondents to questionnaires are not kept with the data and cannot be
subpoenaed.
Darryl Wong stated that the security protocol recommends a legal review by
the local jurisdictions. The Planning Council Consumers Committee is the
local Community Advisory Board (CAB) for the MMP, and members had
concerns about some of the questions. He noted that the survey is not
anonymous – rather, it is confidential, and there is a link to the actual patient
record. As part of the survey, there is a chart review and a face-to-face
conversation. Randall Bruce noted that a lot of PLWHAs are simply not going
to answer the questionnaire because of the nature of the questions. Ms. Duke
recommended, and the Policy Committee members agreed, to defer to the
Consumers Committee regarding the MMP questionnaire.
Service Categories and Allowable Services: Sharen Duke noted that she had
asked Lauren Feldman Hay of Public Health Solutions for a list of allowable
services within each service category and, where an allowable service exists
under more than one service category, to list the allowable services in one
line. For example, accompaniment is allowable both under Early Intervention
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Services and under Medical Case Management. This gives us a baseline look
at the portfolio under each service category and enables us to strategize: if a
lot of medical case management activities are covered under health homes,
are there other medical case management activities which could be
expanded? Mr. Park noted that health homes do not offer directly observed
therapy, but medical case management does. We are now looking at the care
coordination package and unbundling it. The State’s goal is to have everyone
in some kind of care coordination. Mr. Harriman noted that the Policy
Committee can ask the grantee for this kind of information. Ryan White is a
gap filler, and we can identify key components of wraparound services. Ms.
Duke expressed her interest in a collaborative process to determine what
services are allowable.
New York State Budget Cuts: The New York State AIDS Institute is facing a
cut of $12 million dollars. The NYS budget division has recommended the
defunding of the AIDS Institute, but this will diminish transparency. Ms. Duke
agreed to send Planning Council staff a sign-on letter on the potential
defunding.
Public Comment: Yves Gebhardt stated that the Manhattan HIV Care
Network is discussing the New York State budget. The Network is also still
searching for a director.
Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned.
Items for Follow-Up:
At the March meeting, Anna Thomas of the Care and Treatment Program will
give a presentation on portfolio planning.
Ms. Duke will send to Planning Council staff a sign-on letter re the proposed
defunding of the AIDS Institute.
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