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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-09-28 Hospital Development Commitee Minutesn. } C-5 i L._ Hospital Development Committee Meeting } September 28, 2005 = - The meeting convened at 7:30pm in the Town Hall Lower Conference Room, 16 Lowell Street, . Reading Massachusetts. Present were Chairman Bruce Cerullo (resident), Vice Chairman Nelson Burbank (resident), HDC members George Hines (Board of Selectmen), John Daly (Commissioners of Trust Funds), Neil Sullivan (CPDC) and Colleen Seferian (Board of Health). Also present was Dorothy Kelly Flynn from Winchester Hospital, Reading ATM/FD Bob LeLacheur, and two guest speakers: Amy MacNulty (Mitretek Healthcare) and Linda Battaglini (Healthcare consultant). Bob LeLacheur mentioned to the HDC that they were scheduled for the October 4Ih BOS meeting. Chairman Bruce Cerullo suggested a few minor revisions to the June 29th minutes, and then On a motion by Burbank seconded by Hines the minutes of June 29, 2005 were approved by a vote of 5-0 (Seferian arriving as the vote ended). Chairman Bruce Cerullo proceeded to give an overview of the mission and activities of the HDC for the benefit of the two guest speakers. He summarized with the belief that the HDC was now going to focus on a programmatic approach, as the bricks & mortar solutions had been examined and dismissed as either redundant to the existing healthcare infrastructure or too expensive. The programs should focus on the needy, and the gaps in healthcare services (a `safety net'). George Hines mentioned the terms of the Trust, and the challenge of translating healthcare conditions forward nearly a century in order to meet the intentions of the three donors to the Trust. He also discussed the definition of `needy'. Amy MacNulty of Mitretek (a non-profit 501- c3) and Linda Battaglini described a proposed collaborative approach to doing a `needs assessment' for the Town of Reading. Mitretek is headquartered in Falls Church, VA, and Amy works in the Lexington, MA office. Their usual engagements are $50,000-100,000; when doing facility planning for hospitals the range increases to $200,000 - 300,000. Their approach employs very few junior staff members. Amy mentioned that the terms of Mitretek in serving the `public interest' would encourage such a liaison with Linda. Amy, a nearby Lynnfield resident, felt that this approach would be more cost effective for the Town. Amy would help guide the approach, and utilize her administrative support staff. Linda and the survey firm would do most of the work. Linda described her extensive healthcare strategic planning background, which included 17 year, in upstate New York and the last 11 years in Massachusetts, most recently as a Community Health Services Director at Hallmark. She handed the HDC an outline to an approach, consisting of two distinct phases. Phase I could stand-alone and be the end product if appropriate. Phase I would identify the Health Needs of the community, through data analysis, a 400-600 responses telephone survey (which would be outsourced), and interviews of community leaders. The end product would be a community health needs assessment report & presentation. Phase II would select and prioritize a few initiatives for the community to focus on. Four key issues from Phase I would be identified. Four focus groups would examine each of these. A retreat would be held to determine the priorities. The end product would be a consensus list of priorities for funding. Nelson Burbank asked if their methods would identify a small group with needs? The response was that the telephone survey would likely begin with 2,000 calls in order to get the required numbers of respondents. We could select to `over sample' based on demographics - for example a question would be asked about general income levels. George mentioned that we might use the Reverse 911 to alert the Town about the survey being conducted, an idea that was very well received by the group. Bob also mentioned the use of local newspapers. Nelson mentioned that often town leaders (for example the elder services group) have a good feel for what is going on in Town. The HDC agreed. Amy and Linda reviewed a timetable they described as very aggressive (3 months once the questionnaire was designed). They also showed cost estimates (not a firm proposal) for each activity and Phase, which ranged from $55,000 to $95,000. John Daly reminded the HDC that Reading ought to pay only for items that would not be covered by other types of insurance. He asked if the survey could be designed to capture this information. Nelson asked how many questions the phone survey might have, and how long it would take. The answer was usually 60-80 questions, and 15-18 minutes. Typically about 20-25% of folks contacted, when advised of the confidentiality and purpose of the survey, would choose to respond. Bruce thanked the guest for their attendance & suggestions. He said their model was one option, but he'd like to explore other methods that would be more specific and target the needy. Linda mentioned a John McDonough from Healthcare For All as having a lot of background in that area. Bruce mentioned the need to uncover holes in the safety net of healthcare coverage, and wondered if a well designed questionnaire could do this. Colleen Seferian mentioned that she would prefer a broader community survey, not one focussed on the needy only. There was some agreement for this from other members of the HDC. Bob LeLacheur reminded the HDC that any funds for a community healthcare study would have to be approved by the Board of Selectmen, as the Trust would be very unlikely to fund this purpose without extensive legal work, which would take time. As such, the BOS would very likely want a voice in how broad or narrow such a study would be. He mentioned that the cost of doing a broader survey if well designed would likely be roughly similar to a narrow one, to which Amy agreed. The HDC again thanked Amy and Linda (as they departed) for their suggestions, and that Bob would serve as the contact person for them. Bruce agreed that a broader approach than the HDC was needed at this point, but wondered again how broad that should be. George noted that the HDC expires on 9/30 unless extended by the BOS. Bob reminded the group that the HDC was on the agenda for the next Selectmen's meeting scheduled for October 4th George read from the mission statement of the HDC, and suggested that the group should make a final report to the BOS at this point in time, as we have concluded the activities that the BOS outlined in their original design of the committee. After some discussion by the group, Bruce asked Bob to have the BOS postpone the appearance of the HDC until October 1 l th. At this time, the findings of the HDC will be presented as the conclusion of the mission of the HDC. The BOS will be asked to consider three or four options at this time. In the meanwhile, Bob will outline the status of the HDC and ask the BOS to extend the life of the HDC as it wishes. Tentatively the HDC scheduled their next meeting for Wednesday October 12th to review the results of the previous evening's BOS meeting. On a motion by Sullivan, seconded by Burbank, the meeting of September 28, 2005 adjourned at 8:50pm by a vote of 6-0-0. Respectfully submitted, Secretary z`