BOARD
OF HEALTH
Meeting Minutes
January 5, 2009
** NOT APPROVED **
Members Attending: L. Cusumano, MD , T. LaFever, R. Truax.
Board Members absent: W. Simons,
DDS, S. Herdman, R. Gulati, MD. 1 seat vacant at the
present time.
Others Present: L. Ballengee, T. Hull.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The minutes from the
November Meeting could not be approved, since there wasn’t a quorum present.
FAMILY PLANING PROGRAM REVIEW
Lori Ballengee reported to
the Board of Health that she is looking at a new location for the Alfred Family
Planning site. The current site in
Alfred is not conducive to patient confidentiality due to the size and layout
of the building. The new site is located
in the basement of Dr. Delcampo’s office
building. This site is less costly than
the current site and is handicap accessible.
NYS Department of Health has viewed the site and has given us their
approval. We are just waiting for John Margeson’s approval to move ahead with
this change.
BY-LAWS FOR THE ALLEGANY COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF
HEALTH-UPDATES AND CHANGES
Lori Ballengee asked if the
first Monday of the month was still a good time to hold the monthly board
meetings. Since a quorum was not
present, this question
and any other changes will be addressed at the next meeting in February.
IMPACT OF STATE BUDGET PROPOSALS
It was felt that the largest
cuts will be made in the Emergency Preparedness programs and this
responsibility will fall on the shoulders of Homeland Security. It was noted that Mike Bechelli
works one day a week in Allegany County in the Emergency Preparedness
program. One clerical person works in
this program as well.
The state is proposing that
parents pay a co pay in the Early Intervention program. A $270.00 application fee will be required to
all providers. The state wants providers
to do all their own billing. The state
budget for homecare programs has taken major cuts. The state has not responded as to the status
of the homecare transition to Willcare. Todd Brason
believes that the transition of homecare will occur sometime in February. The homecare program is currently caring for
89 patients. We are not turning down any
referrals. There is one public health
nurse and one nursing supervisor left that are Allegany County Health
Department staff.
ALTREYA UPDATE
Altreya representatives will be arriving tomorrow to look at
our program processes and perform a financial audit. Altreya will help
us to perform tasks more efficiently and less expensively. The cost for Altreya
services $50,400.00. Lori Ballengee
reported that we are $970,000.00 under budget for 2008. Pam Cockle’s overtime report indicates that
we are $21,000.00 under budget for 2008.
Board of
Health Minutes from January 5, 2009-Page 2.
Lori reported that we are
short one Board of Health Member. The
seventh board member must be a Medical doctor.
We are required to have three physicians on the board.
Nominations for vice
president of the Board of Health had to be tabled until the February Meeting
since there wasn’t a quorum.
It was noted that we do not
have a signed contract with B.O.C.E.S. for the 2008-09 school year. We have to put money aside to meet new
contract rates. The State Education
department is still asking for 2006-07 rates.
We pay at the interim rate until they reconcile their rates. We need to look at other agencies and see if
they are competitively priced to replace B.O.C.E.S. It was reported that there are two other
agencies interested. The board requested
that we get a quote from both agencies and start moving on this project
immediately. Lori Ballengee sent a
letter to BOCES to get rates set for the years leading up to and including
2009. B.O.C.E.S. has not notifed Lori Ballengee as of this meeting date, of their
intentions.
Cancer Services Program has
three providers for Mammograms. The
providers are Jones Memorial Hospital, Windsong and
Elizabeth Wende Clinic. The State has been reimbursing us at a rate of
$76.00 instead of $123.00 for digital mammograms. This is a difference of $47.00 that we should
be paid, since the contract states $123.00.
There is no Indus number set for digital mammography. The state needs to be held accountable for
the fact that no Indus number has been assigned for this procedure. It was suggested that we bring this problem to
the attention of Cathy Young.
COUNTY ESTATES MOBILE HOME PARK
There has been no response
from the owner/operator regarding the Board of Health Order issued on
11/14/2008. The owner /operator has basically “walked away” from the situation and has had no
contact with the Health Department regarding resolution of the three
outstanding New York State Sanitary Code violations, and their associated
$775.00 fines. In addition, since the
BOH Order included a $10.00 per diem fine for each violation, for every day
after 12/4/2008 that the violations went uncorrected, an additional fine amount
of $320.00 x 3 =$960.00 is owed to the Health Department, bringing the total
fine to date of $1,735.00. The Health
Department has the option of pursuing closure of the park, but that would
require the displacement of the park tenants, with few options as to where they
could relocate their trailers. However,
concern over possible liability to the Health Department if some definitive
action is not considered, as services begin to deteriorate in the park and
potential health hazards are forthcoming in the near future. There are already concerns over loss of the
water system due to freezing conditions.
The park is presently in the process of going through foreclosure, and
there is a prospective buyer. The board
members requested that Tom Hull draft a letter for Ron Truax’s
signature to be sent to the law firm representing the bank that currently holds
the mortgage on the property, to indicate to the law firm the concerns of the
Health Department and the possible consequences (e.g. park closure) if a new
owner/operator is not identified in a timely manner.
There was no further business to discuss so the board
meeting was adjourned at 7:53pm.
The next Board of Health Meeting is scheduled to be
held on February 2, 2009.
Respectfully submitted,
Janet Norris