Loading...
WC CWF Health District Board Minutes - 02/20/2015WICHITA FALLS- WICHITA COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH BOARD MINUTES February 20, 2015 Wichita Falls- Wichita County Public Health District 1700 Third Street - Parker Conference Room Wichita Falls, Texas MEMBERS PRESENT: Scott Plowman, Chair David Carlston, Ph.D. Robin Moreno, MHA -HAS, ACHE Larry Rains, D.D.S. Diane Stewart, R.N. Keith Williamson, M.D. MEMBERS ABSENCE EXCUSED: Julie Gibson, D.V.M, Vice -Chair 11 Lou Kreidler, R.N., B.S.N. Amy Fagan, M.P.A. Ray Gonzalez Board Members s Director of Health Assistant Director of Health County Commissioner I. CALL TO ORDER Scott Plowman called the Health Board meeting to order at 12:00 pm after a quorum of members was attained. II. NEW MEMBER INDUCTION The appointment of new Health Board member Diane Stewart, RN into the City appointed Registered Nurse vacancy left by Dr. Jane Leach was conducted by Janice Flores, Notary. lll. ELECTION OF OFFICERS Dr. David Carlston introduced a motion to nominate Scott Plowman to continue as Chair and Dr. Williamson seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. Dr. David Carlston introduced a motion to nominate Dr. Julie Gibson to continue as Vice -Chair and Robin Moreno seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. Dr. Keith Williamson introduced a motion to nominate Diane Stewart as Secretary and Dr. David Carlston seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES AND ABSENCES Scott Plowman called for the review and approval of minutes from the meeting held on Friday December 19, 2014. Robin Moreno introduced a motion to approve the minutes as presented and Dr. Keith Williamson seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. At this time it was noted the excused absence of Dr. Julie Gibson. V. HEALTH DEPARTMENT OVERVIEW Lou Kreidler, Director presented the Health District VISION, MISSION, CORES VALUES with an overview of the Department and Divisions. VISION: Health People, Healthy Community MISSION: Preventing Illness and Injury, Promoting a Healthy and Safe Community, Protecting all Members of Our Community CORE VALUES: Professional Staff, Progressive Programs, Focus on Our Community The Health District operates on a 5.6 million dollar budget within that about 2.2 million are from grants. Employed are 78 full time employees with a Local, Regional, State, and National service area being unique in the State of Texas as the only Health District that is a City Department. As a District it not only allows us to serve the City of Wichita Falls but Wichita County and eleven counties with various grants. An Organizational Diagram of the Health District depicts Lou Kreidler as the Director, Amy Fagan as the Assistant Director, Dr. Mattar as the Local Health Authority Medical Director, and the 5 Divisions (Environmental Health, Lab, Nursing, WIC and Animal Services ). The Health District contracts with the Residency program for the Local Health Authority and physicians for onsite clinic services. Our Wichita Falls Health facts based on the County Health rankings last year are not in a good place compared to Texas as per the few listed below. 2094 Ranking Wichita Falls Texas Adult Smoking 21% 17% Adult Obesity 33% 29% Physical & Activity 29% 24% Excessive Drinking 16% 16% Amy Fagan remarked that in the Wichita County Health Facts hand out are more detailed rankings. Lou Kreidler stated the Health District was in the Accreditation process which is recognition of achievement focused on improvement and quality assurance issued by the Accreditation Health Board. The Statement of Intent was submitted 3 weeks ago with the stipulation of a six month wait but no more than a year to apply for the Accreditation. The final requirements are in process to apply at the end of the six month wait. In the State of Texas the only Health Department accredited was Houston but several other Health Departments are in the process. The Health Coalition formed three years ago with over 40 members in 6 sub - groups with 3 focused on prevention and 3 on system issues. The initiative of the comprehensive Smoke Free ordinance was the most important thing the Health District and Health Coalition had done in the past year. The Coalition was instrumental in the passage of the Smoking ordinance. In the upcoming months work will be toward passage of the Smoking ordinance in the communities of Burkburnett, Electra and Iowa Park. The partnership with the Health Coalition has been monumental for the Health District and community it was the first time in the community history that peers from all the large health care organizations gathered put politics aside to work for improvement of health in our community. Amy Fagan is the Administration supervisor of Vital Statistics, Public Health Preparedness, the Billing Clerk and Accreditation Specialist. Vital Statistics handles Birth and Death records within the City of Wichita Falls. Public Health Preparedness conducts the planning and preparedness activities to help the community be ready for public health emergencies. The Billing Clerk currently handles the 2 Medicaid /Medicare billing but when credentialed can bill private insurance. The Accreditation Specialist works on the process to become accredited by the Accreditation Health Board. Susan Morris is the Administrator of Environmental Health the Division conducts inspections of the following; Ambulances, Schools, Day Cares, Foster Homes, Tattoo /Body Piercing Studios, Hotels /Motels, Public Swimming Pools, and Food Control. Services include regulation of the Smoking Ordinance, On -Site Sewage Facilities, Soft serve Ice Cream and Food Safety. Educational programs for food handlers, pool operators, and soft serve certification. Vector Control monitors the mosquito population for different species and controls epidemics of mosquito borne diseases. Swimming pools had been a challenge with the Stage 5 restriction of not able to use water to fill pools we had to examine the safety of well water use in public pools. Establishment of standards for the well water to meet gave us the ability to inform the community it was safe to swim in. Katrena Mitchell is the Administrator of the Animal Services Center (ASC) located at 1207 Hatton Road that opened on February 1, 2011. At the last Council Meeting an Adoption Wing was approved for an additional 18 kennels at the back of the current building to hold more dogs for adoption. Adoptions began in April 2014 with 100 adoptions done as of January 31, 2015. Jennifer Chewens is the Administrator of the Laboratory that provides the following services; Clinical, Food & Environmental, Potable and Non - Potable Water, and Water Well Testing. Janna Kaelin is the Administrator of the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program that is 100% federal funded received this year right at $900,000. Those eligible for the supplemental food and nutrition program are: pregnant women, postpartum and nursing mothers, and infants and children up to age 5. The program supports the big push of breastfeeding with an active program where the WIC Peer Counselors go into the hospitals to work with new moms. Lynette Williams is the Administrator of the Nursing Division that in the last year was reorganized into Preventive Services and Communicable Diseases clinical service the HIV Prevention goes out to test individuals for HIV and Health Educators are in the program now. The Texas Healthy Communities are working on the Por Vida program and the Active Living Plan for our community. The Tobacco Prevention and Control Coalition has been important in support of the grant activity with formation of the Adult and Youth Coalition. The Say What! Conference at the Woman's Forum for those 12 to 18 years old had 60 children attend the youth conference for education. In the afternoon the group went to MSU which is ironically a smoke free campus and they picked up over a 1,000 butts and placed flags in the place of the butts. A couple of the youth did interviews with the news it has been a great program they go out to the Boys & Girls Club, Teens against Tobacco Use (TATU) also a successful program. The Health District conducts Tuberculosis, Sexually Transmitted Infection, Epidemiology, and Immunization Clinics. The Health District was one of the 15 communities chosen across the Nation for a new Community Partnerships grant from the National WIC Program. The District is to contract directly with WIC to work with not only WIC clients but all community members to help improve nutrition. For the new members and previous members back on the Board ordinances will be presented to the Board for a recommendation or not to council. If there are no regulatory items for the Boards advice and input the different programs will present and discuss the program. Vll. PHIMS Lou Kreidler asked Amy Fagan, Assistant Director of Health to discuss the electronic records project called Public Health Information Management System (PHIMS) we have worked on for over a year and a half and now with the Staff. Amy Fagan stated for all 5 Divisions we used a highly ad equated process. In the last few years we went 3 about on how to improve and better utilize our staff time because in the fiscal year 2009 was asked to reduce our budget by 8% which would be about six million less as a good steward we tried to do as much as we could. One of the ways was to improve our knowledge to better enhance customer experiences. Over the years we started to offer an online food handler class not orchestrated by the Health Department but as another option to customers to opt out of the food handler classes taught at the Department. We offer ChexOut as part of a STI clinical visit so the client can get their negative result online the younger clients prefer the method. The CDD Lab system is used so clients can come here get their labs drawn when needed or physician ordered. Several years have used a web portal for the community to view online food inspections. One thing we saw coming especially with the formation of the Health Coalition was the forces of change which was discussed with the Health Coalition. Part of that process discussed was the things to come in the future with requirements to report certain scenarios to Public Health but we were so antiquated in the past. It was known there would be challenges because of the process no matter what vendor whether it was the hardware, software, staffs time, or operating cost it was going to be expensive. The Department offers a lot of services there are 78 active employees which includes; Breastfeeding Peer Counselors, Vector Control, and Staff Clinics. In 2013 our bid was put into the City government process and made sure to follow the appropriate process to incorporate the Advanced Business System (ABS) some features from the general process was to customize drop down menus. Our Health Department and the other 63 Texas Health Departments are all different in what is offered in vaccines and services, those features are requirements for us within the system also with our records retention we had to be HIPPA compliant. The Laboratory receives internal specimens from Environmental Health some can be done in house and others sent to the State for results. We wanted Environmental to be able to do permits for restaurants and grease traps that are posted for the public view. The Inspectors needed some field functionality with the SWEEPS system time was spend in the morning to determine where they needed to go then out to inspect to come back at the end of the day to enter all the information into SWEEPS the system consumed the beginning and end of each day. The STI Clinic goes out to the jail and jail annex to provide STI services also to offer some immunization clinics off site. The web based system chosen is great for our access all we do is login because our IT planned the network it would not allow us to any record, document or information that has (PHI) Protected Health Information. We operate with a combination of desk tops, tablets, and the inspectors in the field at restaurants, etc. work on tough pads that are expensive but long term functional they can go out to different point sites more so than [pads. Wireless access points was installed a big deal because not very many City buildings have wireless. Environmental Health converted in June then in July imported the SWEEPS data with some challenges but now fully functional that includes the staff have the tough pad to go out to the restaurants work with management through the questionnaire process for entry the individual signs the report that can be emailed or with the thermal printer print the report they and issue to the individual. The front desk converted in August now Nursing Services in the thick of conversion with the STI clinic challenge remains with the jail and jail annex technology to allow us for use of their WiFi a confirmation we are in compliance with all their requirements. The County staff is to offer a special training for our staff to include the appropriate conduct with the use of technological devices because often times it is not thought about what should not be done. Immunization Clinic is in the process of converting which is similar to the Electronic Health Records (HER) when the state provided us with our compact data that made the Immunization clinics final modification. Dr. Mattar as Lou mentioned functions as our Local Health Authority and manages the Residency Physicians will have their own log with the ability to remote from their location at the Family Health Center which will be nice because they do records review and be able to view chest x -rays that are ordered and done at United Regional. Our Laboratory converted with ability to access Lab reports. Eventually billing Private Insurance as Lou mentioned that is so much easier to integrate with ICD10 the pay scale. Another thing looked at what would be a first was a Quality Improvement Plan as a Department wide project to preplan with strategic C! thinking to get out of it long term as a evaluator mechanism at the end. Quality Improvement would give us a thought process to help as we get to the end project to approach another simflar big project. Robin Moreno questioned if it has the ability to grow and change when you needed. Amy Fagan answered it is hopeful that was one of the things needed was to have some customization options in the system the vendor merchant called them add -on modules with additional costs through time a challenge. Lou Kriedler stated the Public Health Inspectors now have the ability to email the inspection report to the local establishments Manager and their Corporate office to notify them of any issues that may not be corrected locally. Where it use to take at least a week for the inspections to be posted once the inspection is entered as done it is automatically posted to the web. Dr. Carlston asked had it been noticeable of any cutting down time on the process of entry, ability to do more inspections to the level you want or more frequent inspections done than before. Amy Fagan replied the data would need to be looked at on how many inspections were done over a period of time and by how many inspectors a challenging part of the QIP measure. The only feedback we have other than to do the comparison of inspections /inspectors is the inspectors have given positive feedback as to be out in the field more and ability to do more than in the past. Scott Plowman adjourned the meeting. VII. NEXT MEETING April 24, 2015 VIII. ADJOURN The meeting adjourned at 1:00 pm. Signature r ct �A Print Name Scott Plowman,_ Chair, Julie Gibson. D; V. M.. Vice- Chair. or Diane Stewart, R.N., Secretary Wichita Falls- Wichita County Public Health Board City- County Board