esac20060803 Meeting Minutes

Georgia Association of Homes
and Services for Children
Emergency Stabilization and AssessmentCenters (ESAC)
Atlanta, August 3rd, 2006, 12:00 p.m.
Meeting Minutes /
Agenda Item / Discussion / Action Item
Welcome and Introductions / Melissa Reid, GAHSC chair introduced and led the meeting.
Attendees / Melissa Reid, The Alcove
Amy Thomas, Area Residence for Kids (ARK)
Leslie Brett, Area Residence for Kids (ARK)
Terry Ramey, Flowering Branch
Sonja Nobler, Girls and BoysTown
Greg Sterchi, Rainbow House ESAC
Taylor Brand, Rainbow House ESAC
Normer Adams, GAHSC
Joe Wassell, GAHSC
Approval of Minutes / None presented.
Old Business
Name Change / Consensus reached after discussion that Emergency Stabilization and AssessmentCenters best conveys what Emergency Shelters provide. Name of chapter will remain and the term Emergency Shelter will be retired. / None.
Proposed Behavioral Management and Emergency Safety Interventions (ESI) Rule Changes / Normer Adams updated everyone on status of proposed rules changes. Melissa will now be chairing the ORS/GAHSC Licensing Liaison Committee. Most chapter members have already reviewed the rules changes. Input should be provided to Melissa or GAHSC to insure comments are included. / None. Update only.
Rate Setting Taskforce Update and Participation / Major issue facing chapter at this time. Much discussion took place. Salient points made for consideration by the Rate Setting Task force include:
  1. Where are “life skills,” recreation activities, tutoring, etc. costs going to be captured in the new rate setting structure? All believed these need to be captured under “watchful oversight.”
  2. All agreed that the definition of watchful oversight should be all costs not captured in Room and Board, or billable to DOE or Medicaid. That would include the above type costs.
  3. There is some confusion on how the state may be looking at the paying for things such as “life skills.” There is some indication that providers may have to bill separately for each of these types of services on each child on a fee for service basis. Other indications point to these costs being captured in a the watchful oversight portion of the rate.
  4. During the last round of cost reporting providers were encouraged to put as many legitimate things under treatment costs as possible. The goal then was to be able to bill Medicaid for the maximum reimbursement possible (rev max!). Now the State will be looking at those same cost reports and with many things that should be under “watchful oversight” being currently listed under treatment costs. GAHSC needs to make a strong case that any costs currently captured under treatment that are not directly billable to Medicaid (medically necessary) be pulled out and captured under watchful oversight.
Normer Adams also discussed and explained GAHSC’s draft position paper on median plus to the 90 percentile. The Chapter was asked to look at the draft paper (on the GAHSC Web site) and provide comments back on two key questions.
  1. Can you live with and support the philosophy of median plus?
  2. What are the other issues that need consideration and comment during the room and board and watchful oversight discussions?
Chapter members can e-mail comments, concerns to Normer or Melissa to insure they get represented during the upcoming discussions with the State. / Discussion points to be carried forward by GAHSC and Melissa for presentation to the Rate Setting Task Force Committee meeting set for August 22.
Best Practice Initiative / Joe Wassell talked about GAHSC and the Chapter developing a set of “Best Practice” standards for ESAC members that all could sign off on. This is not meant to be another Accreditation or Certification process but just a statement of commitment that as GAHSC ESAC members they follow a set of best practice standards. This is meant to set GAHSC members apart and above other ESAC agencies in Georgia. Chapter agree to this initiative. / GAHSC to develop an initial draft for the chapter to review using CWLA published information on best practice.
Chapter Member List / List distributed at the meeting and discussed. Need to add “Our House” in Columbus to the list. Other corrections provided by those in attendance. / None. For updating only.
New Business
Advocacy and Legislative Priorities / Normer and Joe discussed how the Chapters will interact with the Public Policy Committee to for the public policy agenda and priorities for the Association. ESAC issues will come from the chapter to the Public Policy Committee / Sonja Tobler of Girls and BoysTown agreed to represent the Chapter on the Public Policy Committee.
Chapter Support and Operation / Joe Wassell discussed his role in supporting the chapters and how he will be providing and sharing information. The goal is to provide consistency across chapter operations. / None. For information only.
Other Issues / Meeting Frequency discussed. Chapter agreed to a bi-monthly schedule beginning after the September meeting. Also, some meetings or an additional meeting may be convened by conference call as needed.
Next Meeting / Thursday, September 7th, 11:00 p.m. GAHSC Conference Room
Adjourn / Meeting adjourned at 1:45 p.m.
Attachments /
  1. August 3rd memorandum to ORS with latest comments from GAHSC on Behavior Management Rules.
  2. Chapter Member List

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