ADVOCACY COMMITTEE

May 16, 2006

5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m.

Members Present:        John Martin                             Kimberly Haugstad

                                    Celine Caithamer                     Barb Dittrich

                                    Jeff Wade                                 Larry Surges

Members Absent:        Dave Peterson                         Shelly Mattson

                                    Katie Kralovetz

Staff Present:               Kathleen Roach                       David Linney

Mr. Linney called the meeting to order at 5:55 p.m.  Ms. Haugstad arrived at 6:05 p.m.

Minutes

The Minutes from the March 22, 2006 meeting were reviewed and approved.

Strategic Plan Review

Ms. Roach reviewed the GLHF key initiative #4 Advocacy and the three goals developed last August.  The committee agreed the goals are in process and will be accomplished by the end date of 2008.  Ms. Haugstad will present a summary at the May 25 Board meeting.

Review of Meeting with Lobbyist

Ms. Haugstad shared with the committee that Mr. Andy Franken from the Hamilton Group in Madison presented to the committee on April 18^th in Delafield.  Mr. Franken is a lobbyist and has many years of experience working with legislators and the legislative process.  Ms. Roach stated he may be helpful if we decide to coordinate a “Wisconsin Days” next spring.  Ms. Roach also stated that a concept will be shared with the Board of Directors and approval will be needed to hire a lobbyist to assist us in our work.  In addition, Form 5768 from the IRS should be reviewed by a legal consultant and then sent to the IRS.  After the discussion at the Board meeting on May 25^th Mr. Franken will be contacted to further discuss his potential role with GLHF.

Recruitment of new committee members

Ms. Haugstad asked for suggestions on who the committee could recruit for the advocacy committee. Currently there are eight members and two GLHF staff. It was suggested a committee of 9-12 would be ideal.  Several names were provided as possible new committee members. Mr. Surges will follow-up with Dr. Adair, a retired hematologist from the Green Bay area.  The committee also agreed that ACCESS conference attendees should be invited to join the committee.

Insurance Marketplace changes and Advocacy Issues

      Mr. Linney discussed current trends in the marketplace.

1.      Sole Source Provider (factor product)-single provider supplies factor product

2.      Preferred Drug Listing (PDL) restricted formulary listing of drugs you can use

PBM-Pharmacy Benefit Manage—drug plan that increasingly covers specialty pharmacy drugs like factor products as a drug benefit vs. as a medical benefit through a health plan 

Mr. Linney also discussed classification of drugs R-recombinant and M-monoclonal Recombinant VIII products include:  Advate, Recombinate, Helixate FS, Kogenate FS and ReFacto. 

The committee discussed that our purpose is to get the pro’s and con’s to the community so they can make a decision. This discussion led to the concept of “Standard of Care.”  The committee agreed this should be our focus to develop a best practice standard of care that is measurable and has accountability built into the document.

Mr. Linney agreed to contact several sources to see if there is a current standard of care in place. Ms. Caithamer will send Mr. Linney the standard of care used by CareMark.

Web Page

Ms. Roach briefly discussed the status of the advocacy web page and handed out the definitions Mr. Linney created for the advocacy topic portion of the web page.  Mr. Linney said he would send out the definitions by e-mail and asked committee members for input by Thursday, May 25^th.  The web page subcommittee will meet prior to the June 17 ACCESS Conference.

ACCESS

The ACCESS conference is scheduled for Saturday, June 17 and Sunday, June 18.  Ms. Roach announced she has secured Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin to attend the meeting.  Ms. Baldwin will greet attendees over lunch and welcome everyone to Madison which is part of her district. Mr. Linney and Mr. Wade discussed the summary of the last ACCESS subcommittee meeting and they will meet again to firm up the presentation.  Mr. Linney also passed out information about ACCESS and asked committee members to sign up for the event.  It was also suggested that information on advocacy be at a GLHF table during ACCESS.

TO DO LIST:

1.       Kathleen will send the job description to Larry Surges to forward to Dr. Adair.

2.      ACCESS subcommittee will schedule a meeting.

3.      Web page subcommittee will schedule a meeting.

4.      Comments regarding advocacy definitions should be sent to David Linney by May 25.

5.      Mr. Linney will research Standard of Care.

6.      Ms. Caithamer will e-mail CareMark standard of care to Mr. Linney.

7.      Ms. Haugstad will provide an advocacy update at the May 25^th Board meeting.

8.      Follow-up with Andy Franken after the May 25^th Board meeting.

9.      Ms. Haugstad requested three brief summaries of the most recent legislative issues.

10.   Recruitment of committee members at ACCESS.

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:30 p.m.

No next meeting date was set.