JULY 20, 2006 GLHF ADVOCACY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES

Holiday Inn Express, Delafield

Members in Attendance:  Celine Caithamer, Barb Dittrich, Kimberly Haugstad, John Martin

Members Absent:  Shelly Mattson, Dave Peterson, Larry Surges, Jeff Wade

Staff in Attendance:  Kathleen Roach, David Linney

The meeting was called to order at 5:50 p.m.  

5/16/06 Meeting Minutes:  The 5/16/06 Meeting Minutes were approved as written.

Committee Membership:  It was announced that Katie Kralovetz had resigned from the Committee (due to being overcommitted).

ACCESS Summary:  There was consensus that while the quality of the ACCESS programs and presenters was very high, there was low attendance by consumers and by HTC staff.  Vendors in particular were very disappointed with the low attendance.  Ms. Haugstad commented that while comments from consumer attendees were positive they were less than inspiring.  Suggestions were made to have:  more programming for women with bleeding disorders; more peer to peer sessions; and, an evening dinner program for all participants.  Approximately 10 consumers signed up to participate in advocacy activities.

WCDP and Medicaid Updates:  Mr. Linney provided the updates.  The Wisconsin Chronic Disease Program (WCDP), of which the Wisconsin Hemophilia Home Care Program is a part, is projected to have a one million dollar shortfall (maybe less after certain providers retroactively bill other payers first) for FY06 ending in June for the first year of the two year biennium budget.  The annual budget for the program is approximately 5 million dollars.  This would mean that the state could run out of money for the biennium budget sometime in the early part of 2007 with support in question for the remainder of the FY07.

Wisconsin Medicaid has issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) to Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs).  There are questions as to how this new state PBM arrangement may affect the:

·         Medicaid formulary and the inclusion of all factor products

·         ability of the 3 hemophilia treatment centers (HTCs) with 340b factor product programs to continue to provide factor products to Medicaid patients

Lobbyist Update:  Ms. Roach reported that she and Mr. Linney have had very positive interactions with Andy Franken, a lobbyist for the Hamilton consulting Group.  He has provided many hours of free service in addition to meeting with the Advocacy Committee in April, 2006.  Ms. Roach also reported that there are already some dollars in the PACT grant to pay for a lobbyist.  Ms. Roach indicated that it will be important to get expert advice on WCDP budget problem and the Medicaid PBM RFP as well as planning for Madison Days in Spring, 2007.  Advocacy issues will also need to be identified and a strategy developed as to how to proceed in setting up meetings with key legislators.

Ms. Haugstad made a motion to hire Mr. Franken on a limited basis up to $2,000 to get technical assistance on the status of the WCDP budget and the Medicaid RFP.  Ms. Caithamer seconded the motion.   Ms. Caithamer, Ms. Dittrich and Ms. Haugstad approved the motion.  Mr. Martin abstained.

PACT Grant:  Ms. Roach reported that GLHF planned on submitting a second PACT grant with an expanded budget for a lobbyist.

Mr. Martin made a motion that GLHF submit a second PACT grant with an expanded budget for lobbyist services.  Ms. Caithamer seconded the motion.  The motion was unanimously approved.

Document for Standard of Care for a Factor Product Vendor:  Mr. Linney reported that the NHF Medical and Scientific Advisory Council (MASAC) Recommendations #159 and #166 in regard to open formularies of factor products are not very specific in regard to medical necessity and science.  Mr. Linney will get additional feedback from medical staff and report back to the Committee.

Document for Standard of Service for Factor Product Vendors:   Mr. Linney distributed a draft of a standard of service document which he had written.  The Committee’s first review of the document was favorable and general comments were made.  Ms. Haugstad asked that the Committee members present review the document in more detail in a teleconference call scheduled for July 31^st at 5:00 p.m.