Personal Care Attendant Quality Home Care Workforce Council One Ashburton Place, Room 1109 Boston, MA 02108 General Council Meeting Minutes January 8, 2008 2:00 P.M. to 4:00 P.M. 21st floor, Conference Room 3 COMMITTEE MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE Joe Bellil, Eileen Brewster, Liz Casey, Jean McGuire, Paul Spooner, Joe Tringali COMMITTEE MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE TELEPHONICALLY NA STAFF PRESENT Jack Boesen, John Jesensky COMMITTEE CHAIR Assistant Secretary Jean McGuire NOTE TAKER Geralyn Smith-Hibbert AGENDA SETTING No issues were added to previously-issued agenda The Chair called the meeting to order at 2:15 PM and explained the Council would be moving to executive session after the General meeting. Approval of Meeting Minutes Joe Bellil made a motion to accept the meeting minutes from the November meeting as written; Paul Spooner seconded the motion. Paul Spooner requested meeting minutes be sent out earlier and the Chair concurred. The minutes were approved as written. Holding Council meetings in other parts of the state Joe Bellil asked that the Council consider holding meetings in different parts of the state and mentioned that he has had inquires about the Council. Paul Spooner added that it would be an opportunity to do outreach and education. Joe Tringali added that the meetings would give the public access to the Council. Jean McGuire added that holding meetings in other parts of the state would improve people’s understanding of the Council. The Council agreed to discuss holding meetings in other part of the state in March or April. Eileen Brewster suggested using the next consumer conference (date to be determined) as an opportunity to hold an outside meeting. Joe Bellil offered to assist Jack Boesen with the logistics and Eileen will provide the dates of the conference. Questions and Information on the Council’s report to the Legislature Jack Boesen initiated a discussion about the statutorily required report to the Legislature due in December and discussed a scope of work necessary to do data collection to support the development of the report. There was general discussion about whether there was baseline information available from consumers and whether to use survey data already available or for the Council to develop their own survey with the help of UMass. The report must include a consumer satisfaction survey and be something consumers can be involved in. Additionally, the report must report on the full cost of personal care services. Jack added that workers compensation costs should be included in the outline as well. A list of recommendations and findings that promote consumer well-being and efficiency are also part of the report. Paul Spooner pointed out that PCA consumers have been “surveyed to death” and suggested looking at existing surveys to gather data to determine if an individual PCA Council survey is necessary. There was consensus that the Council should look at any known survey data. Joe Bellil added that a broader, larger survey should be done that incorporated the employers view and addresses health and welfare issues. The Council discussed the need for the survey to be clear and able to capture the information needed to correct the problems. Report on the PCA Improvement Workgroup Jean McGuire gave a general explanation of the workgroup, goals for improvements, and administrative strategy such as setting up benchmarks. Paul Spooner (workgroup member) gave a brief overview of the first PCA Workgroup meetings. Areas of improvement included increasing the number of consumers for whom, 2-year prior authorizations are issued, and expediting the approval process for people being discharged from nursing facilities. Jean added that there should be new data and benchmarks at each meeting to report on. PCA Directory and RFI Discussion: Timeline and Goals Rachel Richards announced that the RFI had been released and briefly explained the RFI. The Recruitment and Retention Subcommittee will review the results of the RFI and make recommendations to the full Council regarding next steps. The Recruitment and Retention Subcommittee will meet in February 12th to review the responses. Council members were encouraged to send the RFI to interested parties. PCA Budget The Council’s budget has been loaded into the system with line items allowing real-time tracking of expenditures. Report on Bargaining Committee The first collective bargaining session will take place on January 16th at the SEIU offices in Dorchester. The Council’s bargaining team consists of Council members Liz Casey, Paul Spooner and Joe Tringali. John Jesensky, the Council’s negotiator and Jack Boesen will also serve on the team. Joe Bellil indicated that the Attorney General’s Office had conveyed through him that they would be willing to offer support to the Council in the area of consumer and PCA training. The Chairperson made a motion to move into Executive Session for the purpose of discussing collective bargaining. The motion was seconded by Paul Spooner, and approved unanimously without further discussion. 3