- Judy Bentley, DOH
- Lisa Cook, DOH
- Mike Dagher, BC/BS
- Karen Freeman, DOH
- Jeff Gregg, AHCA
- Bill Lucas, DOH
- Becky Lyons, DCF
- Wayne McDaniel, DOH
- Allen Pearman, DOH
- Pat Ryder, DOH
- Lori Schultz, DCF
- Jacki Seabrooks, DOH
- Phyllis Siderits, DOH
- Robbie Tootle, AHCA
I. Call to Order and Welcome: Dr. Jim Howell
called the conference call to order and welcomed participants.
II. Roll Call: Ms. Lisa Cook performed a roll call of agencies
named to the Council.
III. Approval of Minutes: The
minutes of the February 25, 1998 Florida Health Information Systems
Council meeting were adopted as submitted.
(Agenda items are taken out of order.)
IV. Report on Legislative Review Workgroup: Mr.
Jeff Gregg, Chair of the Legislative Review Workgroup, presented a
report on the legislation tracked by the workgroup during the 1998
Legislative Session. The workgroups mission was to identify and track
legislation with a potential impact on health data collection. Mr.
Gregg briefly reviewed each bill tracked, responding to questions from
participants. Dr. Howell expressed his appreciation to the workgroup
for their time and efforts and to Mr. Gregg for leading the workgroup.
Dr. Howell stated that he felt it is necessary to contact each of
the statutory members and identify specific areas of focus and to
address concerns of their agency. He suggested that the Council
discuss the creation of a review and approval process to ensure
cooperative planning among agencies that collect or maintain
health-related data. Currently, DOH staff is undertaking the necessary
steps to bring these two items to the Council. A legislative proposal
has been submitted to DOH Legislative Planning for consideration
during the 1999 Legislative Session.
Next, Dr. Howell discussed the Council’s upcoming annual report.
He noted several areas of information sharing currently underway, such
as the legislation allowing CMS access to child abuse data, the
movement of MQA to the PRAES (credentialing) system, and Title XXI
data sharing. Mr. Gregg agreed that the Title XXI program is an
excellent example of interagency information sharing and may provide
an appropriate focus for the Council.
VI. Discuss Proposed Changes to
Legislation: Ms. Judy Bentley stated that comments have been made at
previous meetings concerning the membership of the Council. She noted
that the addition of the Department of Insurance has been suggested,
as well as the removal of the Department of Business and Professional
Regulation. Mr. Pittman stated that DBPR’s involvement has been
general up to this point and with the transfer of MQA to DOH, the DBPR
no longer holds data of interest to the Council. He noted, however,
that the agency is willing to participate as needed. Dr. Howell agreed
and thanked DBPR for its commitment to assist as necessary.
At this time, Dr. Howell solicited suggestions for additional
members and proposed that the Council limit the scope of
"health-related data" to include only human health and not
environmental health. Entities offered for membership in the Council
were the Department of Insurance, the University of Central Florida,
School of Public Health, the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical
University, Institute of Public Health (Birth Defects Registry) and
the Florida Healthy Kids Corporation. Ms. Linda Keen suggested
inviting these groups to attend a meeting to determine whether they
feel they play a role in the mission of the Council. Ms. Cheryll
Lesneski suggested recruiting participation at the Federal level. Dr.
Howell asked that Ms. Bentley to prepare a letter to the Surgeon
General’s Office expressing the Council’s interest in gaining
input at the federal level. Dr. Howell requested that further
suggestions regarding Council membership be provided to Lisa Cook.
VII. Governor’s Office Response to Draft
Strategic Plan: Ms. Bentley reported that the instructions for
completing the Draft Strategic Plan were provided after the
Council’s plan was submitted. She stated that plan was prepared in
cooperation with the Governor’s Office and submitted accordingly.
However, the response to the plan requests that it be prepared in
compliance with a very rigid set of instructions.
Ms. Bentley stated that one of the other entities created under the
same legislation as the Council is currently working to bring their
strategic plan into compliance and have recommended local consultants
to facilitate the preparation of our strategic plan. Dr. Larry Gross
and Dr. Tom Taylor, Florida Center for Public Management, have agreed
to meet with staff to discuss the possibility of assisting the Council
with its plan. Ms. Bentley reiterated that the funding and staff
requested to support the Council were not appropriated and have been
requested again in the 1999-2000 legislative budget requests. Funding
for these facilitation services may be available from the DOH,
Division of Information Resource Management.
Dr. Howell suggested that Council members meet with the consultant
to provide information that might be helpful in the development of the
Council’s mission and plan. He added that the Governor’s response
to the draft plan indicated "high expectations" of this
Council. Ms. Bentley agreed there is a great deal of interest in the
potential of the Council and that a trained, independent facilitator
will help to focus and solidify the Council’s mission. Dr. Howell
reiterated the need to gather the specific needs of the agency heads
and increase their interest and involvement in the Council.
VIII. Report on Standards Workgroup: Ms.
Lesneski provided a brief review of the initial activities and
membership of the Standards Workgroup. She noted that two of the
workgroup members are new to the Council, Mr. Randy Carter a professor
of biostatistics at the University of Florida and Dr. Mike Dagher with
Florida Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Ms. Lesneski stated that the
workgroup identified several areas of focus such as the conditions
that restrict information sharing and current national efforts to
standardize data. She noted that Mr. Meade Grigg has offered to
research national efforts. Ms. Lesneski added that Dr. Dagher has been
involved with the Massachusetts Health Data Consortium and has
information to share regarding those efforts. The workgroup has also
discussed the recommendation of a prototype data integration system,
an effort to focus on one particular area of data integration. Ms.
Lesneski expressed a desire to expand the membership of the Council
and requested suggestions from Council members.
At this time, Mr. Wayne McDaniel joined the conference call. Mr.
McDaniel and Dr. Howell revisited the previous discussion regarding
Council membership and examples of interagency data sharing.
IX. Report on Title XXI: Ms. Phyllis
Siderits provided information on Title XXI.
She agreed that the Title XXI effort is a good example of data
sharing among multiple agencies. She explained that there are four
different programs and some inconsistency in collection and reporting
of encounter-level data. She suggested that the Institute for Child
Health Policy might be another stakeholder in the Council. Dr. Howell
suggested extending an invitation to the Institute for Child Health
Policy to participate in the Council’s next meeting as ad hoc
members. In response to a question from Dr. Howell, Ms. Siderits
stated that a data-oriented workgroup for the Title XXI efforts does
not exist, although she agreed that it would be very useful. Dr.
Howell suggested that the Council consider assembling an ad hoc group
from the DOH, AHCA, DCF, and Florida Healthy Kids Corporation to focus
on Title XXI data. This item will be placed on the agenda of the next
Council meeting.
There being no further
business, the meeting was adjourned at 2:51 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lisa Cook
Recording Secretary
