Nebraska Society for Respiratory Care (NSRC) - Online

NEBRASKA SOCIETY FOR RESPIRATORY CARE

BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ MEETING

Unapproved Condensed Version

February 2^nd, 2007

Mahoney State Park

Meeting was called to order by President John Wright at 10:15 A.M.  Agenda was presented by John.

ROLL CALL – MEMBERS PRESENT:

ABSENT:

MINUTES:

Mike reported. The minutes from the September 29^th, 2006 and the October 4^th, 2006 meetings were reviewed by the BOD. After corrections were made to both the September 29^th, 2006 and the October 4^th, 2006 minutes a motion was made by Jenny and seconded by Frank to approve both the September 29^th, 2006 and the October 4^th, 2006 minutes. The motion carried.

TREASURE’S REPORT

Postponed until next meeting, Gil not present

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Bruce made a suggestion that the next scheduled meeting in February be moved to a different date in the near future to where Jeff, Frank, & Marcy Wyrens can all attend to discuss the licensure law concerns. Open discussion was held on the topics of the upcoming State Respiratory Care conference, BOD finances, upcoming PREP recommendations, and completing the ground work on reviewing the assigned State Practice acts, which were assigned at our last BOD meeting on 10/4/06.  Jenny suggested using a shared spread sheet to document these categories / topics. John made the suggestion to end the open discussion and move on to the traditional agenda. 

LEGISLATIVE

Jeff reported.  Jeff stated that the Perfusionist’s Bill LB 399 has currently had one reading and is scheduled to have a public reading next week.  Jeff discussed that the Perfusionists have met very little if any opposition in regards to their bill.   Jeff stated that he would not be able to attend the public hearing next week and was hoping someone from our BOD could attend.  In addition, Nursing has not opposed their attempt at licensure.  Hospitals, long term care facilities, public testifiers and other medical professionals have all been supportive.  Frank stated that essentially the NSRC is in support of them becoming licensed and if the Perfusionist’s would like to have their own board would be fine or if not, we would be willing to have them join our board.  Jeff added that every meeting he has been to that the members of the health care pool have supported the reasons why the Perfusionists are moving forward with licensure, with the number one concern being patient safety. 

Jeff discussed that both he and Darcy O’Brien-Genrich, Lead Respiratory Care Practitioner from The Nebraska Medical Center, will be going to Washington D.C. on 3/5 thru 3/7 of 2007. Jeff stated that they have been notified of two issues to address while in Washington but they expect to cover additional items related to patient care and lung health. The issues are the Senate and House Pulmonary Rehab bills and the issue relating to patients owning their home oxygen equipment after 36 months. This issue is linked to the Presidents budget.

Another issue being considered is the bill regarding Respiratory Care being recognized in the Medicare Home Care. It is Jeff’s understanding that a new approach will be taken. The AARC is now trying to develop an initiative that recognizes Respiratory Care and the services they provide while being performed under Physicians supervision under any setting, providing that the therapist has a bachelor degree and the RRT credentials. Jeff stated that the AARC’s rationale for the noted qualifications would be the same as other Health Care groups, i.e. Physicians & Nurses, that these groups already have an education level of a BS or higher. Jeff recommended that the BOD and other therapists use the Capital connection link on the AARC website to send letters to their elected officials regarding this & other issues.

Jenny reiterated that this message of raising the education standards was also discussed by Cheryl West at the House of Delegates. The message conveyed was that if Respiratory Therapists wanted to be recognized by the Federal government that they would need to have minimum standards of a Bachelors degree. Other health care members such as Physician Assists, APRNs, Physical Therapists, Nurses, etc, all have a Bachelors or a Masters as a minimum degree; they don’t recognize associate’s degree.

Frank discussed that this increase in standards would not change the current process already in place. Currently Respiratory Therapists cannot go out to the home and give skilled care. Therapists can only work for DME & home health agencies or work in a hospital; that scope of care is not going to change. Respiratory Therapists can still go out to the homes and setup home oxygen, Bipaps, etc - that access of care doesn’t change. This increase in standards just opens up the avenue that now Respiratory Therapists can work in the Dr. Office under the physician and be paid for skill care; and also be able to work for a Home Care company to go out to the home and do the assessment / teaching that currently only nursing can do and be reimbursed for it. The message of communication that needs to get out there is that this legislation is not going to be taking Respiratory Therapists jobs away; this legislation opens up an avenue to do more.

BYLAWS

Postponed till next meeting, Keith not present

PUBLIC RELATIONS

Frank reported that Darcy O’Brien-Genrich will be going to Washington, D.C. this year with Jeff due to Frank not being able to attend the meeting. In addition, Jeff mentioned that he and Darcy had already lined up some of their appointments.

STATE PROGRAM

Candy reported that Elisha has organized more of the speakers for the State meeting and that most of them are in place. Candy stated that she was currently working on a sponsor for Thursday night’s dinner lecture. Candy stated that Elisha would have all information regarding the State Meeting and that she was not aware of any current problems or issues about the upcoming event.

Frank added that he is scheduled to give a lecture at the State meeting regarding the topic on State Licensure.

Candy also discussed that Elisha already has the key note speaker for the State meeting. Hill-Rom would also be giving a seminar on airway clearance on Wednesday. Bruce questioned if the State meeting was also going to be teleconferenced. Jenny mentioned that she was going to help Jane with the teleconference and that they were going to try and find key locations in western NE to host it. Jenny added that she would get together with Jane to coordinate a meeting to discuss the strategies on how to set up the teleconference. Jenny stated that at the last BOD meeting she mentioned charging the attendees the cost for that would be for joining the AARC. That way the attendees have bought their membership to the AARC and then we would allow them to attend the teleconference for free and we have them now as a member. That way we have recruited members for the AARC and we have offered Respiratory Therapists a teleconference for those remote areas of the State. Bruce mentioned as a possibility that the teleconference could drop the number of attendees from the state meeting. Frank suggested to help alleviate that issue the teleconference would be available to therapists depending on their location, i.e. if they were blank number of miles away from Kearney. If those therapists were outside that area then we would have 2 or 3 ancillary key sites for the teleconference; excluding the areas around the Omaha & Lincoln vicinity where the majority of the attendees would come from and also exclude the local area of Kearney as well. Candy discussed that until we know who the agenda & speakers for the State meeting that we wait to decide these issues. Additionally, it was discussed that we not offer the entire conference as a teleconference but only certain parts of the convention, this would make the teleconference easier to facilitate. Jenny stated that she will let Jane know that a meeting will be pending.

Publications / WEBPAGE

Postponed until next meeting, Chris not present

MEMBERSHIP

Shannon reported that currently we have 409 members and that back in August 2006 the number of members was 400. Jenny inquired into the number that was reported to the AARC in December regarding the AARC goal of 100 new members by December 2006. The actual number of new members reported was nine. John mentioned that teleconferencing the State meeting may aid in increasing our numbers for new members. Jeff suggested putting something on the webpage regarding information in obtaining the vouchers. John added that Gil still has the remaining 35 vouchers. Candy mentioned that we could have vendors raffle off vouchers as door prizes at the state meeting since the voucher is good for a year. Additionally, Candy inquired if we had contacted all the managers across the state of NE to push membership and to see if they are interested in buying vouchers. Jenny stated that she has the list of managers and would fax them to John. Jenny also mentioned to have the power point presentation from the AARC regarding membership be placed on the NSRC website. That way when we send the letters out to the managers we direct them to the power point. This would give the managers a location and an opportunity to see what else is on the NSRC website. John suggested that we should also add to the website a prompt asking respiratory therapists to submit the name of their manager and their email address to aid in updating the list of managers. Jeff added to promote membership, those therapists that become new members that we could give them a t-shirt. Jeff clarified that the 409 therapists are active members and that there are approximately 1400 respiratory therapists in the state of Nebraska. John suggested that we set a realistic goal of 20 to 25 new members by December, which would be a 6 to 7 percent increase in our membership. John stated that he would get the remaining 35 vouchers from Gil next week and give them to Shannon to be in charge of. That would increase the access for all the board members to obtain the vouchers.

NOMINATIONS/ELECTIONS

Megan reported that she sent out the 409 ballots out and currently has received back close to 150 ballots and is still receiving 3 to 5 a day. The deadline date for the ballots is March 15, 2007. This return date was extended back due to having a late mailing.

DELEGATE REPORT

See attached report;

John suggested that Jenny & Jeff take back to the AARC congress the issue of why the conference is being scheduling during the middle of the busiest season for Respiratory Therapists, stating its prime RSV season. John recommended that the NSRC draft a resolution to consider flipping the Forum and Congress meetings; that way the AARC can maintain their scheduled dates. Jeff added that they would need to have the assistance of the BOD to help with the rationale for the draft and would need to get support of 3 to 4 other states to assist in backing the resolution to move forward. Jeff recommended that John and anyone else that would like to purse this endeavor to contact him.

OLD BUSINESS

Jeff inquired if John and Gil had been bonded. John stated he and Gil sent the paper work to the gentleman in Lincoln but had not heard a reply back yet. John stated that he would follow up.

Jeff also asked if we had provided the AARC with the Tax information that they we’re requesting? John stated that the Tax information was sent.

Jeff stated that the AARC does not have a signed revenue sharing contract on file. Because we are past the deadline Jeff wasn’t sure if we would be allowed to submit the contract late and if it was submitted late would the NSRC be penalized. John stated that he will file out the paper work and give them back to Jeff to forward to the AARC. John suggested that it would be enormous benefit if there was an outline listing the dates of when items needed to be done, such as topics of bonding, taxes, revenue sharing, etc. Frank inquired if the AARC has an outline or a general list of when these yearly required items are due. John stated that if there was a packet listing these items and due dates then the NSRC President would know when items are due and have it ready to go and submitted early. Jeff reiterated that things change and new items are added and something’s are taken off, it is up to those receiving the communication to follow through. Jeff stated that he will contact the AARC regarding the Charter Affiliate handbook.

Jeff addressed some of the issues that appear to be open. His concerns are related to the best business practice and common courtesy. The issues include:

1. Communication between BOD members & the failure to perform their assigned duties.
2. Jeff stated that Chris Hamilton had not been paid for that International Fellow dinner.
3. Jenny is still waiting to be paid for her expenses from Las Vegas, and that Boomers printing is still waiting for their payment regarding the mailing.

John added that the money issue was not good, however that every Board member is a volunteer and is not paid position. Bruce added that John should convey our concerns regarding the money issues and in addition how we could we assist him. John mentioned that he had already spoken to Gill regarding these issues. Jeff added that he just wanted to make sure that everything is being taken care of. Jenny suggested that we have a tutorial session for the new NSRC members covering the issues of what their responsibilities would be.

Additional discussion included the issue with elections, making sure to have the western candidates who we’re not elected an opportunity to get involved in the organization. Frank suggested that after the State Meeting in May that we have a meeting in June; then during that time we would review the expectations for the new members. John stated that during this June meeting we could give a written form to the new board members listing the expectations / guidelines for their new position. Jeff made a Motion to see that each officer and committee chair make a list of bullet points regarding the expectations of their position and forward the list to Mike via email by April 1^st Jenny seconded the motion, motion passed.

Frank stated that he had agreed to give a lecture at the State meeting regarding licensure and mandatory reporting but he did not find his lecture on the State meeting agenda. Frank discussed that his lecture would also cover the topics of the guidelines for the CEU process, the differences between the NSRC BOD vs. the Nebraska’s Licensure Board, and the Displine actions the Licensure board can make. Frank will confirm with Elisha if he will be giving this lecture or not.

DISASTER PLANNING

Jenny reported that she is working on mailing form that she would like to mail out to all the Respiratory Care Departments in Nebraska asking for their participation in the NSRC pandemic disaster planning sub-committee. Jenny stated that the goals for this new committee are to: 1. to establish open communication across the state to address this issue, 2. to provide information as to the resources into planning a response to a disaster, 3. to facilitate discussions related to access and need from therapists in all care settings, 4. to represent Nebraska’s Respiratory Therapists in local, regional, state initiatives on disaster & pandemic influenza, and 5. to report committee activities to the NSRC and the AARC. Frank made a motion to have the NSRC BOD approve the mailing forms and cover the expense for the postage. Bill seconded the motion, the motion passed.

The meeting was adjourned at 1330

Respectfully submitted by Mike Twait, NSRC Secretary