HEALTH ADMINISTRATION SECTION
Introduction
The Health Administration Section enjoyed a very successful year. The Section Council (Ellen Skillen Alkon, Kenneth Baldwin, Hudson H. Birden, Jr., Vicki Edwards, Herbert Houston, Lester N. Wright, Secretary Lorna M. English, Immediate Past Chairperson Violet P. Cherry, Chairperson-Elect A. Dennis McBride, and Chairperson Deborah A. Plumb) developed and approved a work plan (attached) under the leadership of the Chair. The underpinnings of the work plan were to
To all of the members of the Health Administration Section, thank you
for your loyalty to the Section. To those who actively participated, there
are never enough ways to express the necessary gratitude and appreciation.
COMMITTEES AND SPECIAL PROJECTS REPORTS
ANNUAL MEETING PROGRAM PLANNING COMMITTEE—Chair Vonna J. Henry
"Public Health and Managed Care" was the 1998 Annual Meeting theme. Forty-five sessions, including sixteen invited sessions, were presented at the Annual Meeting in Washington DC. The Minority Access Committee developed three of the invited sessions. The Managed Care Committee developed two sessions and reviewed all abstracts related to managed care. There was one poster session with ten participants.
The Annual Meeting theme-related sessions were designed to meet one of three main objectives:
Technology development as it related to public health administration was a secondary focus of the Program Committee. Five sessions--three invited--were presented on technology.
Other topics that were presented included welfare reform, outcome measurement, organizational structure, and correctional health. Seven members developed invited sessions on these other topics. One session was presented in cooperation with NACCHO.
Over 100 abstracts were received. Marjorie Geiger coordinated the review of the non-theme-related abstracts. Eight members participated in this activity.
The Program Planning Committee is completing an evaluation of the program. Rosemary Chaudry is overseeing this activity and will complete it by the end of December.
AWARDS COMMITTEE—Chair Janet R. Stone
Members of the 1998 Section Awards Committee were Deborah Plumb, Section Chairperson; Andrew D. McBride, MD., Chairperson-elect; Violet P. Cherry, Immediate Past Chairperson; James A. Forde; Marcia Levy Rosenstein; and Janet Stone, Awards Committee Chair.
The Awards presentations for 1998 were part of a Section evening reception, combining a business meeting and awards ceremony, held at the Capitol Hilton Senate Room, Tuesday evening, November 17. Members were invited to enjoy conversation and networking at a food and beverage event generously supported by The Health Administration Press, Inc. and Kaiser Permanente. The Section Chairperson deserves full credit for her hard work in acquiring funding for a very nice event.
The 1998 Section Award for Excellence in Health Administration went to the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), in recognition of their leadership and collaborative efforts over the years to promote and improve public health administration.
The Section Chairperson’s Award was presented to Vonna J. Henry, the 1998 Section Annual Meeting Program Chair, for her exceptional performance as a chairperson and in the development of a quality program.
The Section also presented to Deborah A. Plumb, Section Chairperson, an award for Exceptional Leadership, for her exceptional stewardship and dedication as the 1998 Section Chairperson.
Certificates of Recognition were awarded to acknowledge service to the Section. The extra effort made by the following individuals was responsible for the success of the Health Administration Section in 1998. The Section also acknowledged four APHA staff with Certificates of Recognition.
Diane L. Adams, MD, MPH
Ellen Skillen Alkon, MD
C. Louise Brown, MS, BSN
Susan B. Cahn, MA, MHS
Craig W. Carlson, MPH
Vicki Edwards, MPA
Lorna M. English, MS
Elsie E. Eyer, MS
James A. Forde
Ralph Forquera, MPH
Marjorie A. Geiger, MPH
Anna T. Gonzales, MPH
Andrew B. James, DrPH, JD
Gloria E. Jimpson, MS, MHSA
Linda Y. Landesman, DrPH
Lia Margolis, BS
Brian Christopher Martin, PhD, MBA
Jean Moody-Williams, BSN
Russell M. Opland, MPH, EMT-P
Giorgio Piccagli, PhD, MPH
Helga E. Rippen, MD, PhD
Marcia Levy Rosenstein, MPH, MPA
Brian L. Saylor, PhD, MPH
Nancy Shemick, MPA
Janet R. Stone, MA
Jeffery W. Todd, CAE, MS
Carolyn R. Thompson, PhD
Jon M. Thompson, PhD
William N. Washington, DPA, MPH
Richard A. Wissell, DrPH, MPH
Lester N. Wright, MD, MPH
APHA Staff
Kitty Hsu Dana
Michele Late
Seemin Pasha
Carole Zimmerman
MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE—Chair Elsie E. Eyer
At the Annual Meeting in November 1997, discussions were held regarding ways to increase Section membership. Issues related to retaining current members and recruiting new members were explored.
Subsequently, Barbara Reck, APHA Membership Coordinator was contacted. The Committee Chair, now receives a list of new members each quarter. Further, APHA sends the new members a letter, developed by the Committee, welcoming them to the Section.
The Health Administration Section remains the third largest APHA Section. The last membership report from APHA provided totals as of September 30, 1998. The Section had 2,580 primary members.
Midway through the year, Ms. Eyer was nominated to the office of APHA President-Elect. It is hoped that her candidacy will help bring visibility to the Section. Consequently several Section members have been actively involved in her campaign for the office.
MINORITY ACCESS COMMITTEE—Chair Lia Margolis
No report submitted.
NEWSLETTER COMMITTEE
The Section published four issues of its newsletter for a total of 44 pages—the highest page production of any previous program year. Andrew McBride developed a new masthead for the newsletter. John Racine resigned as Chair/Editor during the development of the June issue--the third issue. The Section Chair took over the responsibilities of that issue. The Chair arranged for APHA to cover the full cost of the June issue even though it was 14 pages. (APHA covers one 8-page issue per year.) APHA agreed to use that issue for membership recruitment and retention. Hudson Birden agreed to take the Newsletter Chair/Editor position for the fourth issue. Susan Klein and Elizabeth Berberian agreed to work with him. The Section Chair solicited funding from Aspen Publishers, Inc. to produce a special Annual Meeting supplement (8 pages) that was included in the fourth issue. Original articles were developed for the newsletter on managed care and information technology.
NOMINATING COMMITTEE—Chair Violet P. Cherry
The Nominating Committee comprised of Immediate Past Chairperson Violet Cherry, Chairperson Deborah Plumb, Chairperson-Elect Andrew McBride, Secretary Lorna English, Hudson Birden, Herb Houston, and Giorgio Piccagli, submitted a slate of candidates as follows:
Chairperson-elect - Andrew B. James and Ross P. Marin. Andrew B. James was elected.
Section Council - Elsie E. Eyer, Joyce R. Gaufin, David L. Gurule, Brian Christopher Martin, Gloria Brown-McNeil, and John Racine. David L. Gurule and Gloria Brown-McNeil were elected.
Governing Council - Diane L. Adams, Joseph D. Filippi, Marjorie A. Geiger, Frank Goldsmith, Margo D. Kerrigan, Santiago Munoz, Helga E. Rippen, Marcia Levy Rosenstein, Brian L. Saylor, Richard E. Steele, and William N. Washington. Diane L. Adams, Marjorie A. Geiger, Margo D. Kerrigan, Helga E. Rippen, and Marcia Levy Rosenstein were elected.
The Nominating Committee sponsored one 90-minute teleconference to review candidate backgrounds, and to make recommendations for the chairperson-elect and section and governing council positions. The Committee considered geographic region, gender, racial and ethnic background, and the level of Section activity by members whose names were placed on the slate.
Recommendations and Considerations
This was a very productive year for the Policy Development Committee. The Health Administration Section assisted with the development of major updates of American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian health care policy, developed a resolution on Medicare Waste, Fraud and Abuse, lead section efforts in the resolution and position paper review and actively participated in the policy process in the Governing Council.
At last year’s Governing Council meeting, the American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Caucus (AI/AN/NH) asked the Committee to collaborate on an update of APHA’s policies regarding health care for indigenous Americans. Over the next few months, the Policy Development Committee worked with the Caucus in preparing three resolutions for consideration by the Joint Policy Committee. Thanks to the efforts of the Caucus and Michael Bird, all three were introduced for consideration by the Governing Council. All three were passed by the Council along with the Medicare resolution on the consent agenda. This is a real credit to the Committee, the Section and the Caucus, and demonstrated, once again, the value of collaboration.
The numerous resolutions and position papers introduced for consideration by the Governing Council were reviewed by the Section membership last spring. Our comments were forwarded to the Joint Policy Committee for consideration. The revised policy statements were reviewed in at the Annual Meeting. Section suggestions, concerns and recommendations were raised at the four public hearings on the resolutions and position papers. To a large extent, our suggestions were included in the final drafts presented to the Governing Council at its Wednesday meeting.
The Section distinguished itself during the Governing Council debates on resolutions and position papers. The Section delegation actively participated on the discussions. The debate and passage of this year’s package was accomplished efficiently. This is a credit to us all!
Recommendation
Maintain a focused effort in resolution development and collaboration with other areas of APHA to continue the Committee’s success in future years as done this year. Maintain this momentum by suggesting themes for the coming year and submit draft resolutions by March 1999.
HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE—Chair Russell M. Opland
In April Russ Opland took over the responsibilities of the Chair of this Committee. The Committee produced a proposed position paper on Health Related Information Technology, developed a web site for the Section (www.panoptic.com/aphahas/), started a regular column in the newsletter on information technology issues, participated in Annual Meeting sessions and is considering development of a mini-grant proposal for 1999.
The proposed APHA position paper received a negative assessment from the APHA Joint Policy Committee (JPC) for a variety of reasons. The main ones related to a need to demonstrate the significance of information technology for public health, the need to delineate an action plan, and the need to represent the broader organization. After considering the JPC's response, and discussing it with the Committee members, the decision was made to withdraw the position paper. We will make inquiries of the Public Health Infrastructure Task Force about collaborating with them and re-submitting a position paper representing all of APHA's interests in 1999.
Helga Rippen agreed to do an ongoing column for the newsletter that started with the June issue. A number of members expressed the need to meet in person at the Annual Meeting. A Committee meeting was held at the Annual Meeting. Laura Larsson conducted a presentation at the Computer Theater, and the Chair facilitated three panel discussions at the Annual Meeting.
The web site that is linked to the APHA web site (www.apha.org) contains a welcome from the Section Chair, the Section Operating Procedures, Work Plan, Section Reports, leadership roster, Section-generated papers and links to other health administration related sites.
MANAGED CARE COMMITTEE—Co-Chairs Jon M. Thompson and Vicki Edwards
The Managed Care Committee had a very successful year. The Committee has broadened its membership and established a working core of individuals that have contributed their time and talents. The following describes our progress in achieving our objectives for the past year.
Status Report on Objectives for 1998
1. To provide a forum for identifying managed care models, and communicate these models through education sessions at the Annual Meeting, articles in the newsletter, and developing work papers for distribution to members and interested parties.
This objective is intended to address members continuing needs for knowledge of effective approaches and frameworks for implementing managed care programs in the public sector, as well as models that are being developed that successfully link public and private efforts. This objective will allow members to share effective approaches so that we can draw upon and consider real world experiences and successes prior to initiating individual activity.
Status Report: The Committee has successfully completed several newsletter articles on a variety of managed care topics. These topics include preparing public health departments for managed care, collaborative efforts among public health entities and private health plans, standards for HMOs, and Medicare’s new initiatives. Each issue of the newsletter contained at least one article prepared by a member of the Committee. In addition, the Committee completed its first work paper for distribution, A Managed Care Preparedness Analysis: An Approach for Local Health Departments,authored by Susan Cahn of the Chicago Department of Public Health.
The Committee also was active in reviewing abstracts for the 1998 Annual Meeting and coordinating the offering of contributed and solicited sessions.
2. To develop policy statements for the Association’s policy development process in conjunction with the Policy Development Committee and actively participate with the APHA Managed Care and Public Health Task Force in development of policy and other managed care issues related to health administration.
This objective is intended to create a mechanism to provide needed input on policy matters that will be considered by APHA and the Health Administration Section. As managed care continues to impact all aspects of health services delivery, it is important that the Health Administration Section focus efforts on developing policy that reflect the needs and concerns of section members.
Status Report: The Committee participated in the review of proposed policy statements put forth by the APHA Task Force on Managed Care and Public Health, and comments were then provided to the Task Force. The Committee Co-Chairs provided verbal input to the Task Force at its meeting during last year’s APHA Annual Meeting, and have continued to monitor the Task Force’s activities.
3. To create opportunities for networking by identifying content area specialists/and areas of interest.
The Health Administration Section is comprised of members who have significant areas of expertise, and who are accomplishing important activities in their respective areas of health services delivery and management. This objective is intended to foster collaborative activities and the sharing of information by identifying Committee members who have specific areas of interest/expertise and who are also willing to share that expertise by networking with others.
Status Report: The Committee has attempted to facilitate the sharing of information about member’s activities and areas of interest, so that the members can have access to, and benefit from, specific areas of expertise. Information sharing has been completed on an informal basis through personal networking among Committee members, and with contacts made as a result of the publishing of newsletter articles. We expect additional networking as a result of the first workpaper developed by the Committee.
PUBLIC HEALTH INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE—Chair Andrew B. James
No report submitted.
STRATEGIC PLANNING WORK GROUP—Giorgio Piccagli
The work group designed and distributed a long-range planning questionnaire to help the Section determine what the focus of its activities should be. Responses were received by mail, fax and e-mail and have yet to be analyzed. This analysis will be continued into the next year at the request of both outgoing and incoming Section Chairs and by action of the Section Council. That analysis will be joined with the analysis of a previous member questionnaire and then be distributed to Section leadership and membership for assistance in determining its implications for the operations of the Section. Many thanks to the members of the committee: Ellen Alkon, Los Angeles County Department of Health; Patricia Berry of the Vermont State Department of Health; and Pamela Paul-Shaheen of the Michigan Public Health Institute.
CHILDREN'S HEALTH LIAISON TO APHA—Gloria E. Jimpson
The Liaison responded with comments to APHA regarding the Children's Health Task Force's 20-page document in March and was active in maintaining communication with Debbie Klein Walker, the Intersectional Council's contact person.
MONOGRAPH ON NATIVE HEALTH—Diane L. Adams
The final draft of the American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian monograph on access and quality of health care has been completed. Final touches are being made on the monograph in preparation for publication. Diane Adams made arrangements with APHA to publish the monograph and make it available at a minimal fee. The monograph should be available in 1999.
STUDENT CAUCUS LIAISON—Hudson H. Birden, Jr.
No tangible activities to report.
OTHER ACTIVITIES
List Serve: To increase communication with our members, John Racine established a list serve for the Section. In May the Section shifted its activity to the APHA Health Administration list serve. The list serve improved communication and outreach for the Section and was a major factor in engaging new participation by members.
Committee on Women' Rights: Diane Adams was appointed as the Section representative to this APHA Committee.
Telecommunication Applications in Public Health: The Chair built on a relationship with the US Department of Commerce TIIAP (Telecommunication and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program) to encourage greater participation of public health organizations in building telecommunications infrastructure applications. Section leadership was invited to participate in the grant review process and three accepted (Giorgio Piccagli, Marcia Levy Rosenstein, and Joseph Orthoefer). A session was held at the Annual Meeting describing this program.
Roemer Prize Committee: The Chair represented the Section on the selection committee for the APHA Roemer Prize that is awarded to local health officers.
Challenge Grants: The Section developed and submitted two APHA Challenge Grants: "An Educational Strategy: Informing Hispanic Immigrants of Health and Social Service Benefits under the Welfare Reform Act" and "Program Standards for Local Health Departments: Who Requires Them and What Are They?" under the leadership of Andrew James and Richard Wissell, respectively.
Membership Deployment: Nominations for two members were submitted to APHA's Membership Deployment Process: Giorgio Piccagli (Committee on Affiliates) and Issac Montoya (Editorial Board). Giorgio Piccagli was appointed to the APHA Program Planning Committee.
Executive Director's Report: All APHA Executive Director's Reports were made available to the membership through the Health Administration list serve by the Chair based on action of the Section Council.
Fundraising: The Section raised $5,800 in sponsorship money to support the Annual Meeting supplement of the Newsletter and the reception at the Annual Meeting/Awards Ceremony. This amount increased our budget by 87 percent.
Nominations for APHA Offices: The Section Council endorsed one candidate for the APHA Executive Board during the nominations’ process. The APHA Nominations Committee selected two Health Administration Section members for APHA’s national slate: Elsie Eyer for President and Trula Breuninger for the Executive Board.
Violence Prevention: Andrew Chen volunteered to work with the Injury Control and Emergency Health Services Section in its effort to mobilize APHA in violence prevention activities.
Section Council: After a three-year hiatus, the Section Council met regularly holding three telephone conference meetings plus meetings at the Annual Meeting in addition to email communications. The Council voted a special award (Exceptional Leadership in Health Administration) to the Chair for her leadership and proposed changes to the Section’s Operating Procedures. The Section Council approved revised Health Administration Section Operating Procedures at the Annual Meeting. Minutes for all Section Council meetings are available from the Secretary of the Section, Lorna English.
Submitted,
Deborah A. Plumb, MPH
1997 - 1998 Chair, Health Administration Section
Attachment: 1997 - 1998 Work Plan