May 2024 Board Minutes

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May 10, 2024 

Board Members Present:  Kelli Houston, Bryan Raines, Bob Lutz, Dvid Crump, Beverly Sarles, Mark Wakai, Julie Honekamp, Kurtis Robinson, David Crump, Lynn Kimball, Jennyfer Mesa, KJ January, Ricki Peone, Rachel Ferguson, Tamika LaMere,  Luke Baumgartner, Shawn  Brigman, Lacey Bacon, Juliana Repp, Kiana McKenna, Hancel Sanchez, and Ryann Louie, Stephanie Courtney, and Ash Riant 

Rachel called us to order. 

During the welcome, Rachel acknowledged Jennyfer Mesa and thanked her for her support of BHT as she has stepped down as Board Chair. Jennyfer shared thoughtful comments about the need for additional support for BIPOC leaders. The Chair role is a big commitment and requires added support for individuals, especially when they are from community-based organizations. 

Kiana read our Land Acknowledgement. 

Mark read our Statement on Anti Racism 

Kelli provided a short equity reflection on the history of Black History Month. 

Motion: To approve the May Consent Agenda  

April Board Minutes  

April Finance Committee Notes  

2023 Prelim Year End Financials  

Feb 2024 YTD Financials  

April Strategy & Living our Values Notes  

April Governance & Belonging Notes  

May Executive Committee Notes  

Moved: Dave Seconded: Luke APPROVED 

Abstain: Julie 

Tribal Partners Collaborative Update 

Alison provided a history of the Tribal Partners Leadership Council transitioning to the Tribal Partners Collaborative 

Board Development Updates 

Rachel and Kelly shared the thinking of the Board Goverannce and Belonging Committee and Board Strategy & Living our Values Committee recommendation that we hire a consultant to support the goals of: 

  • Assess BHT’s current Board culture.  

  • Lead a process to finalize values, beliefs and principles with our strategic direction.  

  • Define the roles and responsibilities that we expect will include a Board Manual.   

  • The Board provided feedback on skills/experience necessary. 
     

Board Belong Survey was distributed 

Adjourn 

Funding Opportunity: Telehealth Implementation Plan Consultant

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Funding Opportunity: Telehealth Implementation Plan Consultant

To support the needs of Newport School District, BHT is looking for a consultant to design an implementation and sustainability plan for a telehealth service to be offered in Newport High School, and the alternative High School, Pend Oreille River School, by March 30, 2024. Learn more here.

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Behavioral Health Supervision Funding Opportunity: Year 1 Summary

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Behavioral Health Supervision Funding Opportunity: Year 1 Summary

We released funding to support provider organizations with SUD and master’s level behavioral health staff with supervision so that the staff can gain critical licensure and to build capacity for supervision in our region. Here’s how our first year went..

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Smile Survey participation supports Spokane County children’s oral health!→

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Smile Survey participation supports Spokane County children’s oral health!

The 2023 Smile Survey is making significant progress across the state. So far, thanks to the partnership of school districts, the survey has reached 55% of schools randomly selected for the sample. In Spokane County, the Smile Spokane Collaborative is seeking connections to selected schools to support participation in the Smile Survey.

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Pathway to our Regional Health Improvement Project

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We’ve been eagerly awaiting news on the Medicaid Transformation Waiver but, since we aren’t ones to just sit around, we’re moving full speed ahead.

We’ve spent months synthesizing the wealth of information generated in our Idealized Design and Community Linkage mapping sessions to develop and inform our Regional Health Improvement Plan and the selection of a Regional Health Improvement Project. During our focus group conversations, our community worked together to inventory existing linkages between community resources, and identify where linkages were broken or non-existent. Across those conversations, one need presented itself over and over again: the need to “coordinate the coordinators.”

The diversity of partners in our ACH Leadership Council members demonstrates the leadership and dedication needed to radically improving the health of our region. We agree the most emergent need is not to scale any one community resource or service but to build stronger and more navigable connections between the coordinators and resources already available.

This was realized in our design sessions as a need for “air traffic control” or a patient-centered workforce that helps coordinate services across all sectors. Independent organizations need the flexibility to explore their own models and develop their strengths, but to nurture healthy community, patients need services that communicate, collaborate, and speak the same language of care.

From this idea, we’ve pulled together a workgroup to explore the Pathways HUB model and serve as the steering committee for our Regional Health Improvement Project. Alisha Fehrenbacher from Empire Health Foundation, presented on to the ACH Leadership Council in March on her experiences implementing the Pathways HUB model (view her slides here) in Oregon. It is an evidence-based model currently deployed in over 20 regions of the US, that positions care organizations around a centralized HUB, and has been shown to effectively address risk factors, improve health and reduce costs.

We feel confident this model has a lot to offer our region and are excited to explore it further. The workgroup will continue to develop our plan throughout the summer, with the hope that we will be in position to hit the ground running once we hear about the waiver. If you are interested in joining the Leadership Council, please email Alison@betterhealthtogether.