Members present:                                        
Marv Birnbaum                                               
Cheryl Glomp                                                                          
Dan Williams                                                   
Dick Collyard                                                  
Tim Bjelland                                                    
Don Hunjadi                                                    
Steve Teale                                                     
Terri Richards                                                  
Don Hagen
Gloria Murawsky

Bureau Staff:
Rick Barney
Jon Morgan
Nan Turner
Ann Moses
Marianne Peck
Mary Jean Erschen

Others in Attendance:                                   Representing:
Judy Jones                                                        Luther – Eau Claire
Jan Victorson                                                   Bayfield Co. Emergency Management
Keith Kesler                                                     Douglas Co. Emergency Management
Keith Wesley                                                    Sacred Heart – Eau Claire
Karen Wesley             
Beth Natter                                                      Mercy Hospital – Janesville
Barb Kuska                                                      Beloit Memorial Hospital
Kathy Crandall                                     EMS Coordinator
Lorie Utech                                                      Prohealth Care Inc.
Dave Henning                                                   Gold Cross – Fox Valley
Mindy Allen                                                      Green Co EMS
Mary Austin                                                     Monroe Clinic
Deb Sweeney                                                   Monroe Clinic
Patricia Padjen                                     UW Hospital
Barb Johnson                                                   Gunderson Lutheran
Julie Brady                                                       Waukesha County Technical College
Don Kimlicka                                                   Gunderson Lutheran
Cal Lintz                                                           Green Bay FD EMS
Joy Erb-Moser                                                 St. Joseph’s Hospital
Mark DeGuire
Laura Ahola                                                     UW Hospital
Chris Batchelder                                               Burlington Memorial Hospital
Tracy Froiland                                                  Appleton Medical Center
Joe Jensen                                                        Regions Hospital
Joe Covelli                                                       WEMSA
Mary Powers                                                   Children’s Hospital of WI Poison Center
Michael Fraley                                      St. Joseph’s Hospital
John Chapin                                                     WI Division of Public Health 

Dan Williams called the meeting to order at 10:05 at the Comfort Inn, Madison.  Everyone in attendance introduced him or herself.

Dan Williams made a presentation to Karen Wesley and Mark DeGuire for their service to the EMS Board.  Both Board members have resigned because of other commitments.

Dan Williams reminded committee chairs to submit their action plans to Jon Morgan as soon as possible. 

The Standing Committees gave their reports.  Included in each standing committee report was a report from any ad hoc committees that are assigned to the standing committee.

Data & Research
Don Hunjadi is the new chair and listed the committee’s goals

1.       Return data to providers.  Review data collected by WEMSIS and release some EMS collected data reports back to providers.

2.      Patient Confidentiality – looking at issues related to HIPAA.

3.       Meet with EMS Office & Dan Williams to look at issues of scope & funding for future data collection and analysis.

1.      Reviewed EMSC protocols for incorporation into the core EMT curriculum.  The committee’s recommendation is that protocols are system specific and should be used at the provider’s discretion and not be part of the formal curriculum.  Motion by Gloria Murawsky, seconded by Tim Bjelland that the protocols are valuable and should be considered by providers, but EMSC protocols not be part of the core curriculum.  All Present – Aye.  The protocols will be included on a CD with all EMT-basic and EMT-basic IV protocols.  It was noted that the protocol work is of great value and that pediatric care is a unique area that has greatly benefited by the work of the EMSC committees.

2.      Ongoing evaluation of WI EMS education with the EMS Education Agenda for the Future.

3.      Jim Keiken and Ken Sternig will work on evaluating the feasibility of developing and implementing transition curriculums between license levels.

4.      Linda Pace is leading a group looking at quality of instruction.  Their report should be done by 5/2003.

Dick Collyard reported on the committee meeting. 

The committee met twice.  The initial meeting was to look at training costs and use of FAP funds.  The committee asked for a DHFS legal opinion on FAP distribution issues.  They also looked at four options for changing the distribution:
1)      Give all the money to providers
2)      Pay providers at the end of year by invoice
3)      Pay provider based on completed training records
4)      Set a dollar amount for training

The committee also discussed the Interfacility Transport guideline document and provided input.  The document is receiving public feedback and a summary will be presented at the May meeting.

Systems Management
Marv Birnbaum reported on the committee meeting.  The committee discussed:

Ad-hoc Committee activities:

CQI committee – Developing a white paper on their mission + 2 CQI templates

•  Chest pain -  looking at  time of arrival, time on-scene, time to medication administration, & time to  transport

•  Scene times - time to at patient, time on-scene and time to hospital.

             Disaster – Marv Birnbaum discussed a draft grant proposal on terrorism and EMS related funding needs.  The committee made recommendations on the grant proposal to include the committee’s priorities:

• Coordination  & control (Special need for training of management initially).

• Communication & IT systems (Connectivity and infrastructure)

• Training and education

• Team Building (Interagency coordination).

System Committee activities:
1.      The Systems Committee has submitted their grant application for web based EMS Communicator Training to DOT.
2.      The EMS Communicator legislation is in its 4^th draft, but has not been introduced.
3.      No work has been done on the finance report or the hospital triage guidelines since the last meeting because of time constraints.
4.      The committee will reexamine the regionalization report and update the concept as necessary.

Communications – Jon Morgan reported the committee has almost completed the draft of the State Communications Plan and is partially done with the Users Manual.  The first part of the document is an overview of EMS communications and what the current status is in Wisconsin.  The second part, the Users Manual, is a how-to of what’s involved in EMS communications and minimum standards for equipment and protocols for logistical and medical communications.   The State Plan draft will likely be completed at the next meeting and the User’s manual will be further defined and perhaps be ready for a final draft review.  The next meeting is Monday April 8 in Appleton at the Radisson Paper Valley from 2pm – 5pm.  This coincides with the Governor’s Conference on Emergency Management, which is being held on April 9, & 10.

EMS-Children - written report
A written report was submitted that highlighted EMSC activities. 

EPAC (EMS Physician Advisory Committee)
Keith Wesley reported on the following issues discussed at the January EPAC meeting:
1.      Medical Director Course – met with UW contact for posting material on their website.  Final draft is being completed with voice overlay and related questions and options for interactive content on the web.  It will be available in 2 formats: CD-ROM and web.  Narration is to be done by the April EPAC meeting with the goal of implementation in the summer.
2.      Interfacility transport document review.  The consensus was that it was a good document, but needs a medical direction component.  EPAC review should be done by the April meeting.
3.      Working with data ad-hoc committee to coordinate data system development.  Developing a list of sentinel events that could be flagged for surveillance purposes.

Dan Williams discussed the 2 EMS Board openings and encouraged interested parties to send a letter of interest & CV to Jon Morgan at the Bureau of EMS & Injury Prevention.

Committee chairs were asked for their requests for meeting times at the May meeting:

Wednesday, March 6
Systems          2                                                                 

The schedule will be drafted and sent to chairs for comment prior to distribution.

Dr. Barney reported on his activities and highlighted the following:
1.      Thanked Dr. Wesley for all his work on the Medical Director web course.  He noted the course needs to include Interfacility transport and EMTALA information.
2.      Working with Trauma Advisory Committee to implement the trauma system.
3.      HFS 112 modification to the rules is stuck in committee and the original version will become effective when the legislative session ends.
4.      He will be speaking at Cable and Appleton.
5.      Starting to work with Injury Section to develop data presentations to promote change to decrease injuries.

Dan Williams asked for Board input on holding a June retreat.  It was agreed the retreat should take place and Dan Williams will finalize the dates and get information to Board members.  Dan also asked members to notify the bureau if they have special requests for background information needs for the retreat.

It was also recommended that the Board hold off on making a decision on whether to hold a July Board meeting until after the May Board meeting.

John Chapin, Division of Public Health Administrator, talked to the Board about pending federal funding for bioterrorism activities.  He asked how the funds could best be coordinated to have the most impact.  John provided an overview of the funding and the related issues of what might be funded and considerations for that funding.  He also suggested that funding and activities need to be organized regionally to maximize impact.  Board and audience members provided input on how this funding could best be utilized from an EMS perspective.

Jon Morgan reported on state issues that included:
1.      Trauma System – there are two funding versions in process: the Governor’s budget repair bill and AB 743.  Both are still moving through the legislative process.
2.      HFS 111 – Became law March 1, 2002.  Board and audience members were given a copy and a copy will be mailed to all providers and medical directors in the next section mailing.
3.      Changing statutory language – Clarified how statutory language can be changed: 
·        Via wording correction for technical changes, which usually occurs once a year
·        Via legislation to change intent or meaning
4.      2002 – 2003 State Plan – the state plan is in draft form and will be completed in March.  The plan will mirror the Board priorities that were developed after the NHTSA site visit and EMS Board retreat in June 2001.

Don Hunjadi reported on some legislative issues that are still pending:
1.      DNR necklace option in addition to bracelets.
2.      Extrication $ - A bill providing money for a special extrication course.
3.      Length of service award – modify current law to include First Responders and include county volunteers.
The legislative session ends March 14, so anything not passed by that date will not become law.

There was a discussion of the PSOW home safety booklets and their use as an EMS piece to injury prevention.  The booklets are still available, but there has not been a great demand.

Dr. Barney noted that there has been a lot of work done to update license levels and scope of practice.  There still needs to be work done to work on transitioning between levels.

There was a long discussion about the need for improving the hospital diversion problem. Motion by Terri Richards, seconded by Marv Birnbaum, to request that the bureau set up a formal dialect linking EMS and hospitals to proactively deal with hospital diversions.  PAC also needs to get to the hospital diversion issue and make a recommendation. 

There was a discussion of how EMS and public health interact.  It was recommended that the EMS Board representatives should set-up a meeting with key local public health organizations.  John Chapin and /Jon Morgan will discuss this and set-up meetings.

Mary Jean Erschen provided an EMSC written report and asked to be on the May agenda to talk about the BELSS grant project.