September 24, 2009
DelDOT Administration Building
800 S. Bay Road
Dover, Delaware 19901


Board Members Attending
S. Bernard Ableman, Chair Staff
Judith A. Chaconas
Robert L. Reed, Vice Chair Francis Osei-Afriyie
Mary Torsch Carolyn Mailey
J. Kenneth Saunders Kelly Shaughnessy
Sarah Noonan
Thomas Mulhern Attorney General’s Office
William O’Connor Erika Tross
Suzanne Raab-Long
Faith Rentz Office of Hlth. Fac. Lic. & Certification
Christian Francke Barbara Bowser
Linda Heller

Call to Order
Mr. Ableman called the meeting to order. He announced that the Board would not be able to meet on October 22, 2009. The Board agreed to meet on October 29th. The Chair also informed the Board that initially he wanted to cancel the meeting for lack of action items, however, he decided to convene the meeting to solicit input into the significant changes he had proposed concerning the Certificate of Public Review statute.

Approval of Minutes
The Chair said that the caption was missing from the minutes and suggested that in the future it should be included. A motion was made by Mr. Reed and Mr. O’Connor and seconded by Mr. Franke to accept the minutes of the July 23, 2009 meeting. The minutes were unanimously approved as distributed.

Conflict of Interest
Mr Mulhern indicated that his employer is involved with surgery centers and, therefore, has a conflict in any discussion involving surgery centers.

Certificate of Public Review – Discussion of proposed changes to the enabling statute

Mr. Ableman had previously distributed his proposed changes to the Board through the Bureau.
He explained the changes that he had proposed and announced that he wanted input from the Board and the general public. Among the proposed changes are:
 Making an appeal to the Board’s decision available to not only to the applicant, but also to anyone who demonstrates active participation in an application under review
 Making changes to the fee schedule
 Reducing the size of the Board from 21 members to 15, eliminating organizational appointments and appointments of individuals from industries other than health care and individuals representing the public-at-large
 Decreasing the capital expenditure threshold from $5.8 M to $4.0 M.
 Expanding the scope of activities subject to review to include the establishment of endoscopy, colonoscopy and pain management
 Adding language to the “purposes” section of the statute that states that “market forces do note function well in the delivery of health care
 Adding language to indicate the board’s intensity to focus on cost and adding language about excess capacity

A separate proposal by Mr. Mulhern would add urology and any facility applying to Medicare to be paid as an Ambulatory Surgery Center.

It was noted some organizations were reviewing the proposal and their comments would be forthcoming. Finally, after a lengthy discussion related to the proposal, it was decided that the Chair would appoint a subcommittee to examine the elements in the proposal and report back.

Other Business
None noted

Public Comment
There were no public comments.

Announcement of the Next Meeting
The next meeting is scheduled for October 29, 2009 at 2:30 p.m. at this same location.

Adjournment
As there was no further business to be brought before the Board, the meeting adjourned.

Attending Guests
Rosalie Ableman
William Weaver, Dover Behavioral Health
Mr. Torsch
Leah Jones, Delaware Health Care Commission
Nitan Rao, Medical Society of Delaware
John Van Group, Bayhealth Medical Center
Suzanne Rodenheiser, Delaware Surgery Center
Sarah Nichols, Christiana Care Health System

Note
Subsequent to the meeting a committee was appointed to review and make recommendations on the Chair’s proposals, with Linda Heller as Chair and Mr. Saunders, Mr. Mulhern and Mr. O’Connor as members.