Wisconsin Society of Orthotists, Prosthetists & Pedorthists
September 26, 2008 Meeting
The following minutes are a condensed summation of the actual recorded minutes. For a copy of the full minutes, please contact Andrea Pavlik, CO at (920)-803-9610.
The meeting was called to order at 3:00 PM by Vice President Dennis Farrell. Dennis addressed the membership regarding the absence of Dennis Janisse, President due to family illness.
Minutes
The minute's form the April 25, 2008 meeting were distributed and accepted by a unanimous vote.
Treasury Report
Jim Sadjak, treasurer, announced that the balance in the WSOPP account is at $27,562. Expenditures this year have been made for postage, printing, CEU applications and Membership Meeting costs.
Jim also announced the Board of Directors request to change the corporate status of WSOPP from a non-stock corporation to a 501(c)6 Tax-exempt Trade Group. The reason for this change is to eliminate the need to pay taxes on fund-raising/ membership monies. A vote was taken and all membership approved unanimously. It is noted that the change will be done by October 31, 2008 and that the by-laws of WSOPP will need to be amended to reflect the new corporate status.
Election Results
Dennis Farrell announced the results of the 2009 elections. One position is open: 3 year term Director.
Results were:
21 for David Castellanos
1 for Glen Goranson
Dennis and the WSOPP Board of Directors welcomes David Castellanos to the Board of Directors
Committee Reports
Medicaid Committee
Greg Gruman, chair of the Medicaid Committee, reported that there has been little activity within the Medicaid Committee due to the updates that Medicaid is currently preparing to undergo. Medicaid representatives provided a good introduction to their new system capabilities and how to access their new and improved system which will be implemented in mid-November.
Greg also reported that Medicaid has written of formal request to ad a new position to hire an O&P consultant (they are requesting 1-3 positions). The committee is hopeful that this will help to improve O&P PA submission requests. The request for a new position has been unanswered at this point.
Greg updated the membership on the fee schedule changes that Medicaid has stated they would implement. These changes have been in a Medicaid review committee for the past 6 months. WSOPP continues to work on this issue.
Bob Agard stated that he is having issues in his region with physical therapists billing L-Codes to Medicaid in Wisconsin. This is a new issue brought to the committee and will be researched. Once researched, the committee will address the issue with Medicaid.
Licensure Committee
Tom Current spoke on behalf of Mick Batton regarding the progress the Licensure Committee has been making. The Committee has a final draft composed and has presented it to the Board of Directors for approval. Once the Board approves, the draft will be mailed to the Membership for a 45 day review period prior to the April 24, 2009 meeting at which point the draft bill will be voted on.
Parity Committee
Jake Wood made note that the ACA has been active on a federal level, with Congress passing a prosthetic parity bill. The senate has been developing a sub-committee, but no action has been completed. Morgan Sheets, of the ACA, has requested WSOPP's assistance in meeting with Senator Kohl to discuss the federal bill. The goal of the meeting was to create a relationship at the state level; however, contacts were made, but WSOPP was unable to secure a meeting with Senator Kohl.
Jake also reported that WSOPP's Wisconsin Parity Bill was not assigned a bill number as planned in 9/2008 due to a lack of support form the state committee. We can re-attempt to have a bill number issued after the November 2008 elections. If everything goes well, a bill number could be issued as early as 1/2009. Until a bill number is issued, all facility parity packets will be held and Town Hall meetings will also take place after the bill number is issued. The Town Hall meetings will be held at non- O&P facilities and will be open to the public and media to help gain support for the Parity Bill.
Jake also commented that the ACA has been very helpful in generating form letters and contact information, however, we need to isolate who is on the state review committee that may take a personal backing to this issue.
Communication Committee
Andrea Pavlik reported that the committee is currently negotiating a contract with a web developer to design and implement a new, more interactive webpage. The new Web developer will allow WSOPP to make update changes as needed to keep the site as up-to-date and useful as possible.
The Communications committee also has been working on securing a site for the spring 2009 Semi-Annual Membership meeting. The meeting will be held on April 24, 2009 at Rock Gardens, Green Bay, WI.
Andrea also asked that anyone with idea for the Newsletter or for educational speakers please contact her.
