Transcript Funding for State Health Agencies: Status and Impact
Presented by Rivka Liss-Levinson and Katie Sellers November 9, 2012, 1pm – 2pm (EST)
Question: I am not sure who is coordinating the survey response for my agency. How can I find out? Answer: A survey link for your agency was forwarded to the Primary Senior Deputy for your agency. If you do not know who this is, please contact the survey research team at [email protected]
or 571-318-5404.
Question: I am the Primary Senior Deputy and I have not received an email with the survey link and/or the email with submission instructions and my agency specific PIN. Answer: Please contact the survey research team at [email protected]
571-318-5404. We can provide you with the emails/information.
or
Question: I am not the Primary Senior Deputy, but would like a link to the survey. Can you forward it to me?
Answer: The way our survey administration system works, the invitation and link to the survey is automatically sent to the Primary Senior Deputy. The link is meant to be forwarded by the Primary Senior Deputy to others within the agency. The best option is for the Primary Senior Deputy to forward you the invitation (if they have lost it we can resend it to them so they can forward it to you). The only way you can receive the link directly is if the contact information for your agency is changed so that you are listed as Primary Contact. This will generate a new link to the survey and render the initial link inactive.
Question: Is it possible for us to get a copy of the ASTHO survey as a word document? We need to distribute the survey to the various departments responsible for the question areas, and it would help greatly if we could give them a word document to fill in.
Answer: Unfortunately, we do not have a word version of the survey to share. The online questionnaire was designed so that it can be completed in multiple sittings and/or by several people. You may print out a blank copy of the survey, have your team complete it, and then enter the responses online. The print survey function does provide a non-editable PDF version of the survey.
Question: This survey is very long. It will take me a long time to complete it. Answer: The survey is broken into parts to reduce the burden of response on any one individual. This questionnaire is designed so that it can be completed in multiple sittings and/or by several people. In the Table of Contents (on the first page of the online survey entitled “Intro”), we have made suggestions as to the most appropriate respondent for each section of the survey. The primary contact for the survey can forward the survey link to the appropriate staff members and ask them to enter the information directly into the web-based survey. Alternatively, they can print out a blank questionnaire, distribute hard copies to the appropriate individuals, and then go online to enter the information they provide.
Question: This survey is very long. It will take me a long time to complete it. Answer: Data from the Profile Survey is extremely useful to ASTHO members, funders, and policy makers. Members call and email ASTHO every week to ask how many state health agencies deliver a given program or function. For example, a SHO relied on Profile Survey data when he needed to report to his legislature how many state health agencies oversee acupuncture. Most recently, ASTHO Profile Survey data was used to know which state health agencies oversee pharmacy boards in relation to the meningitis outbreak. states and territories.
Federal policymakers frequently ask how certain issues are handled in the states and territories. Without this survey, ASTHO wouldn’t be in a position to answer on behalf of all
Question: Where do I go to do the following?
Print a blank copy of the survey View or print my survey (completed or while working on it) Submit my completed survey View, download and print my agency profile Answer: Download ASTHO blank survey Survey Results Submit Survey Agency Profile
Question: In my health agency, Public Health is part of a larger umbrella agency that includes Medicaid, mental health, aging, substance abuse, and crime victims. Should my responses to the survey include Public Health Administration only or the larger umbrella agency as well?
Answer: Please include the entire umbrella agency for your responses to Part 2 and Part 3. For the remainder of the survey, your response should only include Public Health.
Question: Most of the questions in Part 2 are about whether the state agency does an activity, or contracts out for it. When I check ‘no’ on the contracting out section, that does not mean that someone else is not performing the function – but rather indicates that we are not paying for the performance of the activity through a contract. For example: The regulation, inspection and/or licensing of food service establishments are conducted by our local health jurisdictions – supported by local fee revenues. Therefore I am checking: Performed by the state/territorial public health agency directly = No; Contracted out by state/territorial public health agency = No. Two no’s doesn’t mean the work is not being done by the public health system, but rather that the state is not directly doing or financing the work.
Answer: You are correct in how you are responding to the survey. This year we decided not to ask state health agencies about what other entities are doing. Local health departments will report that they carry out that activity on the NACCHO survey, so we will be able to tell that it is actually conducted in your state by the public health system, just not by the state health agency.
Question: For question 2.15, what does “institutional certifying authority for federal reimbursement” mean?
Answer: This language refers to the certification of health care providers for Medicaid/Medicare reimbursement, including nursing homes. If your agency is responsible for determining which physicians and/or nursing homes are eligible to be reimbursed by Medicaid and/or Medicare for services provided to Medicaid/Medicare patients, then you should affirm that you are the certifying authority.
Question: For questions 3.1(Which best describes the structure of your state/territorial public health agency?) and 3.2 (If your agency is under a super-agency or umbrella agency, what are the major areas of responsibility of the larger agency that are separate from the statutory responsibility of the state/territorial public health agency in this organization?) we do not consider ourselves a super-agency. However, we do have Medicaid within our agency. My initial response was to answer it as "Free standing/independent agency" because in most ways that fits best. For example, the State Health Officer is head of the agency which includes Medicaid rather than being subsidiary to a larger agency head in a superagency with both health and Medicaid. Answer: Yes, please classify your agency as a free-standing/independent agency.
Question: For question 3.2, our agency is under a super-agency, which has a number of other major areas of responsibility that are separate from the statutory responsibility of the state/territorial public health agency, but there is not enough space in the “other” category to list everything.
Answer: Please enter "provided by email to R. Liss-Levinson on [date]" in the "other" text box, send an email to your state's survey response.
with your full response, and we will make sure the full answer is incorporated into
Question: What is the time frame for the workforce section of the survey?
Answer: Please use the current date when responding to questions in the workforce section.
Question: Are questions 4.34 (What is the approximate value of current fringe benefits as a percent of annual salary?) and 4.35 (Please check those fringe benefits included in the answer to question 4.34 above) broadly applicable to the entire state health agency workforce or are they specific to the state health official?
Answer: They are specific to the state health official.
Question: For Question 5.1, W there are seven federal agencies listed, along with a federal indirect column. At my agency we have federal grants from U.S. DOJ, U.S. Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Social Security Administration, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and U.S. SAMHSA. here do we put grants received from these other agencies?
Answer: Below the table in 5.1, there is text that reads “ In the space provided below, please record any caveats regarding the expenditures reported for your agency's fiscal years 2010 and 2011 (e.g. any difficulties in reporting on fiscal data in the timeframe requested, the inclusion or exclusion of expenditures by the categories listed in the chart or others, or other footnote information to clarify any variation in reporting).” Please list the federal agency, amount per fiscal year, and expenditure category for grants received from other federal agencies here.
Question: My agency is a division within a large umbrella agency that operates under a federally approved cost allocation plan in lieu of an indirect rate. Where do we include the cost allocation attributed to each expenditure? Answer: Please include the cost allocation attributed to each expenditure category under the indirect rate column in question 5.1. There is a question after this (5.3) about whether your agency uses cost allocation or an indirect rate.
Question: For Question 5.1, the Infectious Disease category is supposed to include the cost of vaccine and administration – would this also include the VFC and 317 dollars used for vaccines? Answer: Yes, please include VFC and 317 dollars used for vaccines in the Infectious Disease category.
Question: Where can I find the definitions for the expenditure categories in question 5.1?
Answer: Due to space constraints on the actual survey, a spreadsheet containing definitions for each expenditure category in question 5.1 was sent out to each state/territory’s CFO. If anyone from your agency needs this spreadsheet, please contact [email protected]
and we will send it to you.
Question: When I generate the agency profile, the data is incorrect. Can you tell me where (which questions) the data is being pulled from so I know how to correct the report?
Answer: The agency name, agency mission, board of health, and relationship to the local health departments have all been entered prior to the launch on the survey. The remainder of the data for the profile is pulled from the following parts/questions of the 2012 survey.
Answer (continued): We have provided this key so that you can go back to the relevant question if your agency profile is incorrect.
Agency Profile Topic Part Question
Top 5 Priorities Agency Structure # of local/regional health agencies Part 3: Agency Structure Part 3: Agency Structure Part 3: Agency Structure 3.7
3.1
3.3
Reports Directly to Governor Health Assessment Health Improvement Plan Strategic Plan Sources of Funding (FY11) Expenditures (FY11) FTEs State workers assigned to local/regional offices Part 4: Workforce Part 6: Planning and QI Part 6: Planning and QI Part 6: Planning and QI Part 5: Finance Part 5: Finance Part 4: Workforce Part 4: Workforce 4.23
6.1
6.2
6.6
5.1
5.1
4.1
4.2