ADOPTED - OCTOBER 13, 2009

Agenda Item No. 28

Introduced by the Human Services Committee of the:

INGHAM COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

RESOLUTION TO RATIFY AN AMENDMENT TO THE INGHAM

 COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER BOARD BYLAWS

RESOLUTION #09-336

WHEREAS, Ingham County operates a network of community health centers that provide outpatient ambulatory primary care health care services to 25,000 medically underserved individuals annually; and

WHEREAS, Ingham County operates two community health centers (Otto and Willow Health Centers) that undergo annual recertification through the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC) as Federally Qualified Health Center Look-Alike (FQHC-LA) operations; and

WHEREAS, successful FQHC-LA recertification results in the BPHC’s recommendation to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services requesting continued designation of  each of these community health centers as a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC); and

WHEREAS, the BPHC’s review of Ingham County’s FQHC-LA recertification has determined that the Ingham Community Health Center Board is not compliant with Article V, Section A of its Bylaws specifying that “The Community Health Center Board shall consist of not less than thirteen (13) and not more than seventeen (17) members”; and

WHEREAS, the Public Health Services Act specifies that organizations receiving funds through the Community Health Center Program must maintain a governing board of at least nine (9) but no more than twenty-five (25) members, as appropriate for its complexity (42 CFR § 51c.304); and

WHEREAS, the Ingham Community Health Center Board has struggled to maintain its Board composition above thirteen (13) members, while ensuring that a majority of its members are patients of the FQHC as required by federal statute [42 CFR § 51c.304(a)]; and

WHEREAS, the Ingham Community Health Center Board amended Article 5, Section A of its Bylaws on September 23, 2009 as follows: “The Community Health Center Board shall consist of not less than thirteen (13) nine (9) and not more than seventeen (17) members.”

WHEREAS, the BPHC has indicated that failure to comply with this requirement could result in de-designation of the Health Department’s two FQHC-LA community health centers; and

WHEREAS, the Health Officer has recommended that the Board of Commissioners ratify the Ingham Community Health Center Board’s amended Bylaws.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Ingham County Board of Commissioners hereby ratifies the Ingham Community Health Center Board’s amendment to Article V, Section A of its Bylaws as follows: “The Community Health Center Board shall consist of not less than nine (9) and not more than seventeen (17) members.”

HUMAN SERVICES:  Yeas: Tennis, Davis, McGrain, Schor, Dougan, Vickers

 Nays:  None          Absent:  None           Approved 10/5/09