A state panel on Monday endorsed providing $7 million in federal coronavirus relief funds to the Northwest Arkansas Council's Health Care Transformation Division for covid-19 contact tracing, testing and case coordination for the region's Hispanic and Marshallese populations.
The 15-member CARES Act Steering Committee, appointed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson, also called for the division to aid those populations in Independence, Randolph, Sevier and Yell counties.
The CARES Act is the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, passed by Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump in late March. The federal law provided $1.25 billion in coronavirus relief funds to the state of Arkansas.
The steering committee also voted to back the state Department of Finance and Administration's request for $4 million in federal coronavirus relief funds to contract with a partnership of two companies to develop a database required to be used by all state agencies, cities and counties to limit the state's risk of paying back federal funds not properly reported or documented.
The companies are the Center for Toxicology and Environmental Health of North Little Rock and the Haggerty Group of New Jersey, said finance department Secretary Larry Walther. The finance department's Office of Accounting requested quotes from the Center for Toxicology and Environmental Health, Horne LLPC and Guidehouse, Walther said in a memo to the steering committee.
The steering committee also recommended approval of the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame's request for $300,000 for grant funding to support minorities affected by covid-19.
The steering committee comprises eight of the governor's department heads; his deputy chief of staff of external operations, Bill Gossage; and three state senators and three state representatives.
Officials in the Health Care Transformation Division told the steering committee last week that they sought $6.5 million in federal coronavirus relief funds to help finance the region's comprehensive plan for virus contact tracing, testing and coordination for Hispanic and Marshallese residents. The virus has had a disparate effect on those groups.
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They said that effective outreach for testing, contact tracing and improved case management is important for managing the spread of covid-19. The division includes Washington Regional Medical System, Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas, Community Clinic, Arkansas Children's Northwest, Veterans Health Care of the Ozarks, Whole Health Institute and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, according to the division's proposal.
Before the committee endorsed funding for the division, committee Chairwoman Elizabeth Smith said Monday that the council is willing to take on the contact tracing for both Sevier and Yell counties and that it would add roughly $460,000 beyond the council's initial request for $6.5 million, so she suggested increasing the council's request to $7 million.
Committee member Johnny Key, who is secretary of the state Department of Education, said Randolph County has experienced an influx of Marshallese and Hispanics and that Independence County experienced an influx of Hispanics.
Another committee member, Rep. Lane Jean, R-Magnolia, made a motion to add Independence and Randolph counties to the council's proposal, and the steering committee approved that motion in a voice vote with no audible dissenters.
Stephanie Williams, chief of staff for the Department of Health, said that "the dollars that [the Northwest Arkansas Council will] receive for testing will be utilized by private providers, UAMS and others to expand testing capacity as well."
"The testing services that they'll provide will not be limited to Washington and Benton County" in the northwest part of the state and will include Carroll, Crawford, Franklin, Madison and Newton counties, she said.
Another committee member, Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, said, "I think we need to be prepared to maybe duplicate this system all across the state when it comes to contact tracing for populations and testing."
Some people in her Senate district are sometimes waiting for two weeks for covid-19 testing results, she said, and some people haven't received their results from tests taken July 1.
"If you can't test somebody and can't get that result back, then there is really no good for contact tracing to track that down, if you are two weeks behind schedule," Irvin said. She said that more rapid-testing equipment needs to be distributed across the state to make contact tracing more effective.
Williams said the department serves Marshallese and Hispanics through its local health units across the state.
"In our discussions with the Northwest Arkansas Council, the counties that they can pick up and serve, that gives us the ability to redirect our Marshallese staff and our Spanish-speaking staff to other areas of the state, where we know there is also a need, so it does increase our bandwidth and capacity as a state," she said.
Another committee member, Sen. Will Bond, D-Little Rock, said, "I don't see the big-picture plan laid out in front of me so I know yes, this fits in, we need to fund this, or we need to fund this more."
"I am for the Northwest Arkansas [Council] proposal," he said. "We need to be ready for additional testing, quicker testing turnarounds, testing access all across the state also. I want to make sure that we are getting that in place with the money we have."
Walther said, "Sen. Bond makes an excellent point, and it might be helpful if the Department of Health could take that comment and maybe [make] a presentation to the steering committee to help get it in perspective for us.
"We are trying to provide resources for the Department of Health and others [across the state] to accomplish the defeat of virus, and it would help to bring it together for this committee ... so we'll have a better understanding of what the big plan is out of the Department of Health," he said.
Irvin said the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee that she chairs will hold a meeting with the Department of Health on this matter in the next week.
Meanwhile, Walther said in a memo to the steering committee that the finance department is requesting $4 million for a database solution that will be required to be used by all state agencies, cities and counties.
"The $1.25 billion from the CARES Act and other federal funding ($500 million plus) being received by state agencies [through the CARES Act] has brought to light the need for a comprehensive solution to manage the funding strategy, disbursement and compliance and audit requirements of these funds," he wrote.
Walther said the state needs to contract with an entity that has the experience and expertise necessary to perform adequate analysis of all CARES Act funding sources to maximize the federal funding available.
The finance department's Office of Accounting is concerned that proper and adequate documentation for audit purposes is not being requested and maintained at the state agency level, he said.
With the steering committee's recent approval of setting aside $150 million in federal coronavirus relief funds for the cities and counties, "it is also imperative this be addressed with the Arkansas Municipal League and Association of Arkansas Counties before CARES Act funding is disbursed to approximately 500 cities and towns and 75 counties within the state," Walther wrote in his memo.