Legislature(2025 - 2026)DAVIS 106
03/27/2025 03:15 PM House HEALTH & SOCIAL SERVICES
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Presentation(s): Citizens Review Panel and Office of Children's Services Response | |
| State Medical Board | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES STANDING COMMITTEE
March 27, 2025
3:33 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Genevieve Mina, Chair
Representative Andrew Gray
Representative Zack Fields
Representative Donna Mears
Representative Mike Prax
Representative Justin Ruffridge
Representative Rebecca Schwanke
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
PRESENTATION(S): CITIZENS REVIEW PANEL AND OFFICE OF CHILDREN'S
SERVICES RESPONSE
- HEARD
CONFIRMATION HEARING(S):
State Medical Board
Samantha Smith - Anchorage
- CONFIRMATION(S) ADVANCED
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
RETCHENDA GEORGE-BETTISWORTH, DSW, Chair
Alaska Citizens Review Panel
Fairbanks, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Co-offered the Citizens Review Panel and
Office of Children's Services Response presentation.
KIM GUAY, Director
Office of Children's Services
Department of Family & Community Services
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Co-offered the Citizens Review Panel and
Office of Children's Services Response presentation.
SAMANTHA SMITH, PA, Appointee
State Medical Board
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified as appointee to the State Medical
Board.
ACTION NARRATIVE
3:33:45 PM
CHAIR GENEVIEVE MINA called the House Health and Social Services
Standing Committee meeting to order at 3:33 p.m.
Representatives Prax, Ruffridge, Schwanke, Mears, Gray, and Mina
were present at the call to order. Representative Fields
arrived as the meeting was in progress.
^PRESENTATION(S): Citizens Review Panel and Office of
Children's Services Response
PRESENTATION(S): Citizens Review Panel and Office of Children's
Services Response
3:34:31 PM
CHAIR MINA announced that the first order of business would be
the Citizens Review Panel and Office of Children's Services
Response presentation.
3:35:05 PM
RETCHENDA GEORGE-BETTISWORTH, DSW, Chair, Alaska Citizens Review
Panel, as co-presenter of the Citizens Review Panel and Office
of Children's Services Response presentation, began a
PowerPoint, titled "CRP Alaska Citizen Review Panel," [hard copy
included in the committee file]. She explained that Congress
created citizen review panels (CRPs) as part of the Child Abuse
Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) to make child protection
systems more responsive to community needs. She described the
federal and state mandates on CRPs and the structure of the
Alaska CRP. Dr. George-Bettisworth explained the three primary
functions of the Alaska CRP: evaluation, public outreach, and
advocacy. She described the common activities of the CRP,
including regular meetings, national conferences, and work plan
activities.
3:41:44 PM
DR. GEORGE-BETTISWORTH described the annual report for fiscal
year 2024 (FY 24), [hard copy included in the committee file],
including both findings and recommendations from this report.
She said the annual report also includes prevention efforts,
specifically screened-out reports, and referrals to support
services. She said that the CRP organizes its focus areas into
two phases: education and knowledge building; action and
implementation. The CRP's current focus areas include mandatory
reporting and out-of-home placement. She said that in spring
2025, the CRP will develop a set of recommendations based on
findings from its focus areas to be included in an annual
report.
3:51:08 PM
DR. GEORGE-BETTISWORTH, in response to a series of questions
from Representative Gray, distinguished "removal of children"
from "intervention by OCS." She said that some cases may be
screened out after intervention by OCS, without removal
occurring. She said that she cannot remember Minnesota's
procedures regarding screened-out reports, to compare to
Alaska's procedures. Dr. George-Bettisworth explained that
privacy and confidentiality are both barriers to OCS' ability to
connect at-risk families to community providers.
3:59:07 PM
REPRESENTATIVE PRAX said that it would be helpful if more people
could ask for help without leading to intervention.
4:00:20 PM
DR. GEORGE-BETTISWORTH, in response to a series of questions
from Chair Mina, explained that every state is different, with
different activities regarding their child protection systems.
She said that the CRP has recently began collaborating with the
Children's Justice Act (CJA). She said that the CRP is fully
volunteer-run, while members of the CJA task force are
identified by specific individuals from agencies within the
child protection system.
4:03:44 PM
DR. GEORGE-BETTISWORTH, in response to questions from
Representative Fields, said that the scope of the CRP primarily
includes OCS. She said that depending on the expertise of the
committee, different perspectives regarding child welfare are
brought to the CRP, but their work primarily focuses on children
impacted by the child protection system.
4:06:50 PM
REPRESENTATIVE PRAX said that he is very impressed by the CJA
task force and recommends that others attend their meetings.
4:07:49 PM
DR. GEORGE-BETTISWORTH, in response to questions from
Representative Gray, emphasized the need for a community shift
to better care for children. She said the CRP is working
towards reducing the number of families at risk at all.
4:11:07 PM
KIM GUAY, Director, Office of Children's Services (OCS),
Department of Family & Community Services (DFCS), as co-
presenter, began the next part of the Citizens Review Panel and
Office of Children's Services Response presentation with a
PowerPoint, titled "Office of Children's Services Response to
FY2024 Citizen Review Panel Report," [hard copy included in the
committee file]. She said that recruitment and retention have
been ongoing issues for OCS for numerous years. She described
the OCS's strategies for improvement, including expanding their
social media presence and paying for internships. Ms. Guay said
that in 2022, OCS adopted a framework from the US Attorney
General to improve staff retention. She described some
retention strategies including improving the safety of OCS staff
and providing more opportunities for growth within the agency.
She said each year OCS does an annual survey of the entire staff
to receive direct feedback. Ms. Guay differentiated between the
"threshold of risk" and children who are unsafe. She emphasized
the need for prevention measures, which would require more
community involvement. She acknowledged that there is a stigma
surrounding OCS.
4:24:24 PM
MS. GUAY, in response to questions from Representative Fields,
stated that over 80 percent of OCS cases are due to substance
misuse. She explained that many factors determine whether a
report is screened in or screened out. She described the OCS
process that follows a report being made. She said she does not
know the number of child neglect cases that are due to economic
circumstances.
4:27:23 PM
REPRESENTATIVE PRAX thanked Ms. Guay for the improvements made
to OCS over the last five years. He expressed curiosity about
potential informal connections that could made between families
and community providers.
4:30:00 PM
MS. GUAY, in response to questions from Representative Gray,
said that 21,590 is typical for the number of protective
services reports received within a year, excluding the years
during the pandemic where less mandated reporters were working
with children. She said that OCS struggles to fill positions in
rural Alaska and Anchorage and that this may cause OCS to miss
children who may be at risk. Ms. Guay explained that it can be
difficult to convince individuals that they need services. She
emphasized the need to remove the stigma from receiving services
and asking for help. Ms. Guay said the need for staff is a
barrier to prevention work.
4:38:17 PM
MS. GUAY, in response to a question from Representative Fields,
explained that OCS has a variety of strategies with the
Department of Health (DOH) but she does not know if there is one
specific to substance abuse.
4:40:37 PM
MS. GUAY, in response to questions from Chair Mina, said that
OCS has been building out its complex care coordination
infrastructure. She said that the Division of Public Assistance
(DPA) is also involved in this work and there are a lot of
interconnectivities between agencies.
4:42:33 PM
REPRESENTATIVE PRAX said that he took the mandatory reporter
training, but he does not want to be a mandatory reporter. He
asked for more instructions for representatives on what they can
and cannot do to help people.
MS. GUAY described the 907 Navigation application ("app") to
connect individuals with resources.
CHAIR MINA said she will help show Representative Prax how to
use the app.
4:45:46 PM
MS. GUAY, in response to questions from Representative Schwanke,
described the process for determining whether a case involves a
child who is Alaska Native. She explained how OCS collaborates
with the tribe of a child who is Alaska Native. She said that
OCS is mandated to do its own investigation if a report is made,
although the tribe may conduct its own additional investigation.
4:51:10 PM
MS. GUAY, in response to a question from Chair Mina, said that
in certain communities, OCS hires letters of agreement (LOA)
staff who work one week on/one week off. She said that even in
Anchorage, Alaska, OCS is struggling to meet the needs of
children who need services because of the recruitment and
retention issues the office is facing.
4:53:18 PM
MS. GUAY, in response to questions from Representative Fields,
said that OCS has done some recruiting for staff in high schools
but could do more. She said she is interested in doing more
community engagement in rural areas.
4:56:00 PM
MS. GUAY, in response to questions from Chair Mina, said OCS
needs to build into its management training. She said that OCS
does have some culturally relevant practices, including
connecting with regional Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA)
specialists and partnering with tribes for community events.
She also recognized a need for improved technology.
5:00:07 PM
MS. GUAY, in response to questions from Representative Gray,
said that she has initial concerns regarding legislation other
states have regarding child welfare and she would need more
information on the legislation Representative Gray referenced.
^CONFIRMATION HEARING(S):
CONFIRMATION HEARING(S)
^State Medical Board
State Medical Board
5:03:30 PM
CHAIR MINA announced that the final order of business would be
the confirmation hearing for the governor's appointee to the
State Medical Board.
5:04:52 PM
SAMANTHA SMITH, PA, Appointee, State Medical Board, in response
to questions from Representative Ruffridge, said that licenses
need to be inspected more. She explained that if aspects of a
licensure application raise concern, those aspects must be
followed up on and more information must be received by the
State Medical Board. Ms. Smith said that emergent board concern
regarding patient safety cannot wait 30 days. She emphasized
that the individuals that practice medicine in this state must
have the patients' best interest in mind. She described the
process that the State Medical Board takes after receiving a
complaint.
5:15:07 PM
MS. SMITH, in response to questions from Representative
Schwanke, said that she has not worked in rural Alaska, but she
has worked with patients who live in rural Alaska. She said
that most of her work is in functional practice, and she focuses
on treating the immune system. She said she agrees with the
principle of SB 98 but she thinks that two years of practice may
not be sufficient to protect the safety of patients in very
remote areas. She emphasized the need for well-rounded
physicians.
5:22:10 PM
MS. SMITH, in response to questions from Representative Fields,
described functional medicine. She said that functional
medicine looks at a problem area and seeks to answer why and how
that problem occurred. She said she examines the body as a
whole system in her work. She also expanded on her previous
statement that Alaska has "subpar medicine" by providing
examples that she has witnessed of patients not receiving the
proper care they needed or receiving care that worsened a
condition. Ms. Smith said that she may not be the most
qualified PA for the board but emphasized her commitment to
serving patients in Alaska.
5:31:09 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GRAY gave context to the Alaska Academy of
Physician Assistants, emphasizing the volunteer efforts of the
professional organization. He responded to Ms. Smith's comment
regarding Alaska having "subpar medicine" by describing his
positive experiences with physicians in Alaska. He asked Ms.
Smith if she understands what the next steps of this
confirmation process are.
MS. SMITH responded that confirmation would occur at the joint
meeting in May. She said she will continue to serve on the
State Medical Board until that hearing, after which she will
either continue serving or be removed from the board.
5:36:43 PM
CHAIR MINA stated that the House Health and Social Services
Standing Committee has reviewed the qualifications of the
governor's appointee and recommends that the following name be
forwarded to a joint session for consideration: Samantha Smith,
State Medical Board. She said that signing the report regarding
appointments to boards and commissions in no way reflects an
individual member's approval or disapproval of the appointee,
and the nomination is merely forwarded to the full legislature
for confirmation or rejection.
5:37:12 PM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Health and Social Services Standing Committee meeting was
adjourned at 5:37 p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| Alaska Citizen Review Panel HHSS Presentation 2025.pdf |
HHSS 3/27/2025 3:15:00 PM |
|
| 2023-2024-Alaska-CRP-Annual-Report.pdf |
HHSS 3/27/2025 3:15:00 PM |
|
| 2024-2025-Alaska-Citizen-Review-Panel-Work-Plan.pdf |
HHSS 3/27/2025 3:15:00 PM |
|
| OCS-CRP Response 3.27.25.pdf |
HHSS 3/27/2025 3:15:00 PM |
|
| Samantha Smith Medical Board Resume_Redacted.pdf |
HHSS 3/27/2025 3:15:00 PM |
|
| Samantha Smith Testimony Batch 1 03.28.25.pdf |
HHSS 3/27/2025 3:15:00 PM |
|
| Samantha Smith Testimony Batch 2 03.31.25.pdf |
HHSS 3/27/2025 3:15:00 PM |