$7M in coronavirus money headed to NWA.

The money will pay for covid-19 contact tracing, testing and case coordination for the region’s Hispanic and Marshallese populations.

LITTLE ROCK — A state panel on Monday endorsed providing $7 million in federal coronavirus relief money 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 help the 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 federal coronavirus relief to Arkansas.

The steering committee also voted to back the state Department of Finance and Administration’s request for $4 million in federal coronavirus relief 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 money 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 committee also recommended approval of the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame’s request for $300,000 to support minorities affected by covid-19.

The committee includes eight of the governor’s department heads and his deputy chief of staff of external operations Bill Gossage, along with three state senators and three state representatives.

Officials in the Health Care Transformation Division told the committee last week they sought $6.5 million 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 impact on those groups.

They said 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, Community Clinic, Arkansas Children’s Northwest, Veterans Health Care of the Ozarks, Whole Health Institute and the University of Arkansas for

Medical Sciences Northwest, according to the division’s proposal.

Before the committee endorsed money for the division, committee Chairwoman Elizabeth Smith said Monday the council is willing to take on the contact tracing for both Sevier and Yell counties and will 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’s secretary of the state Department of Education, said Randolph County has experienced an influx of Marshallese and Hispanics and 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 committee approved the motion.

Stephanie Williams, chief of staff for the Department of Health, said “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 testing 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 turn-arounds, 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, “Senator 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 she chairs will hold a meeting with Department of Health on this matter in the next week.

Meanwhile, Walther said in a memo to the committee 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

with expertise necessary to do adequate analysis of all CARES Act money sources to maximize the federal money available. The department’s Office of Accounting is concerned proper and adequate documentation for audit purposes is not be requested and maintained properly at the state agency level, he said.

With the committee’s recent approval of setting aside $150 million in federal coronavirus relief money 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,” he wrote.