TNCO Committees

Accreditation – Phil Garner, Buffalo River Services & Tim Ryerson, Easterseals Tennessee, Co-chairs
The Accreditation Committee’s mission is to develop a plan to move forward with Accreditation oversight strategies regarding DIDD, TennCare and provider agencies. The proposed plan will provide a modernized common sense approach of improved quality of services without unnecessary, duplicitous, expensive monitoring that lacks integration with recognized quality indicators.

Governmental Affairs – Steve Cox, Dawn of Hope & Lori Wooten, RHA Health Services, Co-chairs
The Governmental Affairs Committee is responsible for developing the annual legislative initiatives of the association.  Working with TNCO staff, our Lobbyists and Legal Advisors, the committee researches legislation presented by the Tennessee State Legislature and its potential impact on our member agencies and the developmentally and intellectually disabled community.

Health Care – Melanie Keller, Meritan, Chair
The Health Care Committee researches health-related issues and regulations.  The committee also collaborates with state personnel to streamline the Medication Administration Training Curriculum, review QE standards related to health care, and serves as the consultative advisement for the TNCO Board of Directors regarding health care issues.

Intermediate Care Facilities (ICF) – Diana Jackson. Life Bridges & Tera Roberts, Orange Grove Center, Co-chairs
The ICF Committee helps connect ICF providers to discuss common challenges and opportunities and through TNCO it advocates with TennCare.

Membership – Jennifer Enderson, Emory Valley Center & Margaret Gartlgruber, RHA Health Services, Co-chairs
The Membership Committee’s main focus is to increase membership and provide beneficial membership advantages. This committee works on a wide variety of projects yearly, including conferences and educational training opportunities, the annual awards program and membership forums. This committee also sponsors the TNCO website and Network Headlines.

Public Relations – Robin Atwood, TNCO, Chair 
The PR Committee works to maintain a positive image of the organization in the community by planning for and monitoring public relations and publicity activities year-round. The committee also helps plan and develop marketing efforts that support the organization’s services and programs.

Regulatory – Debi Gonzalez, MillarRich &  Kristen Otto, Emory Valley Center, Co-chairs
The Regulatory Committee diligently reviews all state regulations that pertain to provider agencies and the people with intellectual and developmental disabilities that they support.

Technology – Jarrod Adams, Evergreen Life Services, Chair
The Technology Committee keeps the TNCO Board of Directors abreast of technological advances that could provide cost-savings and critical workplace improvements for provider agencies.

TEIS –  Amy Stiles, Arc of Knox County, & Michelle Fox, DSDC, Co-chairs
The TEIS Committee provides updates to TNCO members on policies, procedures, and services that are being implemented by the Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (DIDD). By identifying best practices and advocating for their adoption, TNCO membership plays a critical role in ensuring quality services for families of children birth up to age three have been identified as having a disability or developmental delay. 

Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) – Lee Brown, Progressive Directions, Chair
The VR Committee evaluates the impact of VR policies and procedures on Tennesseans with disabilities seeking to obtain or retain competitive integrated employment. The committee accomplishes said task by gathering data and direct feedback from TNCO providers. This information allows a continuum of review and advocacy while assessing equity and efficiency among all stakeholders.

Workforce Solutions – Amy Crowe, BIOS Corporation & Phil Garner, Buffalo River Services, Co-chairs
The purpose of the WSD Committee is to learn what it will take to remedy the situational problem specifically related to not being able to hire DSPS and also not being able to retain DSPS for long periods. The solution must be both short term to give some immediate relief and long term to bring some lasting benefit to providers and to the people we support and serve.