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THESE MINUTES ARE SUBJECT TO APPROVAL BY EMPLOYEE MEDICAL BENEFITS BOARD
The Employee Medical Benefits Board held a regular meeting Monday, September 17, 2012 in Meeting Room #1 at the Municipal Center, 3 Primrose Street, Newtown, CT. Chairman Mark Mattioli called the meeting to order at 6:15 pm.
PRESENT: Mark Mattioli, Donna Van Waalwijk, James Loring, Paul Smith, and Dan McAloon
ALSO PRESENT: Finance Director Robert Tait
COMMUNICATION: None
ACCEPTANCE OF THE MINUTES: Mr. Mattioli moved to accept the minutes of June 4, 2012. Ms. Van Waalwijk seconded the motion. All were in favor.
NEW BUSINESS
Discussion and Possible Action: Mr. Mattioli discussed prior questions regarding wellness and performance guarantees. The discussion of Stop/Loss will be tabled until there is a discussion with Mr. Spurgeon. Mr. Tait said that Mr. Spurgeon should be providing this information before the next meeting.
- Performance of Claims Experience Q2 2012 (Fiscal year ending June 30, 2012): Mr. Tait reviewed and explained the unaudited financials for 2011-12 cost and utilization summaries. He discussed the total net assets, the monthly claims analysis, and the Renewal Cost Summaries. Total Net Assets as of June 30, 2012 is $2,445,728 (not including dental). It was noted that the reserve is healthy.
- Reserve Fund Performance: The Summary of the Utilization Review was discussed (See charts entitled “Financial and Utilization Dashboard (Paid Claim)”. The board discussed costs of pharmaceuticals and how to keep costs under control, i.e., utilization of generic drugs or pill splitting (larger dose pills that can be split for use).
- Propose Wellness Programs to Town/BOE: The Board discussed options by BC/BS on wellness programs, i.e., health fairs, blood tests, as a bigger concept of health risk assessment or health advocates. Mr. McAloon suggested reviewing disease management programs (a whole-person concept). It was explained that disease management is focused more on the people who have chronic conditions, helping them stick to their doctor’s recommendations and complying with their medication regimen. Wellness starts from the other end of the health spectrum, educating and advocating for members to stick with or adopt healthy behaviors. The Board discussed health risk assessments and incentives for participating in these programs. Mr. Tait said that Mr. Spurgeon will have more
information on this in late October at the same time he delivers the stop-loss analysis.
- Input to Town/BOE re: Performance Guarantees: Mr. Spurgeon will be prepared to talk about this at the next meeting. Mr. McAloon recommended a hard metric of financial accuracy of claim processing of no less than 99%. He referred to this as "DAR".~
- Review Open Enrollment to HSA: The board discussed the HSA option, which is not currently offered to the Town side. After reviewing the materials, Mr. Mattioli called out the banking fees as an area of concern (try to negotiate no fees for members). This is available in the market. Mr. Mattioli mentioned a few quick metrics that can be shared with employees to help them understand how current participants are fairing on the plan: Average HSA balance at year end; what is the persistency rate from the prior plan year; what was the new enrollment; what was the overall performance of the HSA-compatible health plan (medical loss ratio on that population). A survey could also provide feedback that could be shared with the employees from people who are enrolled in that option. Ms. Von
Waalwijk mentioned how these types of plans (ones that have several features that differ from traditional health plans) often concerns employees since they do not want to make so many changes.
- Consideration and Possible Nomination for 2012 Chairman – Mr. Mattioli said that he does not intend to continue as Chair after the end of this term (January 2013). The Board will meet on December 3rd. He asked the other members to consider taking over this role.
ANNOUNCEMENTS – None
ADJOURNMENT: Having no further business, the Employee Medical Benefits Board adjourned their regular meeting at 7:10PM
Respectfully Submitted,
Tammy Hazen, Clerk
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