June 2006

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Philodemic Room

Attendees:  Robert Robinson, William McElroy, Virginia Flavin, Jean Daly, Elliott Crooke, Mary Anne Mahin, Eileen Fenrich, Rosemary Kilkenny, Jo Ann Moran Cruz, Vivian Murphy, Spiros Dimolitsas, Charles DeSantis, Susan Buckingham, Clint Brooks, Dana May, Rachel Bridges

The meeting was called to order at 3:10 p.m.

Elliott Crooke welcomed Professor William McElroy to the committee.  Professor McElroy is replacing Karl Cerny as the main campus representative for retirees. 

Approval of Minutes from May 24 Meeting

The minutes from the May meeting were unanimously approved with minor revisions.

Subcommittee Recommendations: Medical, Dental & Vision

HANDOUT

Charles DeSantis led the committee in an overview and discussion of the recommendations made by the subcommittee charged with exploring potential plan changes for 2007.  

It was  proposed that the BAC table any consideration of changing prescription benefits for 2007 and focus on the following recommendations:

1.  4 tier enrollment structure

1. • Employee
   • Employee + spouse
   • Employee + child(ren)
   • Family

 2.  Addition of CareFirst Open Access Point of Service (OA POS) to current medical plan offerings

It was suggested that the subcommittee confirm that the Georgetown Faculty practitioners are included the CareFirst network.  A question was raised pertaining to the percentage of CareFirst providers accepting new patients – as this has been a problem for some members of our community with UHC doctors.   It was suggested that UHC is experiencing provider relations issues due to its recent acquisition of the MAMSI network and subsequent contract re-negotiations; CareFirst does is not currently in the midst of that kind of challenge.   Because the OA POS is a new type of plan offering it will be imperative that the Georgetown community receive clear and timely communications.

The CareFirst POS network would add one of the lost ‘top NCPPO 12’ providers; the Blue Shield network (which would allow those covered by the CareFirst plan to access providers at a capped and discounted ‘out-of-network’ rate) would add 6 of those 12 providers lost during the UHC transition.

It was suggested that Georgetown employees should have access to CareFirst POS provider listings as they make their decisions regarding medical coverage for 2007.  T committee was assured that provider listings would be available at Benefits Fairs, in the Benefits office,  as well as easily accessed on the CareFirst website.

On July 12 a representative from CareFirst will attend the Benefits Advisory Committee meeting.  At that time the committee will dig more deeply into the issues of network, access and customer service.  It was stated that because CareFirst BlueChoice is a local network they don’t have the breadth of standardized processes and procedures of UHC; however, they have a better understanding of local providers and scenarios.

Because the committee spent a significant of time discussing the medical recommendation it was decided to defer discussion of the dental recommendation until the July 26 meeting.  The subcommittee will reconvene, prior to July 26, to discuss the dental options in greater detail and provide a more thoughtful and thorough recommendation.

University Contribution Philosophy

PRESENTATION – HANDOUT

A draft philosophy was presented for comment, in addition to several contribution scenarios.  The specific scenarios presented had favorable impact on categories with the exception of those enrolled under ‘family’ in the UHC PPO.  It was asked if we could have an equitable contribution that didn’t increase the employee contribution for UHC PPO Family enrollees by more than 22%?

The BAC will continue discussion on this topic at the next meeting.

The meeting adjourned at 5:34 p.m.