BENEFITS ADVISORY COMMITTEE

MINUTES OF MEETING

OCTOBER 19, 2006

[In these minutes: Murray Harber Introduction, Open Enrollment Presentation, UPlan Metrics, Wellness Update]

[These minutes reflect discussion and debate at a meeting of a committee of the University Senate; none of the comments, conclusions, or actions reported in these minutes represent the view of, nor are they binding on the Senate, the Administration, or the Board of Regents.]

PRESENT: Gavin Watt (chair), Tina Falkner, William Roberts, Karen Wolterstorff, Jennifer Imsande, Jerremy Mlenar, Sandi Sherman, Don Cavalier, Joseph Jameson, Michael Marotteck, Carla Volkman-Lien, Amos Deinard, Richard McGehee, Peh Ng, Theodor Litman, Rodney Loper, Dann Chapman

REGRETS: Jody Ebert, George Green, Gladys McKenzie

ABSENT: Linda Aaker, Rhonda Jennen, Carl Anderson, Carol Carrier, Frank Cerra, Fred Morrison, Keith Dunder

OTHERS: Linda Blake, Ted Butler, Karen Chapin, Murray Harber, Shirley Kuehn, Kathy Pouliot, Jackie Singer, Phyllis Walker

I). Gavin Watt called the meeting to order.

II). Dann Chapman introduced and welcomed Murray Harber, Wellness Program manager and stated that he is very excited about the knowledge, energy and ideas that Mr. Harber brings to this position.

III). Karen Chapin provided members with an open enrollment presentation. She noted that a more detailed version of this presentation could be viewed via Breeze, a web conferencing program. The link to the Breeze presentation will be on the Employee Benefits website.

Highlights from her presentation included:

• Open enrollment will take place from November 1 – 30, 2006.
• All changes to benefit elections must be made on-line at http://hrss.umn.edu/ except for an election for same sex domestic partner coverage, which must be made through a paper application.
• During open enrollment employees can add medical and/or dental coverage, cancel medical and/or coverage or change plan options.
• With regard to dependent coverage, employees must elect to cover their dependents every year.
• Civil Service or represented employees can elect to participate in voluntary Long Term Disability (LTD) coverage or change their LTD benefit amount. A pre-existing condition limitation applies to LTD.
• A new election is required each year in order to be able to participate in the Healthcare and/or Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts.
• 2006 is a voluntary open enrollment year.
• Medica, HealthPartners U Classsic Plus and Delta will issue new cards. RxAmerica and HealthPartners Dental will not issue new cards.
• Three benefits fairs have been scheduled – November 2 at UMD, November 8 on the St. Paul campus and November 9 on the Minneapolis campus.
• Free flu shots will be available at all the benefits fairs and other flu shot clinics will be set up on each of the campuses as well. Because flu shots are considered preventive, no co-pay is required if UPlan participants go to their own clinic, MinuteClinic or QuickCare.
• While all medical plan options will remain the same for 2007, there are a couple of changes within the plans:
• New travel benefit for base plans (Medica Elect & Essential and Medica Choice Regional), Insights by Medica and HealthPartners U Classic Plus. This benefit provides in-network coverage for travelers and out of area students. Plan participants must use network providers.
• Co-pay increase for Insights by Medica from $10, $25 and $40 to $15, $30 and $50. These increases were necessary in order to keep the rates for this plan affordable.
• Medica Direct HRA/HSA program improvements: The University’s contribution to the HRA/HSA accounts increased and the HSA co-insurance was reduced from 20% to 10%. The HRA/HSA options are structured similarly, but have different deductibles.
• RxAmerica will remain the University’s pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) for all UPlan medical options in 2007. Pharmacy co-pays will remain the same for 2007 for all plans except the HRA/HSAs - $10 generic plus, $20 formulary brand and $35 non-formulary.
• The University’s generic drug usage increased dramatically over the past year from 50.4% to 57%.
• The RxAmerica/University formulary is on the RxAmerica website at http://www.rxamerica.com/umn/welcome/#. This website also contains the following information: pharmacy locator, co-pay finder, participant’s claim history, mail order information, and drug information.
• Open enrollment for dental coverage has been changed from alternate years to annually, beginning in 2006.
• Dental plan benefits will not change for 2007.
• Delta dental options were renamed to reduce confusion amongst the plans. The Delta Preferred Option was renamed to Delta Dental PPO and Delta Preferred Option/Delta Premier was renamed to Delta Dental Premier. The networks will remain the same with typical minor changes in providers.
• Plan participants must enroll/re-enroll in the Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) every year. Contributions to these accounts (healthcare flexible spending account and dependent care flexible spending account) are made with pre-tax dollars.
• The FSA timeframe has been extended. For 2007, FSA claims can be incurred between 1/1/2007 and 3/15/08. Any amount remaining after 3/15/2008 is forfeited. 2006 FSA claims can also be incurred through 3/15/2007.
• Standard Insurance Company, effective 1/1/2007, will be the new provider for Civil Service and represented employees who elect voluntary short and long-term disability coverage. All coverage will automatically transfer and rates for this coverage will be reduced for 2007.
• Civil Service and represented employees can enroll in long-term disability coverage during open enrollment. This coverage has a pre-existing condition clause, which states that any disability related to medical issues during 2006 will not be covered for 24 months.
• Civil Service and represented employees can enroll or increase short-term disability coverage at any time. Enrolling after open enrollment requires proof of good health.
• The Academic Disability Program will move from Minnesota Life to Standard Insurance Company effective 1/1/2007. All coverage will automatically transfer.
• There will be a new telephonic claim filing process for disability coverage.
• Life insurance can be increased or decreased at any time during the year. Proof of health will be required for increased coverage.
• Long-Term Care Insurance coverage will move from CNA to John Hancock effective 4/1/2007. The new program will offer improved benefits, lower rates (in most instances), expanded eligibility and guaranteed issue coverage for all active employees. Detailed information regarding this coverage will be distributed in January 2007.

IV). Ted Butler distributed a handout containing information on the metrics used for reporting on the UPlan medical program. The three sets of metrics that are used include:

1. Overall financial metrics
2. Pharmacy program metrics
3. Medical utilization metrics

These metrics are used for reporting on and analyzing the Plan’s performance. Using a series of charts and graphs, Mr. Butler provided members with summary UPlan financial, pharmacy and medical utilization data through second quarter 2006. The data he shared was frequently compared with previous year(s) data to allow members to see trend.

Next, Mr. Butler distributed a handout, which contained emergency room visit information for first quarter 2006. Without knowing all the specifics, he stated that it is likely some of the diagnosis could have been able to be treated in a non-emergency room setting such as a doctor’s office, urgent care, Ask Mayo Clinic Nurse Line, QuickCare or MinuteClinic. Examples of these diagnosis included headache, earache, strep throat, etc. He noted that this handout is not meant to indicate that all these visits were incorrect uses of the emergency room, but rather to highlight the types and number of emergency room visits; some of which seem to be for seemingly minor conditions.

V). Before providing members with a brief wellness report, Murray Harber, Wellness Program manager, shared background information about himself. In terms of the University’s Wellness Program, Mr. Harber highlighted the following:

• The HealthPartners 10,000 Steps Program was launched approximately two weeks ago and over 2,500 people have signed up to participate in the program thus far. Employees, spouses, same sex domestic partners and early retirees can enroll in the program through December 31, 2006.
• A Nutrition and Wellness Work Group has been set up as the University prepares to go out to bid for its food and beverage contracts early next year. The group has been set up to help draft RFP language in an attempt to secure healthier food options across the campuses from the selected vendor(s). Mr. Harber serves on this work group.
• A University of Minnesota Wellness Collaborative (http://www1.umn.edu/ohr/wellness/market/collabroative.html) has been established on the Twin Cities campus. Groups across campus interested in promoting wellness established this collaborative. This collaborative was recently highlighted in the Wellness Works magazine. Its focus is to join together around issues of health and wellness.
• In 2007, in addition to active UPlan employees being able to earn two $65 incentive payments for completing a wellness assessment and participating in a health improvement program, spouses and same sex domestic partners can also earn these rewards for participating in these programs. Dependent incentive rewards are payable to the employee.

A member stated that she has received feedback from UPlan participants that the Harris HealthTrend coaches do not have a lot to offer other than encouragement. A lot of their representative’s comments are very general/generic and not particularly useful. Mr. Harber stated that there are groups of individuals that resonate to phone-based counseling, others to face-to-face counseling and still others who prefer to take matters into their own hands. Ms. Chapin added that the Lifestyle Management Program health coaches are all college-educated and trained to do coaching. The coaches that work with participants with chronic health issues or diseases will always be a registered nurse or registered dietician. Ms. Chapin agreed that it would be good to pursue sharing this information with Harris HealthTrends in an attempt to make the program more helpful to participants.

Mr. Harber thanked members for their Harris HealthTrends comments. He stated that based on what he heard more needs to be done to provide UPlan participants with Harris HealthTrends credentialing information and to provide members with information about the different choices that are available to them in terms of wellness options.

VI). Gavin Watt stated that the November 2^nd BAC meeting will likely be cancelled unless pressing business arises. A notice to this effect will be sent out to the committee.

VII). Hearing no further business, Gavin Watt adjourned the meeting.

Renee Dempsey

University Senate