Download Dear EBAC Colleagues, Below please find the minutes of the EBAC

Dear EBAC Colleagues,
Below please find the minutes of the EBAC meeting held on January 26, 2016. Please review and
provide any comments to Jon McGraw.
Attendees:
 Peter Michell
 Eduardo Salaz
 Jean-Ann Balassi
 Richard Carp
 Jane Joyce
 Carole Wolf
 Collin Pugh
 Ted Tsukahara
 Steve Cortright
 Emily Adelmann
 Jon McGraw
 Lisa Campagna
 Ingrid Berghout
1) Welcome and introduction. Updates on the following items will be discussed in the meeting:
a) ACA Update
b) Open Enrollment Review
c) Wellness Initiative
d) Child Care on Campus
e) Future Topics
2) ACA update:
a) Although a significant change in the marketplace for small groups has taken place (changing the
definition of small group from under 50 employees to under 100), the change was repealed and
left up to state discretion. This will have no effect on SMC either way but will affect many
employers in that marketplace.
b) 1095 reporting has been delayed for insurance carriers. This will not affect 2015 tax filing for
individuals. This filing was created so that the IRS can track who has employer based medical
coverage available and if it meets minimum standards.
c) Cadillac Tax was discussed briefly, which will not be effective until 2018, and there is a
movement to have it repealed prior to 2018. This tax was basically set up to raise money for the
cost of the ACA.
d) Medical Device tax has also been delayed two years.
e) Political issues were discussed although there is no concreate way to determine what will
happen with the ACA after the elections.
3) Benefit Plan Decisions for 2016
a) To reiterate, no changes were made to medical plan designs or carriers
b) It had been determined that the cost savings to terminate the Delta Dental contracts and VSP
contracts were substantial and the dental and vision plans were moved to UHC.
c) Employee contributions were not increased which means that there were no changes in the
costs for employees in 3+ years.
d) Discussion around the late delivery of the UHC medical and dental ID cards. The plans took
longer than expected to implement and ID cards are in the tail end of being sent. Most
members have received their cards now.
4) HR Strategic Initiatives
a) All agreed that it is important to look for creative ways to communicate the benefit plans and to
use electronic means to enroll so that less paper is used.
5) Open Enrollment Review and Discussion
a) The new decision support tool, called ALEX, was implemented at the beginning of open
enrollment and it had a total of 285 visits between December 1st and January 25th. This tool
assisted SMC to save tax dollars since enrollment in pre-tax plans was up this year, possibly due
to ALEX.
b) Ted asked if we can ascertain what the profile is of those who enrolled in the PPO/HSA plan.
The consensus was that more education is needed around this plan.
c) Jean-Ann reviewed three types of employees who she sees enrolling in the PPO/HSA plan:
i) Those with dependents who live out of state,
ii) Those who want access to specific hospitals, clinics and doctors, ie. Stanford, Mayo Clinic,
etc., and
iii) Those who specifically want to save dollars on a pre-tax basis in the HSA.
d) Streamlining the enrollment process through the use of the online enrollment system is
effective and about 60% of employees used the system, however, Jean-Ann assisted the
majority of those since the current system is not completely user-friendly and intuitive.
e) Eduardo asked how their enrollment process compares to peer schools, which Jon will
investigate.
6) Communications remains a challenge
a) Lots of discussion surrounding ways to communicate to all employees. UHC has agreed to pay
for a direct mailing outlining the enhancements that the UHC dental and vision offers.
b) Other ideas were discussed, such as:
i) Using the campus flyer “Did you know” section to educate employees about the OE
changes, but it may be difficult to get a spot in “Did you know.”
ii) Targeted, direct mail may be useful, but who should it come from? UHC or SMC?
Consensus is primarily from SMC and perhaps in conjunction with UHC.
iii) If there were a system where employees could opt into a text messaging program, then text
messages possibly could be used as well.
c) Learning more about the new vision coverage
i) Employees are not completely educated about the UHC vision plan. No card is provided or
needed, just like with VSP. The UHC online directory is the best place to search for innetwork providers.
ii) UHC wants to add more vision providers to their network, so employees should be
encouraged to ask their provider to contact UHC if they are willing to join the network. Or,
if you learn of specific providers, HR can forward the provider info onto UHC and UHC will
reach out to the provider to see if they will join their network.
iii) Some vision features with UHC that were not available with VSP are that that many local
retail stores and vision stores are in the network so materials can be purchased with just the
in-network copays.
7) Dental plan discussions
a) Concerns about employees having to submit claims themselves for out-of-network dentists.
This is not usually the case since the overwhelming majority of all dentists have access to
electronic claims filing and even if they are not contracted, they will file the claim and bill the
member if there amounts not paid. This was handled the same way with non-Delta Dental
dentists.
8) Other challenges
a) Jean-Ann explained the challenge that employees are faced with when using the enrollment
system. She believes she may have assisted up to 300 employees with their enrollment since it
is cumbersome to navigate. HR is looking at another enrollment system that will integrate with
the Colleague system called Benefitfocus. It has the possibility of offering a total comp package
module. The current process does not offer a confirmation of enrollment at the end of the
enrollment process so there is no way to verify the enrollment was done accurately.
9) Wellness Initiatives
a) Wellness portal has been updated and is available for all employees to view
b) Discussion about brown-bag sessions that MHN, the EAP vendor, offers. SMC has 10 sessions
that may be scheduled in 2016. Jean-Ann is working on scheduling the sessions
c) All agree that it is time to create more awareness around Wellness@SMC via communications.
Various types of classes, such as exercise & cooking, walking at lunch, etc. should be offered and
communicated.
d) Neck & back care – informational sessions may be scheduled with Tony Kearns, suggestion of
one session every three months. Also, perhaps bring in chair massage person and employees
can sign up for a 10 minute massage. Massage Envy may be available to provide chair massages
for a small fee.
e) Rec Center update – it is a challenge scheduling classes such as yoga. Can a room in the Rec
Center be used for wellness classes for employees? Need permission from Rec Center manager.
f) It was suggested that a special place on the wellness website be added for new wellness info so
it will stand out.
g) Richard proposed having a resource available for those who need someone to talk to about
person issues, someone between a psychologist and just a friend. Lisa said she will do research
on community resources. She knows of an organization called Attitudinal Healing which she will
get more information about. Pete suggested that local churches may have grieve counselors
available and Ted added that SMC should offer such support on campus.
h) Wellness now needs to be looked at on a broader level. Lisa is aware that UC Berkeley is doing
some spiritual wellness. She will investigate more.
10) Another look at child care on campus.
a) An interest survey may be appropriate for this spring. Last one on this topic was done in the
spring of 2013.
b) For the 2015 Holiday Party, a partnership between the Town of Moraga and SMC created childcare which was available from 6:30 to 10:00 for up to 20 children. 18 children attended, and the
Office of the Provost paid for the care so that employees could attend the party. It was a winwin for all.
c) Since the child-care service was very well received, it was suggested that it be arranged for
commencement, perhaps some summertime events and offered on a broader level. It was also
suggested that it include kids who are younger than school age as well.
d) As a precautionary thought, be aware that a program that offers childcare does not impact
tuition since tuition is already high. A total comp review compared to peer schools should be
considered.
11) EBAC meetings are scheduled as follows:
a) March 16th
b) May 11th
12) Items for future discussion include:
a) Keep in mind that a financial review for benefit planning purposes must begin in early fall in
order to finalize all benefit decisions earlier for the 2017 benefit plan year.