ALC-Employee Benefits Division Oversight Subcommittee

OK. OK, members, if you all don't mind taking your seats and we'll begin the meeting. OK, um, so the first item is going to be B, uh, consideration to adopt diabetes management program study recommendations and, uh, we have Seal, uh, they're on Zoom with us today. So if you all don't mind just, uh, Uh Recognize yourselves and then of course I know that you've already been over this, but if you would just, uh. As a reminder, just kind of go back over it for the members and we'll see, but we have a motion to adopt y'all's recommendations to include in the report. Can you all hear us? Yes, OK, so if you just want to, like I say, uh, we've already heard this, but if you'll just kind of hit the high points to. Jog everybody's memory to make sure we all fully understand it and we'll see if we have any other questions. But let me just introduce myself. I'm Doctor Sadna Fagar with Seal. Um, Patrick Flying with Siegel. So I can uh just go through the the the recommendations of the last report we presented. On uh uh the diabetes program because uh I was I think uh before even the summer recess we had the diabetes. Consolidated report in which we did conclude that the Arkansas population does need some kind of a managed diabetes program where there can be combined interventions on obesity and diabetes and Also covering all of the comorbidities of diabetes, which includes mental health as well. Um, and your current careers, which is Blue Cross and Narvis have some basic programs that they offer, but they haven't been very well utilized from what we know. So we suggested to kind of uh adopt a point solution for diabetes and weight loss. And that kind of bridges the gap between your current careers. And uh the one that the diabetes program should be designed such that it it impacts the mental health and other comorbidities. It integrates your claims data to identify the high risk individuals? It can also help you control the GLP one drug cost. And we can put in performance guarantees that address the proactive outreach to the right population, in addition to the outcomes measurement. For mental health and other comorbidities. And for which uh we suggested to conduct a competitive bid because there are many vendors out there. And we can compare the vendor fees, uh, the performance guarantees, any credits and allowances it may have. Um, and negotiate a competitive vendor contract. Um, and also something that does have a very robust communication to the members because if they don't know what they have, they will not enroll. And then obviously Seguel is there to measure the ROI going forward in year 3 or so. Yeah, and I'll just add and thinks that that we did do some modeling after the recommendations on what the cost and savings could look like into the future and there's really two types of programs. You've got the light touch program, and then the intensive program. So there there are ROI with these programs, uh, it's just gonna take a few years to break even and we found that the intensive program is gonna give you more bang for your buck in terms of savings and a quicker. quicker turnaround on the break even. That's great. Thank you, Patrick. OK, members, I believe if you'll look, look at your handout that really on page 27 is kind of where it starts and then next steps and like I say, I'll have to have a motion, uh, uh, from someone on the committee if they want to put this in the report which will be presented to a full ALC. I make that motion. OK, we have a motion to pass. Is that correct? Correct. OK. We have a second by Senator Boyd, all in favor say aye? Any oppose? OK, so that's adopted. So the next item on the agenda is going to be C. It's going to be discussion on the AR benefits wellness plan, uh, of course, you all have, uh, uh, already went over that with us and From what I, from what I remember at our last meeting, uh, You know, we, we, from y'all's recommendations or your thoughts is that, uh, uh, there wasn't going to be a whole, a whole lot of benefit of especially physically for us to do that. So, If you want to just touch on the top parts and then we'll see if there's any other questions from members on that. Is you wanna just maybe touch on how the program would be structured and then I can get into some of the costs that we modeled and. Sure. Sure. So, uh, if you recall, we presented 3 different scenarios of how to offer. Just the wellness program. Uh, and include incentives with that, so we can. Have a $400 incentive with participation in existing programs that the plan offers throughout the year and it's something that they have to do certain things to keep the $400 benefit and then we went on into 500 and then uh 600 as well. The uh So let me just speak about the uh the $600. Event with They can. The incentive amount is $600 that you give at the at the start of the year, but then they get to keep that amount, provided they do certain activities, so the required activities will be $100 for the annual exam, $100 for the health screenings and then if we have this diabetes and weight management program. If those who are eligible can participate in the diabetes management program for $200 for weight management for another $200 so they make up. There are 600 right there. If they are not eligible for weight or diabetes, they can choose from other activities that you already offer through your health plans, which is join fitness your way, gym pass, chronic care management, special delivery, maternity program, enroll in the retirement plan, which is financial education. Uh, and of the program participation, so we can uh do a lot of those activities available for those who don't. qualify for diabetes and weight management. That means we are equitable. And at the completion, the employee must submit a proof of exam screening, wellness activities, and all of those participations, uh, and. The program. If it is diabetes and weight management wonder, they will submit on behalf of the member. Um, and that's how they get to complete those activities and retain the reward of the $600. That was something that we elaborated on on our in our last meeting. And and then financially, When you're offering this kind of going back to when you had the wellness program before we saw about a 70% participation rate. So, Keeping those assumptions somewhat in line with what you had before, there could be a cost around $24 million in incentives if people participate as we expect. Um, one of the follow-ups was, and you may have this material uh handy. We sent it over late yesterday, um. Health advantage ran data on the last 4 years of wellness or preventative visits, members that that had a A visit. So, you know, part of the the incentive in 2022, 2021, 2020, um. That was a part of that was the requirement to actually get the incentives. So, um, we did see a decrease in 2023 when the program stopped, um, but it was marginal, it's about 11% reduction in in members that that did. Uh, do that preventative visit. OK, thank you all members, uh, as far as, as far as this goes, uh, this was a request by the committee. It was not part of the legislation on the wellness. I think we've heard it. I think, uh, I don't think the as far as the Senate chair and the House chair, uh, we're not, we're not going to ask for any motion or, you know, recommend do this, of course, if there's some member here that wants to make a motion, that's up to them. But at this point, if we don't hear a motion, we're going to say that this is concluded. OK. Uh, Sinder Irvin, do you have a question? Yes, ma'am. You said that there were things. Already offered by the benefit plan. Could you elaborate just a little bit on that? I mean, Are there things that are being offered that we're just not taking advantage of or that we don't know about? So there are uh things available in the Blue Cross and the Nabi is not so much innitous, but Blue Cross program which does offer people opportunity to join the uh. Either the fitness center or uh there is something called a uh what is it called, the actual name. Hold on a second. Yeah, fitness your way. Uh, gym pass or uh there are these wellness activities that are offered through the health plan. That people can take advantage of just by being in the plan. Uh, the utilization into EAP program. That's one that can be uh. Offered as a wellness activity. Uh, also enrolling in a retirement plan and their financial education activities that can be offered as a wellness activity. OK, but the, so those are, but that's with a Blue Cross Blue, that's not this self-insured program, but it's something that they offer. In their other plans. It's available to everybody. It's available to everybody, OK, so. So I, I guess if it's already available to everyone. Just Why aren't we taking advantage of that fully? I mean, why aren't we promoting that with our members. I guess that's my question. OK, that would, that would probably be a, would that be a question that you can answer Seal, or do we need to get our EBD up here. Hi, every day. I just want to make sure that you all have not already researched that. Mr. Wallace, do you, do you all mind coming forward? Although we know who you are, if you just introduce yourself and your title for the record and, uh, then if, if you need to, Senator Irving can, uh, restate her question on that. Great Wallace, director of the Employee Benefits division. And it's a great question. I think it's one of those things that we just don't talk about. We haven't promoted, we really haven't partnered with Health Advantage to promote those ideas and, and things that are available to our employees and my number one takeaway from that question is, uh, we're going to meet with Health Advantage and figure out how we can get a campaign around it. I mean, because to me that solves the problem. Right, we all want a wellness program, but we don't want to pay $24 million for it. Right? I mean, I think that's where we're at. We don't have a lot of, I mean, we, we just don't, we don't have. Enough money we, there, there's a lot of add-ons and we have no idea what's going to happen in the session. There's a lot of variables out there right now that could cost us a lot of money and so that's not something I think, but I think we all. want there to be a wellness program. We just don't want, we, we don't have the money to afford it. I think that's kind of where we're at. But if we already have these things available, why aren't we taking advantage of them? Why aren't we promoting them? Why isn't there a campaign built around it? Why are we not being effective in directing people to the wellness type program efforts already available. To me, we're just, you know, we're then we're wasting that resource, so, I mean, I will definitely work with you however I need to. I really appreciate that answer. That that was what I was looking for because we should be very, very involved and engaged to that and making sure our members are aware of what's already available and what we're already paying for. So, um, with that, I don't know if you want a motion to to continue just to make sure that we pursue that with you, but I think. I don't think emotion is probably necessary, but thank you. So that that's your intention to kind of look to see what's inviable and that's great information that was provided by Siegel and, uh, like I say, I appreciate your answer and I think that, uh, that may be an alternate. Something that we can look at. Sciender Love, do you have a question, sir? Yes, sir. Thank you. Uh, so Mr. Wallace, are, are you familiar with, with what health advantages is offering through your plan and and I asked that because I'm on health advantage now. And so, I mean, Virgin Pulse and all these other add-ons, I mean, is that not, is, is. I guess that's not gonna be an additional cost. It's already on the plan that you currently have. Right, the rally program that we're being discussed right now that focuses on the wellness is already cooked into our agreement with Health Advantage. There's no additional add-on fees for that particular service at this point in time. So we, it is something that we have just not communicated and educated our members effectively, um, and we need to do better at that. OK. All right, I, I, I, I can testify, this is a great wellness program cause I'm, I'm on it. I mean, they have apps, they have everything that can help you with your weight, your, your health, your diabetes, whatever, I mean, so if it's the same program that I'm thinking of, I mean, it's is a great program and I, I, it's a great benefit, so I think we do need to get to promoting that program. Thank you, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Senator Love. OK, I think we got some good information, uh, from that. Do you have anything else at this point? OK. Any other questions? OK, so again, we're, we're fine with that agenda item and Seal, we, uh, I guess you're finished for the day with us, so we appreciate, uh, all your work on this, uh, you all provided some great information and, uh, actually went down the road so that we understood things, uh, a whole lot better now than we did before. So, thanks, thank you for that. OK, uh, the next, thank you, uh, next one is going to be Adam D, uh, Mr. Wallace, Mr. the review of review of contracts approved by the state Board of Finance. And that'd be an exhibit D. OK. For the members. You can begin. OK, so sorry, I don't have the agenda in front of me. The first one that's up is uh. the colonial life. OK, this is a, uh, commodity contract. Um, this is one that is our accidental death and disability. It's the base uh offering that the state offers to all of its employees. It's the 10,000 that the state covers and then you can buy up from that, um, and this is just the one year renewal of that service. Any questions? They're increasing costs from the previous year, or do you know stayed flat that we had locked in rates so there's not an increase for this rate for the next year. Thank you. OK, members, we need a motion to review. Have a motion. Do we have a second? We have a 2nd. All in favor say aye. Any oppose? so that motion will carry. I believe the next one is, uh, The optum connector care that's, that's it, connect your Care Inc. That's correct. This is our health savings account flexible spending account COBRA benefit uh partner, uh, this is Optum Financial Solutions, and, uh, this is your just standard HSA service that's provided to all state employees. This is a one-year renewal. This is the final year of this contract, so it will go out to bid next year. OK, we have a motion to review. We have a second, all in favor say aye. Any oppose that motion will also carry. And I guess that's all that you had, is that correct? OK, thank you, Mr. Wallace. OK, is there any other business to come before the committee? Seeing none will be adjourned.