The state will be taking more time to find a full-time replacement for Joan Kapowich, the ousted head of the Public Employees Benefit Board and the Oregon Educators Benefit Board.
Ben Milner, a workforce recruiting consultant for the Oregon Health Authority, said they received 22 applications, only 10 of whom met the stated qualifications, and ultimately turned up blank.
“We really didn’t find anyone that we wanted to move forward with an interview,” Milner told the PEBB board Tuesday.
Kelly Ballas, the PEBB interim director, said they would broaden their search while being more specific about the work responsibilities of their desired administrator. “I think we’re looking for someone who actually has fairly broad experience in the health insurance industry,” Ballas said -- ideally one comfortable with the industry’s leaders.
Dr. Jeanene Smith, the health authority’s chief medical officer and a PEBB board member, said she would like to cast a national net to catch someone attracted to Oregon’s healthcare transformation.
Since Kapowich departed in late 2013, Ballas, a former Kaiser Permanente executive and the chief financial officer for the Oregon Health Authority, has done yeoman’s work filling in as the interim administrator for both boards, particularly as PEBB has overhauled its contract to include coordinated care options for state employees and their dependents.
Kapowich officially retired from her position, but sources speaking on condition of anonymity said she was asked to leave due to disagreements with Gov. Kitzhaber’s vision for PEBB as well as OEBB, which is set to undergo a similar overhaul in the fall of 2015 to consider coordinated care options.
PEBB announced a slight change to its new contract on Tuesday -- the three Oregon counties which had the fewest options for public employees -- Clatsop, Tillamook and Wasco -- will now be able to choose the Moda Health Synergy Plan, along with the statewide Providence plan. Providence will expand its “Choice” medical care home model to Clatsop and Wasco as well.
The Synergy model brings together the clinics of the Oregon Health & Science University, Legacy Health, Salem Health and the Salem Clinic among other providers across northwestern Oregon, along with Hood River and The Dalles.
Providence Narrows Gap with Kaiser
A dashboard snapshot of insurance claims from the first quarter of 2014 shows that while Kaiser’s costs remain lower per employee than Providence, the gap is narrowing. The state’s costs for its self-insured Providence plan rose just 2.9 percent to $13,000 per employee per year, while the costs for people who chose Kaiser rose 5.8 percent to $12,600.
But while medical claims have been going up, premium rates have barely nudged. PEBB’s premium rates for 2015, with the expanded offerings, were raised just 0.7 percent.
OEBB and PEBB Renew Consultant Contracts
Finally, both PEBB and OEBB voted to renew the contracts for their actuarial consultants, each choosing to stick with the advisors who are most familiar -- Mercer for PEBB and Towers Watson for OEBB.
Interestingly, OEBB scored Mercer last in its assessment for a new consulting contract, while Towers Watson was the second-least favorite of PEBB.
OEBB and PEBB staff refused to immediately reveal exactly how the consultants were rated, or how much the state spends on these consultants.
Although OEBB did push Moda Health to offer its medical care home models where available to Oregon educators, the two boards appear to be headed in divergent directions for now -- OEBB accepted a 9 percent spike to its standard Moda plans -- all that’s available to educators in much of the state -- just as PEBB held its costs to 0.7 percent.
Chris can be reached at [email protected].
