Agenda - 10-03-2006-5e - Laserfiche WebLink

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- - ~ iTic~~c~~~~ti t N O R T H C A R O L I N A ASSOCIATION OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS February 6, 2006 Mr. John M. Link, Jr. Orange County Manager P. O. Box 8181X Hillsborough, North Carolina 27278 re: Orange County Request Dear John, Michelle Love, the Marketing Representative that covers Orange County, met with you and your staff on February 1 to discuss the alternative platfornz the Group Benefits Pool will have in place effective July 1. I understand there were a number of assurances you wanted to receive in writing from the management of the Risk Management Pools. Cigna has agreed to honor all of the current plan designs used by our members. This means that the current benefits member. employees receive will remain the same. Orange County will have the opportunity to make changes to their benefits and plan designs at renewal time. Orange County's current participation agreement with the Group Benefits Pool has a 1/1 renewal date with a provision that rates are in force for 12 months from the renewal date. Orange County may maintain a 1 / 1 renewal date, which means that Orange County will not receive a rate increase on 7/1/06 and all deductibles and co-insurance amounts will be based on the 12-month period from 1/1/06 to 12/31/06. The Group Benefits Pool will provide Cigna .with an accumulator report that itemizes what deductible and co-insurance levels have been met by each employee in order to carry over these amounts after 7/1/06. The Pool has requested, but has not yet received, a ~ disruption report from BCBSNC. In lieu of the disruption report, we have provided information about specific providers in the Cigna network and have used data from the Orange County utilization management report to demonstrate the strength of the network. We have also provided a geographic access report which shows the number of providers within a certain zip code. While we await receipt of the disruption report, the Pooi is working with 'irue Cnoii:e USA to develop acounty-specific network by making aline-by-line comparison of the BCBSNC and Cigna networks. ~ Identification of the resulting gaps will then allow True Choice staff to target where contracting activities should begin. As there are cost implications of building a network, it,is important to note that providers who are not heavily utilized Inay not be considered for our network., I realize that Orange Comity experienced data transfer issues when the choice was made to award the entire account to the Group Benefits Pool in 2004. Going forward, the Pool will have live access to the eligibility systems of Cigna and Caremark, so~we'll have the capability to update records in an urgent situation alzd prompt issuance of an ID card. We do not have that capability in the current model. NORTH CAROLINA ASSOCIATION OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ALBERT COATES LOCAL GOVERNMENT CENTER SERVING COUNTIES SWCE }9O8 215 NORTH DAWSON STREET, RALEIGH, NC 27603 P.O. Box 1488, RALEIGH, NC 27602-1488 phone 919.715.2893 fax 919.733.1065 www.ncacC.org