Archdiocesan employee health plan saves lives and dollars
Mary Gilmartin, bookkeeper for St. Jude Parish and School in Indianapolis, works at her desk on Oct. 19. Her use of the Healthcare Blue Book website helped her find a facility that could do a myoview stress test on her heart that was a quarter of the price that would have been charged at her regular hospital. (Photos by Sean Gallagher)
By Sean Gallagher
In 2007, Sunday collections in archdiocesan parishes were increasing at a rate of about 2 percent per year. At the same time, the cost of medical insurance for employees of the Church in central and southern Indiana was increasing at a rate of 10 percent per year.
To bridge that gap, the Archdiocese of Indianapolis made major changes in the health care coverage that it offered its employees.
Out was health care insurance based on a traditional model that focused mainly on paying for the treatment of illnesses. In was a consumer-directed policy that featured health savings accounts and wellness programs designed to help employees be pro-active and stay healthy or become healthier.
Four years later, the gap has been bridged. While during that time, employer medical costs have continued to increase close to 10 percent per year, costs for employees and for the parish, schools and agencies where they work in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis have remained flat for three years in a row. (Related story: New regulations won’t affect archdiocesan insurance in the short term, Isakson says)
Besides no premium increases, the archdiocese has provided $2.5 million in “bonus” health savings account contributions, in addition to the usual employer contribution of $100 per month for workers with single coverage, and $200 per month for those with family coverage. These monthly health savings account contributions total $2.3 million per year.
Also, the archdiocese has provided “premium holidays” to parishes, schools and agencies of more than $2.3 million due to health plan surpluses, helping archdiocesan ministries meet their budgets during economically challenging times.
But the changes in health care insurance in the archdiocese have done more than just save it money. It has also saved lives.
Just ask Ann Northam, director of religious education at Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and St. Augustine parishes in Jeffersonville.
A year ago, Northam found that she became tired easily just walking across the parish campuses on which she works in the New Albany Deanery.
She thought that it was because of a heart condition. But a wellness screening sponsored by the archdiocese that she participated in revealed that her hemoglobin count was dangerously low.
“I had my wellness check on Friday,” Northam said. “The results came back on Saturday. On Monday, I went to my family doctor. And he sent me directly to the hospital. I had to have two pints of blood that day and two the following day because my number was so low.”
It was determined that her low hemoglobin count was due to a “slow bleed” in her gastrointestinal track caused by a dangerous combination of prescription and over-the-counter drugs that Northam was taking at the time.
Her doctor was able to correct that condition, and today Northam has energy that she didn’t have a year ago. She has also lost more than 40 pounds.
“I really feel like I dodged a bullet,” she said.
While saving lives and helping employees be healthy is the primary goal of the medical insurance that the archdiocese offers its employees, it is also designed to save them money.
On Jan. 1, the archdiocese began offering pricing information for a variety of medical procedures to its employees through the website of Healthcare Blue Book. Employees can visit the site to learn historic pricing information updated monthly for procedures. If they choose to have one done at a facility that offers it at the recommended price, they receive an incentive of $25 to $100.
That is what Mary Gilmartin did when she needed a myoview stress test on her heart. The bookkeeper for St. Jude Parish and School in Indianapolis learned that one facility offered it at a quarter of the price of her regular hospital. As a result, she saved more than $2,000.
“I was very surprised,” Gilmartin said. “I did have to drive a little ways to the northeast side to have it done. But, you know, when you’re saving that kind of money, I could have even driven to Chicago [for it].”
“That is the future of health care, in some ways,” said Edward Isakson, archdiocesan human resources director. “People are willing to drive if they’re going to save a couple thousand dollars. That’s what it is on these procedures.”
According to an Indianapolis Business Journal article published in July, the approach to health care that the archdiocese took four years ago may indeed be more common in the future.
That article, which featured the archdiocese’s healthcare plan, noted that 20 percent of employers with 20,000 or more employees expect to switch to a consumer-directed medical insurance policy sometime in the next five years. And when companies that large make such a change, smaller ones are likely to follow.
One reason that more companies may follow the same health care insurance path taken by the archdiocese—one that, in 2007, very few had taken—is that history has now shown that it leads them and their employees in the right direction.
“When we began it in 2007, it was very much of an experiment,” Isakson said. “Most other employers hadn’t done this. There were some studies that indicated that the plan could be effective. But we’ve done something that really hasn’t been done by other employers in terms of how we put all of the pieces together.”
The archdiocese provides employees and their spouses with free pedometers, and pays a $25 incentive for every 500 miles walked. About 150 people earn incentive checks each month. Also, there is a $50 incentive for a health screening, which 2,000 people receive each year.
Added recently is Best Doctors, a service started by Harvard Medical School, which provides second opinions from 40,000 medical experts in 500 sub-specialties.
The archdiocese also offers its employees enrolled in its health insurance a health advocate. In this service, employees can learn how to use the features of their medical insurance most effectively by calling a nurse who knows their health care insurance plan and its benefits.
“I think that the plan is at a point now where we’ve added enough different parts that differentiate us as we’ve added those gradually over time,” Isakson said. “And we’ve been running it long enough to see the results.
“We’re at the point where we’ve done it long enough that we can say that it’s not a fluke, and we’re really seeing some good results.”
While some of those results are financial in nature, Isakson said there are more important results behind those numbers.
In 2009, 110 archdiocesan employees who participated in wellness screenings learned that they were in a high risk category for serious health problems because of symptoms such as high blood pressure, high blood sugar and obesity.
A year later, more than half of those employees were in a low or medium risk category and the estimated savings due to those changes was $240,000.
“When we can say that over half of the people who were high risk in 2009 weren’t high risk in 2010, that’s huge,” Isakson said. “If we can do that, then all of these other things will fall into place because we’re improving the health of our people, and helping them make good decisions through the resources that we offer.”
(For more information on the Archdiocese of Indianapolis’ health care insurance plan, log on to www.archindyhr.org.) †
