Cultural Campaign

Photo by Kevin Fitzsimons The March 11 kickoff of the Campus Campaign featured Shakira, at left, performing a modern interpretation of a Ghawazee, Sinte legend about tribe members who used swords for art rather than fighting, thus preserving their way of life.

2002-03 benefits changes reflect national trends

As open enrollment for benefits approaches, Ohio State's administrators caution that the University is still being affected by the national trend of rising health care costs.

"Ohio State is subject to the same double-digit rate increases that are occurring throughout the nation. We are continuing to explore options for controlling costs, and have even improved benefit plans wherever possible, but we are not immune to the factors that are increasing health plan rates elsewhere," said Larry M. Lewellen, associate vice president for human resources.

Ohio State is making cost containment adjustments to its prescription drug and infertility benefits, but is introducing improvements to the lifetime maximum benefit and the hearing aid benefit.

Open enrollment will take place throughout April. Open Enrollment Overview booklets detailing changes will be mailed to faculty and staff by the end of the month. Employees also can visit http://hr.osu.edu/oe/home.htm after April 1 for more information.

National issue

A number of factors are driving the national trends this year, including increases in costs for prescription drugs, care for the uninsured and provider fees, said Jeff Walters, executive director of Managed Health Care Systems.

"Prescription drugs continue to be one of the main cost drivers," Walters said. "There has been about a 15 to 20 percent rate of increase each year."

He cited the influence of direct-to-consumer advertising campaigns, which have prompted consumers to ask for drugs by brand name and for conditions they might not otherwise have sought medication for, as well as the overall increase in consumer use of drugs.

As prices for pharmaceuticals are increasing, so is the cost for diagnostic and imaging technology, physician fees and recruitment.

"Providers, doctors and hospitals have seen an increase in the cost of doing business, but the reimbursement for those services has not kept pace with the changes," Walters said.

The biggest national cost driver, though, is care for the uninsured. "The costs of paying for services for the more than 45 million people nationally who do not have health insurance is shared by all of us and by the government," Walters said.

At Ohio State, in addition to the main cost drivers of outpatient surgery, diagnostic testing and pharmaceuticals, the average age of employees has a significant influence on the cost of health care.

More than 32 percent of the University's employees are between 45 and 54 years old, as compared to only 17.78 percent of the state's working population.

"This is important to note because statistics show that individuals over 40 years old require more health care on a regular basis," Walters said.

"That's why Ohio State is taking steps to implement disease management and case management to coordinate care for those who have chronic illnesses or who use a lot of medical services," Lewellen said. "This helps to ensure the patient gets the proper treatment while also helping to manage the associated costs."

The University also will continue to offer a number of options for preventive care for employees at all age levels, and will build on the educational and fitness programs already available, Lewellen said.

Health plan changes

Ohio State will implement a prescription drug deductible of $25 per year per person, beginning July 1, with a maximum of $75 per family. The deductible applies only to retail, not mail-order, prescriptions.

"While this is an increase to customers, the $25 deductible offsets half a million dollars of a total $3.5 million expected increase. This means that the University will pay for 85 percent of the increase, sharing only 15 percent with faculty and staff," said Nicholas D. Maul, director of benefits finance and risk management for human resources.

The University's contract with provider MerckMedco was recently renegotiated after a competitive bid process. "MerckMedco was the company that best met our needs for providing high-quality services at the best rate," Maul said.

Ohio State also will be adjusting its infertility benefits. The University is introducing an annual deductible of $400, reducing benefit coverage from 100 percent to 70 percent, and implementing a lifetime maximum benefit of $25,000. Diagnostic services are covered under general plan provisions and do not apply to the lifetime maximum.

"There has been a change in the industry. Our infertility benefits providers have said they will no longer give us a discount," Maul said. "Without the discount, we no longer have a network provider, so we've patterned this benefit after the out-of-network system in OSUHP (Ohio State University Health Plan). You can decide now where you want to go for treatment."

Reducing the benefit to 70 percent, with the maximum of $25,000, still leaves Ohio State ahead of most employers, Maul said.

"Ninety percent of employers do not offer any infertility benefits. What we've tried to do is provide enough coverage for couples to have several treatment options. In our plan, if a problem still exists after the standard drug treatments, there is still enough money left to try more invasive procedures," Maul said.

Other changes to benefits in the next year are adjustments for inflation, Maul said.

The University is raising the lifetime maximum benefit from a $1.5 million maximum, which had an additional out-of-pocket limit at $1 million, to a $2 million maximum, with no additional out-of-pocket limit.

"We made the change because our benchmarking is telling us that $2 million is the standard maximum now," Maul said. "We are looking to protect plan members from catastrophic loss and are anticipating that there will be some very high-cost technological advances in the next five years."

The maximum for the hearing aid benefit has also been adjusted due to cost increases. The benefit, which is payable every four years, is increasing from $1,000 to $1,200.

In Ohio State's four health plans, University Prime Care rates will be increasing by about $20 a month for those enrolled in the family plan. The Buckeye Health plan will increase by approximately $8 a month for those in the family plan.

The OSU Health Plan and the Traditional Health Plan will each increase by roughly $20 a month for family plan members.

The University is committed to shouldering the bulk of the cost increases, Lewellen said.

"Ohio State will continue to pay for over 85 percent of the total cost of University Prime Care, which enrolls the majority of employees," he said.

Here she is

By Jim Brown Katie Harman, right, the reigning Miss America, shows off her tiara to Laurence Mily and nurse Vivian Edwards during a recent visit with patients at the James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute.

Course offers lessons on life with disabilities

Chances are good that most people will encounter individuals with disabilities -- visible or not -- in the course of their professional lives. Chances are even better, for the moment, that most of those people won't engage in academic consideration of the issues related to persons who live with disabilities.

A course in the School of Allied Medical Professions (SAMP) at Ohio State aims to change those odds.

This spring, Allied Medicine 694A, "Addressing Issues Related to Individuals with Disabilities," will be taught for just the second time at the University. Course instructor Jody House Wrightson, an adjunct assistant professor in SAMP, said the class covers "everything from attention deficit disorder to quadriplegia."

Through a combination of guest presentations, journal assignments and quarter-long projects concentrating on specific conditions, the course acquaints students with the nature of disability, societal effects of disabilities and the potential interaction of disability with enrolled students' field of study. In addition to educating students on the broad nature of disabling conditions, the course also cites the effects of disability on businesses, health care, government agencies and other segments of society.

"I'm passionate about the course," said Wrightson, who first taught the class in 2000. "It offers something that, to my knowledge, no other course does. I can't think of a single field that will be unaffected by people with disabilities, and with the aging of the baby boom generation, students in school now will be even more likely to deal with disabilities."

Issues related to disabilities are woven throughout many SAMP courses, which prepare students to specialize in several health-related fields. But those courses are open only to majors in the school. The course taught by Wrightson, however, is made available to nonmajors interested in learning about a subject to which they otherwise might not be exposed, said Stephen Wilson, director of the School of Allied Medical Professions.

"This course has applicability for any student who wants more information on disabilities," Wilson said. "It's a great opportunity, especially for students majoring in social work or psychology, for example."

As far as Wrightson is concerned, just about everyone could benefit from the course. "I don't think students realize how important this information is," she said. "I didn't realize myself, before I became disabled, everything that goes into living with a disability."

Wrightson has multiple sclerosis, and uses a wheelchair. In addition to considering her academic credentials -- she holds a Ph.D. in communication -- Wilson asked Wrightson to teach the SAMP course in a deliberate effort to maximize the educational experience by connecting students week after week with an instructor who is living with a disability.

In Wrightson's class, though, her own experience is not the first concern. Though she tells students she will answer just about any of their questions, she also wants them to ask questions of others who are living with a wide range of disabilities, and not just those that affect mobility. Because her personal expertise centers on a disability that limits mobility, she spent a year conducting research and developing the course, which includes frequent guest speakers discussing conditions ranging from AIDS to schizophrenia.

"I really talk very little about myself," Wrightson said. "I bring in someone different with M.S. I want students to hear another perspective."

The guest presentations are educational for the students, and can be beneficial to the speakers, as well. "Most people with disabilities are isolated and feel that no one wants to hear what they have to say," she said. "Here, they are given a forum. And this way, students are interacting with the city at large."

Wrightson, who has an extensive background in teaching public speaking courses, said she is used to discomfort in the classroom -- and knows how to produce a relaxed atmosphere. Class discussions -- as well as student journals -- are confidential, which contributes to student comfort about asking questions and freely exploring the more sensitive aspects of disability.

Students also are assigned their own disability at the beginning of the quarter, and by term's end must learn all they can about the condition. A class presentation centers around connecting the disability to students' field of study and developing a technique or concept within that discipline that would benefit people living with the condition in question.

The course is rounded out by discussions of the impact of disability on persons with disabilities, their families, friends and caregivers, and an application of the Americans with Disabilities Act to specific careers and to society at large.

For more information about the course, call the School of Allied Medical Professions at 292-9579.