PEBB, HEM & CCOs---From SEIU Local 503

From SEIU Local 503:

As you know, the Public Employees Benefit Board reached some decisions this summer that significantly impact healthcare benefits for SEIU Local 503 members and their families, including promulgation of a new Health Engagement Model and other plan design changes. At the same time, the Oregon Health Authority began looking into transforming delivery of healthcare through Coordinated Care Organizations as mandated by legislation last spring.
While HEM and CCOs are separate issues, they are clearly linked and must be approached with a unified strategy that addresses three questions:

What is our plan regarding HEM and other changes?  
How do we deal with the increasing costs of health care and its impact on our compensation?  
How will PEBB relate to the new Coordinated Care Organizations?

We have attempted to address them in a memo, PEBB, HEM, and CCOs: A Strategic Approach, which gives background and a summary of HEM, and outlines our plan to hold PEBB accountable for reforming HEM.  It also shares a comprehensive description of the CCOs and potential impacts on PEBB members. Please read it and feel free to share with your coworkers.
I want to draw special attention to our plan to address concerns around PEBB and HEM:

• We will use a Labor-Management Committee regarding the Health Engagement Model, established by Letter of Agreement attached to the 2011-13 Collective Bargaining Agreement, to develop an evaluation process for HEM, and make recommendations for improvements before PEBB adopts a plan for 2013.  As with all committees formed via bargaining, the DAS/OUS Bargaining Team is responsible for appointing members of the committee and monitoring its progress. Members of the committee are:

Keary DeBeck, who served on the central bargaining committee, works for the Department of Justice in Salem and is the President of the Justice sub-local;

Sabrina Freewynn, who works for the Oregon Health Authority in Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention, has knowledge of the HEM concept and has demonstrated a willingness and ability to share information in a clear and understandable way; 

Wednesday Martin, who is currently the sub-local chair serving from the Roseburg DHS office, and has been very involved in the union for more than a dozen years.

Lois Yoshishige, who works at the University of Oregon in Eugene and has been a highly active union member for a number of years as a local officer and bargaining delegate.

• In early spring 2012 we will convene a Health Care Summit for member to discuss PEBB changes and Coordinated Care Organizations, outline principles, and chart next steps in the fight to win and protect quality healthcare for all.

 

• Based on the work of the HEM Committee and the outcome of the Health Care Summit, we will launch the “Our Health, Our Voice” Campaign, an aggressive education and mobilization effort to influence PEBB decisions around plan design changes for 2013 and to engage in the discussions around CCOs.

 

With this framework and your input, I’m confident that we can achieve meaningful reform of HEM and ensure that changes in the health care system advance members’ interests.

 

In Solidarity,

Heather Conroy, Executive Director
SEIU Local 503