wfn.org | Board of Pensions to lead quality health care campaign

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>]

Note #6936 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

06-Novmeber-2001
01417

Board of Pensions to lead quality health care campaign 

Experts say PC(USA) insurer is "ideally suited" to work for reforms 

by Jerry L. Van Marter
              
PHILADELPHIA, PA  Because it speaks with moral and ethical conviction on
social issues and spends $100 million a year on health care, the
Presbyterian Church (USA) Board of Pensions (BOP) is "ideally suited" to
take the lead in demanding better medical care in the United States.

That's what the board heard from leading quality-care advocates during a
meeting here on Oct. 27. And it's ready to meet the challenge.

"This will be a great effort, in which we'll partner with (BOP medical plan)
members to make sure we all take our full responsibility to assure quality
health care," said BOP member James D. Mortimer, of Barrington, IL. "Our
goal is to increase awareness about the quality problems in the health care
system."

Mortimer, chair of the BOP's Quality Task Force, also serves on several
prestigious national committees working to improve the quality of U.S.
health care.

The board will focus initially on what the board's communications director,
Karen Babik, called "preventable medical errors," particularly in the use
and administration of medications.

Dr. David B. Nash, a Philadelphia physician, medical school professor and
leader of the quality health care "movement," referred to such errors as
"avoidable mistakes."

"What is an 'avoidable mistake?'" he asked during his appearance before the
board. "It is a hospital system failure, and because it's not a huge part of
hospital training, it happens too often."

Nash contended that patient-care systems need to be simplified. "It takes
just nine people to build an entire Toyota," he said, "but on average, 13
people are involved in any given medical or hospital order. That creates an
unacceptable margin for error."

Quality initiatives are being pursued by a variety of advocacy groups, Nash
told the board. He and Mortimer both serve on The National Forum on
Healthcare Quality Measurement and Reporting (NQF), a non-profit
organization founded in 1999 after then-President Bill Clinton called for a
national strategy to improve health care.

NQF has published a broad overview of the current state of patient care and
is working "to assemble a compendium of patient-safety 'best practices' that
health care organizations can use to prevent medical error," Nash said. The
goal of the project is to standardize performance measures for the nation's
5,000 acute-care hospitals.

Another organization, the Institute of Medicine, recently released a report
outlining six "major aims" that health care organizations, professionals and
consumers should pursue: that health care be safe, effective,
patient-centered, timely, efficient and equitable. The Institute's report
also calls on the federal government to establish a Health Care Quality
Innovation Fund to support projects that help achieve those goals.

It all starts with consumers, Nash said, "and, given the Board of Pensions
constituency - sizable, well-educated, influential in their communities and
geographically distributed throughout the country - you are ideally situated
to be leaders in this effort."

"The energy is at the consumer level," he said. "Educate your plan members
and parishioners."

The BOP has approved a $100,000 budget in 2002 for its efforts to improve
health care. Babik said printed resources will be developed and sent to
members and congregations next year and a video will be produced. A staff
position is being created in the board's Healthcare Design Team to
coordinate the effort.

Most rates unchanged 

The increase in medical plan dues from 15.5 percent to 16.5 percent (through
the elimination of a half-percent dues credit in effect for several years
and an actual increase of a half-percent, the first increase since 1993) and
the increase in the covered salary cap approved by the Board in July both
take effect on Jan. 1, 2002. The BOP's actuaries say these changes, coupled
with benefits modifications also approved in July, seem to have stabilized
the plan's finances, given the BOP's financial projections for 2002 and
2003.

Subscription dues for the Medicare Supplement program, which is driven by
ever-escalating prescription-drug costs, will go up again. Most other rates
will stay the same.

A summary of the 2002 subscription rates approved at this meeting: 
              
*  Medical Continuation, excluding those in the Affiliated Benefits program
- no change; $178 per month for those enrolled for medical continuation
prior to 1987, and $306 per month for those who joined in 1987 or later.

*  Medical Continuation for Affiliated Benefits program early retirees - no
change; $446.63 per month per participant.

*  Medicare Supplement for retirees, excluding the Affiliated Benefits
program - a $19-per-month increase, from $132 to $151.

*  Medicare Supplement for Affiliated Benefits Program participants - an
increase from $180.84 to $190.
 
              
New benefits 

The board authorized its staff to negotiate a contract with SOS
International to provide emergency medical advice to BOP health care plan
members stricken while traveling overseas. The Worldwide Ministries Division
has relied on SOS for years for emergency medical services for mission
personnel, and will maintain its arrangement separately.

SOS provides a range of services to travelers overseas, including emergency
medical treatment referrals or services, air ambulance evacuation when
medically necessary and return of remains in case of death.

In an action that has become traditional at holiday time, the Board approved
a Christmas gift of $200 for single persons and $400 for married couples who
were receiving income supplements from the BOP on Nov. 1.
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