HR’s answers to our questions are presented below as received. These answers are under review by UT-AAUP legal counsel Allotta Farley. Faculty comments are welcome.
HR has advised there are three submission dates for dependent documentation because HR does not want all of the documents being submitted at the last minute. The three submission dates are July 10, August 7, and September 8.
UT-AAUP faculty should keep the UT-AAUP advised of any challenges to your dependent documentation and eligibility. We do not want copies of your confidential family documents. We will support you and will provide UT-AAUP legal counsel for confidential representation if needed. The law firm of Allotta Farley has experience with these dependent eligibility audits. Also as noted above, they are reviewing the HR answers below.
UT-AAUP Executive Board
HR Responses to UT-AAUP Newsletter Questions:
1. Where is the previously submitted confidential employee documentation?
The University collects documentation regarding marital status and dependents when an employee elects benefits as a new hire and during qualifying benefit life events. Documentation that was submitted to the university is stored in Application Xtender Document Manager. Documents submitted to a third party, such as Consova, will be destroyed. For example, the Consova policy states: ”Any documents that you submit to verify the eligibility of your dependents and marital status will be maintained by Consova until 30 days after the dependent verification process is completed. At that time Consova will destroy all documentation.” This is for the protection of the employees. Exporting the data out of Application Xtender is not best practice as those documents may be out of date.
2. Is it in a confidential and secure database? If not, where is it?
The records collected by the third-party provider during the prior audit were in paper and destroyed to protect personal information. Employee documentation submitted to the university to confirm benefits eligibility upon hire is stored in the secure database, Application Xtender Document Manager.
3. If confidential documentation was previously submitted by an employee and there have been no changes, why must duplicate confidential documentation be submitted a second or third time? HR should have an electronic copy of prior submissions in a confidential and secure database.
The purpose of the verification is to capture the most current information, as marital and dependent status often changes over the course of time. This ensures accuracy in our coverage and helps to avoid unnecessary increased costs for all participants in the medical plan.
4. Many faculty are away from campus for the Summer, especially since Schroeder has decimated Summer programs. Faculty will not read the HR announcement until Fall. Will these faculty lose their healthcare coverage in July?
The verification process will take place in 3 phases, with due dates of 7/10, 8/7, and 9/8. Ineligible members will be removed from the plan on 9/30. This phased approach will allow 9-month faculty to submit documentation over the summer or upon return to campus. We have already received several submissions from 9-month faculty. Open enrollment will start on 10/1. This provides us with a clean slate going in to benefits open enrollment for 2024.
5. How many employee dependents were removed from coverage in the last submission? What was the cost savings to UToledo?
Following the previous dependent audit, 87 dependents were voluntarily removed, while 52 dependents (26 spouse, 26 child) were involuntarily removed. The projected cost savings from the prior auditing service was from $424,000 to $1,060,000. The long-term actual cost savings are very difficult to quantify as claims per member vary greatly and years on the plan do as well. The primary savings is the monthly premium that the employee and organization pays.
The dependent audit is a best practice used by quality HR departments. We perform regular audits as good stewards of state and university resources.
6. Has the previously submitted confidential information been turned over to the independent firm, CONSOVA?
No, Consova will collect all new documentation to ensure the most current data is captured. The records obtained during the most recent dependent audit were destroyed 6 years ago when the prior audit was completed. The prior audit was performed by a different organization.
7. How much is UToledo paying CONSOVA? UT-AAUP has requested, under the Public Records Act, a copy of the UToledo agreement with CONSOVA.
Consova is a business partner to Vizient, with whom UToledo has an existing contract through our purchasing department. This service was included at no additional cost.