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Highlands County district reports nearly $1 million insurance shortfall; board approves five-year clinic lease
Summary
Deputy Superintendent Andrew Lethbridge told the board claims are running well above monthly expectations, and the board approved a five-year lease for a new employee clinic location with CareATC.
Deputy Superintendent Andrew Lethbridge reported to the Highlands County School Board on Oct. 10 that the district’s insurance claims remain high, leaving the district “almost a million dollars in negative” compared with budgeted expectations.
Lethbridge said September’s claims totaled about $2,000,000, compared with an expected monthly range of $1.4 million to $1.5 million. “So you can see we're about $500,000 to the negative for that month alone,” he told the board.
Lethbridge and district staff said they have been working with an insurance consultant (referred to in the meeting as Fleet) and that the consultant recommended switching the district pharmacy benefits to OptumRx to obtain deeper drug discounts. The district has been negotiating with its current clinic provider over performance and contract obligations, Lethbridge said, and staff will present a separate agenda item at a future meeting to consider ending that contract early.
Risk manager Tammy Mortenson presented a separate agenda item asking the board to approve a five-year lease for a new clinic location to be operated by CareATC. The proposed clinic space is in Building B-4 of a North Sebring medical complex near Central Florida Imaging; the lease includes a 2% annual rent increase. Mortenson said the move is intended to address complaints about the current clinic’s pharmacy inventory, drug-testing background delays and other operational issues.
The board voted to approve the lease. There was no public comment opposing the lease during the meeting. Board members praised Mortenson’s work preparing the lease and said the location should help channel imaging work away from the hospital to Central Florida Imaging, though the district had not yet finalized any contract terms with that imaging provider.
Why it matters: Insurance claim levels and clinic-provider performance affect district employee benefits, the cost of self-funded plans and the district’s budget. The lease commits the district to five years of rent with scheduled increases.
What the board approved: A five-year lease for the CareATC clinic site in north Sebring (Building B-4) with a 2% annual rent escalation. The board also heard staff plans to pursue pharmacy-plan changes to reduce drug costs and said an agenda item to consider ending the current clinic contract will be brought forward when ready.
Ending: District leadership said they will continue monthly insurance updates to the board and pursue plan and vendor changes intended to reduce costs and improve clinic operations.
