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SFHSS board approves two-year budgets and $3 Health Care Sustainability Fund; CFO outlines transfers and one-time projects
Summary
The Health Service Board approved FY 2018-19 and FY 2019-20 general administration budgets and the Health Care Sustainability Fund (the "$3" budget). CFO Pamela Levin described eligible uses under the City Charter and proposed transfers of certain personnel and projects (communications, eBenefits, website redesign, VoIP) into the $3 fund to meet reduction targets.
The San Francisco Health Service Board unanimously approved two-year administrative budgets and the Health Care Sustainability Fund budget at its meeting.
Pamela Levin, Chief Financial Officer for SFHSS, summarized the sources and allowable uses of the $3 fund (a $3-per-member-per-month charge included in medical premiums) and reminded the board that the City Charter authorizes the fund for member communications, actuarial expenses, wellness programs and activities that reduce health care costs.
Levin outlined a three-pronged strategy to meet Mayoral reduction targets: address structural issues (for example, flexible spending account administration and auditor fees), adjust budgets to actuals (accounting for higher attrition and reduced training), and transfer eligible items to the $3 budget to minimize operational impact. For fiscal 2018-19 the $3 budget covers 3.35 FTE and funds one-time projects, including the eBenefits implementation, a website redesign and a citywide VoIP transition.
"All active and retiree HSS members pay into the healthcare sustainability funds and benefits from the $3 are available to all those who paid into the fund," Levin said.
The board discussed the appropriateness of transfers, the scale of the $3 fund relative to reduction targets, and next steps for Mayor's office submission and subsequent Board of Supervisors review. The budgets and the separate $3 budget were approved by voice vote; the CFO noted that some one-time projects depend on interagency procurement and may be phased.
Outcome: General fund and $3 budgets approved; staff to file detailed budget documents with the Mayor's office and continue configuration and procurement for eBenefits, website redesign and VoIP projects.
