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Health Service System: Open enrollment rises; PeopleSoft outages slow processing
Summary
Deputy Director Lisa Gottby and member services manager Mitchell Griggs told the Health Service System Board that open enrollment applications rose 18% to 6,585, but recurring PeopleSoft payroll‑processing outages cost roughly 4½ days of processing and pushed staff to work extra hours and weekends to meet confirmation deadlines.
Deputy Director Lisa Gottby reported to the Health Service System Board that the October open enrollment cycle produced 6,585 applications, an 18 percent increase from October 2012. At the time of the presentation staff had processed about 72 percent of applications, or 4,762, and planned to issue confirmation letters to retirees, school district and community college members by midweek so members could review them during the Thanksgiving break.
Member services manager Mitchell Griggs told the board the PeopleSoft system’s maintenance tied to payroll processing has produced recurring outages that translate into roughly 4.5 days a month during which staff cannot enter enrollment changes. "It does impede us to some degree," Griggs said, adding the interruptions had put staff about a week behind on processing and that teams would work extra hours and weekends to catch up and have confirmation letters out in time for members to call with corrections by Dec. 1.
Board members pressed for a plan to reduce future downtime and its cost. Commissioner Scott asked whether the board should request better uptime from the Controller’s Office; Doctor Dodd and other commissioners agreed. The board asked staff to prepare language for a letter the board could endorse requesting improved processing availability during the open‑enrollment window.
Gottby also announced personnel and communications items: Stephanie Fisher will start Dec. 9 as wellness manager; the department piloted an open‑enrollment video and ran a membership survey that rated affordability and family benefit security as members’ top priorities. She said the board will review a retiree dental analysis, produced by Delta Dental and the system’s actuaries, at the December meeting.
The board did not take formal action on enrollment processing at the meeting; staff committed to extra processing hours, issuing confirmation letters before the Dec. 1 deadline and drafting a request to the Controller’s Office for improved PeopleSoft availability.
