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By Larry B. Dendy
ldendy@uga.edu
Although the state has made a preliminary choice of an organization to provide health-care services to state employees, including University System of Georgia personnel, detailed  information about specifics of the plan probably won’t be available for a while, says Loretta Harper, UGA’s associate vice president for human resources.
The state Department of Community Health has announced that a non-profit joint venture between Georgia First and the Medical Resource Network has won preliminary approval to form a preferred provider organization--PPO--to offer health coverage for employees of both the state merit system and the university system.
The department still has to finalize a contract with the PPO, and that contract still has to be approved by the University System Board of Regents. Until that happens, little will be known about such matters as costs, range of services and the names of doctors and hospitals included in the plan, says Harper.
“The board of regents may consider the contract at their meeting in March, and if it is approved, there will be a meeting soon afterward to work on all the details,” says Harper. “Until those meetings are held, we’re not likely to have much concrete information about this.”
She reiterates, however, that as soon as information is available, there will be an all-out effort to convey it to university employees through special meetings, publications and on the human resources Web page.
Harper says there may be separate contracts to cover the 570,000 employees in the State Health Benefit Plan and the 90,000 employees in the University System benefits program. There may be differences in those contracts, and UGA employees should not make any decisions until they know the details of the university system plan, she cautions.
The state is devising a new health plan for all state employees because of large deficits in the current university system and state health plans. The Department of Community Services estimates that if 75 percent of eligible employees participate in the new PPO, savings could amount to $72 million over three years.
Georgia First is a non-profit corporation that includes hospitals and doctors affiliated with Emory University School of Medicine. The Medical Resources Network is managed by Promina Health Plan in Marietta. The two organizations now provide coverage for about 800,000 Georgians.
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