Members of the state board governing health plans for public school and state employees on Tuesday agreed on who they want to hire as the plans’ administrator.
The State and Public School Life and Health Insurance Board also decided the plans will cover anesthesia for routine colonoscopies starting June 1.
The board unanimously made the recommendation on the applicant for the job of director of the Department of Finance and Administration’s Employee Benefits Division after meeting in executive session. Board members declined to name the applicant who was recommended Tuesday.
If ultimately selected by the board, the applicant would replace Bob Alexander, who retired Jan. 2.
Janis Harrison, a program manager for the department’s office of personnel management, has been serving as interim director.
The vote followed the recommendation of a selection committee that interviewed four finalists last week, Shelby McCook, the committee chairman, said Tuesday.
He said the recommendation will go to Finance and Administration Director Larry Walther, who under Arkansas Code 21-5-406 must consider the choice.
If Walther approves, the board will vote on whether to hire the applicant, McCook said.
The board’s vote to cover anesthesia for colonoscopies followed the recommendation of its Quality of Care Committee.
G. Richard Smith, a professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, told the committee last week adding the coverage could cost as much as $1.2 million per year but would reduce patients’ recovery time and complaints about out-of-pocket costs.
The extra cost could be offset, he said, if more employees receive colonoscopies and cases of colon cancer are prevented or caught early.
Currently the plans cover conscious sedation for preventive colonoscopies. Anesthesia is covered only in special cases when it’s considered medically necessary.
The plans cover about 45,000 school employees and 27,000 state employees.
“We don’t want people to fear the screenings,” Margo Bushmiaer, the Quality of Care Committee chairman, told the board Tuesday. “We want them to take advantage of this benefit.”