Employee Benefit Trust Minutes - 11/18/2010City of Wichita Falls
Employee Benefits Trust Board Minutes
November 18th , 2010
The meeting was held in the City Council Conference Room, 1300 Seventh Street,
Wichita Falls, TX 76301.
Present: Darron Leiker, City Manager
Jim Dockery, Asst. City Manager/CFO
Miles Risley, City Attorney
Tammy Guerra, Human Resources Manager
Becky Chapman, Employee Benefits Coordinator
Agenda Items:
i. Call to Order: Meeting was called to order at 9:00 am.
ii. Approval of Minutes: Motion was made by Jim Dockery to approve the October
15th, 2010 minutes, second by Darron Leiker. The motion carried unanimously.
iii. Benefits strategies, concerns, and feedback and consultations with
representatives of IPS Advisors, Inc.-IPS Advisors asked the reason why the On-
Site Clinic was established. Jim Dockery explained that it was establish ed for
employee convenience and it was cost effective for the City. It started off being
utilized for workers compensation injuries, pre-employment physicals, drug tests,
and for non emergency needs (flu, congestion). Now it is being used more like a
primary care physician for many of the City employees. IPS Advisors asked for a
breakdown of how the clinic was being used for workers compensation injuries
and pre-employment physicals/drug tests versus City employees’ personal
usage. Jim Dockery gave an estimate of 30/70.
IPS asked about employees’ satisfaction with the clinic. Tammy Guerra
explained that it’s 50/50, half of the employees love it and the other half prefer
going to their personal physician. Darron Leiker explained that some employees
fear that their medical history is not being kept confidential and that there is no
expectation of privacy due to the location of the clinic and the big glass windows .
IPS explained that separating preventative care from occupational services is a
recommendation that needs to be considered. They emphasized that prior
studies have found that 30% to 40% of employees avoid an on-site clinic where
both occupational services and preventative care services are being provided by
the same physician. Employees have concerns that their preventative care is not
being kept confidential. IPS stated it will be costly but they would like to focus on
changing employees’ perception on the privacy issue. Other suggestions IPS
recommended were to frost the glass on the windows and have a n isolated
cubicle for the patients.
IPS explained that they need standardized medical coding and standard
biometrics which can be retrieved electronically. The City does not have an
electronic reporting system, everything is hard copy. IPS said that there were
many options out there and they would like to speak with Ken Phillis (PA) to get
his input on the software. The conference call concluded by stating that IPS will
develop a strategic timeline to retrieve the data needed efficiently and in a timely
manner with Ken’s participation.
iv. Open Session- Should the City extend the deadline for the physicals at the On-
Site clinic due to the appointment limitation the clinic is foreseeing? This question
was tabled until the next EBT meeting.
v. Adjourn at 10:53 am.