As negotiations drag on, Columbia Falls school board debates allowing KRMC to see school employee health data
School District 6 School Board approved, 7-1, a confidentiality agreement with Kalispell Regional Medical Center to share data about the district’s employees. Board member Larry Wilson voted no. District 6 employees are self-insured and the school is currently negotiating with the hospital in an attempt to lower health insurance costs to its employees and taxpayers.
“It’s frustrating but having this in place will allow us to freely provide data,” business manager Dustin Zuffelato said at the board meeting Monday night.
KRMC hasn’t given the district a proposal yet on how it will reduce billed charges. April 1 was the deadline set in the initial agreement last year. Zuffelato said it is too late for a comprehensive long term agreement by then, but he hopes they will share some ideas.
Superintendent Steve Bradshaw recommended the board approve the agreement.
He said it doesn’t provide KRMC any more data than the district has provided in the past. The hospital is requesting population level data such as procedure codes and provider names in order to find a way to save the district money in the long-run.
“If we feel like they’re asking for too much, or getting into areas that we don’t want to get into, then we will back off from it as quickly as we can,” Bradshaw said.
Board member Larry Wilson asked if the board’s discussion should be tabled until the insurance committee looks at the agreement. Bradshaw said they are worried that any delay will be used as an excuse by KRMC. The committee members did get a copy of the agreement, but hadn’t officially approved it. Bradshaw said that the district will have to continue fighting the insurance battle or give up and pay whatever the hospital charges.
Wilson said after sitting on the board at North Valley Hospital for 21 years, he thought KRMC’s negotiations were full of “smoke and mirrors and clouds and references to Obamacare, which hadn’t even been thought of yet.”
“They are expert at bull---,” Wilson said.
Bradshaw had a different take on it. He said he believes KRMC is trying to put something together to help the district save money, but it won’t save as much as ELAP Services said was possible. ELAP helps self-insured groups negotiate costs with health care providers and is working with the district.
“They’re willing for us to save some money as long as it doesn’t cost them five cents,” Wilson said.
Board member Dean Chisholm, who is also an attorney, also recommended approving the agreement. He analyzed it last fall and helped make changes to the nature of the disclosure, who was allowed to see the data and how long KRMC would have it.
“We aren’t exposing ourselves in any way,” Chisholm said. “It can’t hurt us to pursue this.”
In the end, the board decided that it is better to be cooperative with KRMC in order to get a decision from them by the April deadline.
In other school board news:
• The board voted to approve an agreement with North Valley Hospital to start a school-based health clinic at the high school. The hospital would provide staff for two half days and $25,000 to increase the elementary nurse staff hours. Board member Barb Riley asked if the possible partnership with KRMC would affect the agreement. “My clinics would stay my clinics,” said Rhonda Tallman from North Valley Hospital. “I don’t think it sticks the school in a bad position.”
• The tax value of the top ten taxpayers in the district increased by 2 percent in the 2014-2015 school year, to $6.6 million from $6.5 million in the 2013-2014 school year. Plum Creek Timber Co.’s assessment went up, while the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co., which is now idled, dropped 22 percent.
• Columbia Falls Junior High Principal Dave Wick returns Jan. 27 from the Dominican Republic after just over a week building a school with Lifetouch Memory Mission. The student council donated $300 and Builder’s Club raised $600 for the mission.
• The high school raised $700 for janitor Darryl Rosenbaum, whose house burned to the ground and was diagnosed with cancer last year. Students paid $2 to be allowed to wear hats on two days in December.
• The board approved Paula Koch to take 12 junior high Spanish students plus two chaperones to Portland, Oregon, for the Cinco de Mayo festival. The eighth-grade students are personally responsible for $100, the rest is paid for by grants and fundraising. The district doesn’t fund the trip.
• During the meeting’s public participation, a woman requested that Superintendent Steve Bradshaw broadcast to all students and the community that children have the right to pray in school. She had collected 800 signatures on a prayer petition since last year. She didn’t know how many were from the Columbia Falls area.