Title
Approval of suggested changes to LEOFF 1 dental benefits
Report
Issue:
Whether to approved changes to the LEOFF 1 Policies & Procedures for dental benefits
Staff Contact:
Debbi Hufana, HR Analyst, Human Resources, 360.753.8149
Background:
Staff would like to propose changes to the dental benefits for LEOFF 1 members.
Currently the LEOFF Policies & Procedures allow for a payment of $600 annually towards dental premiums and/or dental services. The policy also allows for additional reimbursement for dental services which staff can approve up to $2,000. Any request for dental services over $2,000 must go to the board for approval. The current policy also allows for one dental cleaning per year. To receive more than one cleaning a year, the member must submit a letter or application for payment of services completed by their dentist or doctor requesting more than one cleaning a year. This documentation is required every two years and is tracked by the HR Analyst acting as the LEOFF Board representative. A manual and time-consuming task.
The current reimbursement process for up to the $600 is they submit a claim form along with their receipts for reimbursement. For anything above the $600 they submit the application for payment of service which is completed by the member and the dentist. If the request is for an amount under $2,000, it is reviewed logged into the request log, assigned a case number and approved by staff, the member is notified, and they schedule the work to be done (fi not already done).
The staff approval portion of dental work was approved and put into the policy changes in the 2018 revision. I would ask the board to consider a policy update as follows:
Approval of dental work up to $2,000 annually to include payment of dental premiums and routine dental services such as exams and up to 2 cleanings a year, filings and crowns under the annual amount of $2,000 by submitting the LEOFF claim form for reimbursement. Any extensive dental work or if routine dental work exceeds $2,000 annually, the member would submit the application for payment of services completed by themselves and their dentist. This would reduce the need to assign a case number except in the event the request is going to the board for approval.
Attachments:
LEOFF Policies & Procedures 2018 Revision