HPMR accepts contract extension

Hawaii Pacific Medical Referral vice president Thomas G. Cannon confirmed that the HPMR’s third party contract with the NMI Retirement Fund will be extended up to June 2005.

“We discussed it during our meeting today. They opted to further extend our contract. It sounded like they’re expecting that the RFP [for health plan privatization] will be done by June,” said Cannon in an interview Friday.

Cannon, who met with the Fund’s Group Health and Life Insurance Program committee Thursday, said, though, that HPMR services would still be needed until the entire program is fully privatized, which is most likely in September 2005.

This is so because a transition period would have to take place to allow government members to enroll with the private provider from June to September 2005.

Cannon said he actually suggested that the contract be extended up to Aug. 31, given the situation. “I suggested that Aug. 31 is a more reasonable time frame,” said Cannon. The Fund, however, just settled for a June extension.

Cannon indicated that HPMR would be willing to stay as long as its services are needed.

Fund administrator Karl T. Reyes earlier said that HPMR’s contract has been extended to June because the government is not ready yet for the privatization of the health insurance program.

The program’s life insurance component has already been privatized.

The Fund initially granted HPMR an extension of up to December 2004, which was later moved to February 2005, anticipating that the full privatization would take place by March. HPMR’s original contract expired last July.

Cannon said the contract had been amended to allow service extension up to February next year.

“We have to amend it again for June,” he said.

The Fund’ board of trustees voted in March this year not to renew HPMR’s July contract, believing that the program would have been privatized by that time.

HPMR is the third-party administrator for the health insurance aspect of the Fund’s GHLI program.