In view of a failed privatization plan for group health insurance, the NMI Retirement Fund has verbally agreed to extend the contract of its third party administrator, Hawaii Pacific Medical Referral, for one year.<\/p>\n
This agreement was reached during a negotiation last week with HPMR, which earlier proposed for an extension of its services agreement \u201cbeyond Dec. 31, 2005.\u201d<\/p>\n
The company\u2019s contract, which has been extended since July 2004, is set to expire on Dec. 31.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a very, very difficult discussion because our contract expires on Dec. 31 and given the way we are right now, there\u2019s no takers, and even if we do, we have to be mindful of the transition. We don\u2019t want our patients to be left out in the cold because of our failure to act with a very short time period,\u201d Fund board chair Joseph Reyes said.<\/p>\n
Further, Reyes said that if HPMR\u2019s service contract is not extended, the Fund fears of \u201crollback\u201d on the charges.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would cost us an additional expenses rather than a negotiated rate which the third party has in place,\u201d said Reyes.<\/p>\n
The board\u2019s decision was also triggered by the fact that HPMR would terminate its agreement with Staywell in the Philippines by Dec. 1 if the service contract would not be extended.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have decided to extend the HPMR contract up to 12 months,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re between a rock and hard place here,\u201d Reyes added.<\/p>\n
He said that during the negotiation, HPMR agreed to reduce its rates, thus saving the CNMI government more funds.<\/p>\n
HPMR earlier reported that it saved the CNMI government over $8 million (in discounts) from Aug. 1, 2001 to July 31, 2004.<\/p>\n
Savings were realized by deducting ineligible charges, HPMR discount, coordination of benefits, and co-pay and co-insurer shares.<\/p>\n
Meantime, Reyes said that the 12-month extension would be executed on the understanding that it would have a 90-day termination clause.<\/p>\n
It means that if and when the Fund receives a better RFP for a third party administrator, then the Fund can give the party a 90-day termination notice.<\/p>\n
In a meeting Friday, the board approved to re-issue two Requests for Proposals: one for a third party administrator and one for prescription drug benefit management services.<\/p>\n
Reyes said the RFPs will be revised and be published soon.<\/p>\n
The first issuance of RFPs expired on Nov. 16 without a single taker.<\/p>\n
The Fund earlier said that the TPA proposal is open to HPMR.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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