June 2, 2000

The following questions were submitted through Hotline for the Partners Town Meeting. Because of time constraints, they were not answered at the meeting. Key MGH leaders have provided the responses below.

Question: With the change in pharmacy benefit managers, the new benefit card has the Social Security number of the beneficiary as the ID number. This use of the Social Security number is an issue for those of us concerned about privacy and identity theft. Human Resources at the MGH has been very willing to help, but despite their attempts to work this out with Merck-Medco, there still is no substitute number available. Could this be addressed at a higher level?

Answer: The MGH has been working with Merck-Medco for several months on this issue. Shortly Merck-Medco will be able to convert from the Social Security number as the ID number to the health insurance card number. For Blue Cross Blue Shield plans (including Partners Plus and Partners Value) the health insurance card number is the same as the Social Security number unless one asks to change it. MGHers will be able to change the Merck-Medco ID number by changing the Blue Cross Blue Shield card number. Employees should contact their human resources generalists for more information about how to change the Blue Cross Blue Shield number.

Question: Could someone please explain how our pension plan credits were carried over from the former pension plan to the cash balance retirement plan?

Answer: The MGH converted to the current cash balance plan more than 10 years ago — Oct. 1, 1989. At that time, the opening balance was equal to the present value of any accrued benefit from the prior pension. Those employees over 55 years old were permitted to remain in the prior plan. The annual allocation to the MGH cash balance plan for each qualified employee ranges from 5 percent to 15 percent of pay, based upon age and years of service. The account balance is also credited with interest annually at a rate no less than 6.5 percent. This pension plan requires no employee contribution. The cost is entirely borne by the hospital.

Question: Several task force and Operation Improvement groups have recommended that the MGH have a ventilator step-down unit to improve patient care and save money. With recent advances in noninvasive ventilation, the need is even greater. Yet nothing gets done. What is needed for the MGH to provide better care for ventilated patients?

Answer: Each day at the MGH we have approximately 75 patients who are receiving assistance from a ventilator to help them breathe. While the majority of these patients are critically ill, there are approximately 15 patients per day who continue to require assistance from a ventilator but are no longer critical and do not require the ICU environment. Currently all medical-surgical units have taken care of these patients. There has been an effort under way to look at creating a vent unit. This concept has received widespread support. However, during the past year, the hospital has been extremely busy, and therefore space for such a unit is limited. A group is meeting to explore all options for this important issue and other emerging space-related challenges.

See "The state of the Partners union" for coverage of the Partners town meeting.