Mid-week Miscellany

In the spirit of Open Season, the Federal Times reports on 2010 changes in the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (or FEDVIP). "About 813,000 employees and retirees have dental coverage under FEDVIP and more than 570,000 are signed up for vision coverage, according to an Office of Personnel Management fact sheet issued in September."

OPM and its Federal Employees Long Term Care Insurance Program contractor Long Term Care Partners are working to correct errors in letters that the contractor sent Program enrollees, according to an OPM press release.

Responding to OPM's request, Long Term Care Partners reports they will begin mailing notices to the approximately 71,600 affected individuals, alerting them to the errors about the premiums shown in the "Benefit Amount" section of their election letters. The company also reports that in December, they will mail personalized letters providing accurate information to affected enrollees so that they can make an informed decision using correct information.

"Getting accurate, easy to understand information to our enrollees in a timely manner is my top priority," said OPM Director John Berry. "All companies participating in this program must take steps to ensure that similar errors are avoided in the future."

Due to the error, Long Term Care Partners is extending the decision period for those who received an erroneous letter to March 15, 2010, giving enrollees sufficient time to review their options.

Reuters reports that the Business Roundtable released a Hewitt Associates report on health care reform that appealed to all sides of the debate. According to the Roundtable's press release,

“This report shows that effective reforms can slow health care costs by as much as $3,000 per employee in 2019,” said Antonio M. Perez, Chair of Business Roundtable’s Consumer Health and Retirement Initiative and Chairman and CEO of Eastman Kodak Company. “Health care reform done right could reduce the growth rate of health care costs – not just for government, but for the private sector as well. This must be a key measurement of success for Business Roundtable and the economy as a whole, and will be a key factor of businesses’ review of the final health care legislation. The report also shows that reform done wrong won’t work and could make a bad situation much worse, in which case Business Roundtable could not support the bill. Making the right choices as the final health care bill gets crafted is essential, and we are committed to working with Congress and the Administration toward a bill we can support."

Reuters is reporting that pharmacy chain / prescription benefit manager "CVS Caremark Corp. (CVS.N) is trying to fix problems in its pharmacy benefits management business and wants to find a new leader to run the unit by the end of this year, Chief Executive Tom Ryan said on Thursday." The Dow Jones News Wires adds

Ryan's comments came days after CVS Caremark detailed a net $4.8 billion in lost pharmacy benefit management, or PBM, accounts for 2010, disclosed that the Federal Trade Commission was investigating company business practices and announced that the president of its PBM is retiring. The company expects to complete a search for a new PBM head by year end, in time for the 2011 "selling season" that starts early next year, he said.

The Dow Jones Newswires also reported today that Coventry Healthcare has sued CVS Caremark in federal court in Tennessee.

Coventry Health, which is moving more than $1 billion a year worth of pharmacy-benefits-management business from CVS Caremark to a rival PBM [Medco Health Services], accuses the company of wrongfully paying hundreds of thousands of dollars or more in prescription drug claims [involving military pharmacies and Medicaid beneficiaries.

According to the report, CVS Caremark denies the allegations.