WPS Benefits News
January/February 2023: Ringing in the New Year
In This Issue:
- Taking Care of You in the New Year
- Open Enrollment Recap
- Now Working on Wellness Points for Calendar Year 2024
- Insurance Plan Card & Contact Information
- Employee Benefits Contact Information
TAKING CARE OF YOU IN THE NEW YEAR
Check out these on-demand trainings at your fingertips after you sign up on the website at www.guidanceresources.com using code usd259.
Be Bold - The Confident You: Taking Charge of Your Life
Most people can use a confidence boost before heading into important events in their lives. Learn how with this training module.
Be Resilient - Living With Change
Whether it occurs at work or home, change can be stressful. This training discusses the best ways for you to move through the 3 stages of change.
OPEN ENROLLMENT RECAP
Our team stepped up efforts this year to communicate to our employees in additional ways regarding benefit enrollment including a podcast with transcription available, a Spanish translated enrollment guide, QR codes for easy access on phones, text and phone call reminders, and a Brainshark video that provided an audio walk-through of the benefits. This was in addition to our open enrollment guide, newsletters, and all district emails.
Our goal in these efforts was to ensure you had the time and knowledge to make the best choices for yourself and your family with benefits but also to help you avoid being defaulted to employee only plans if you failed to enroll. Sadly, we did not reach the enrollment completion numbers we had hoped for this year.
We do take feedback we get each year to heart, and many of the changes made this year were based on feedback received in the past. Please keep an eye out for a survey coming your way soon via email to tell us more about your enrollment experience. We are always looking for ways to make improvements in our processes.
NOW WORKING ON WELLNESS POINTS FOR CALENDAR YEAR 2024
For calendar year 2024, premium discounts are based on wellness activities completed between 9/1/22 and 8/31/23. A cheat sheet is noted below along with a few reminders we continue to plug throughout the year.
- IDEALLY, wellness points should be captured by files received from bswift from insurance carriers, but these are not ALWAYS captured for a variety of reasons including incorrect billing or coding from providers or if services are done too late in the year to be captured in time for open enrollment.
- One vaccine will apply toward wellness points.
- Wellness points documentation is an employee's responsibility to provide if they do not show up within bswift.
- Achieving 100 wellness points amounts to $1200 savings in premiums per year.
This is about saving you money on your premiums each year, but more importantly it is about keeping you healthy! You are rewarded in getting this discount by taking care of yourself through these free preventative screenings, many of which can detect serious issues early on potentially saving your life.
Insurance Plan Card & Contact information
2023 insurance cards should be in your hands at this point with the exception of those that had a change since the very last week of the year as those may still be on their way to you.
For those that did not make a change since 2022 on health plans, 2022 cards will still work while you are waiting as group and member numbers have not changed.
If you were changed to cash option late in the year, you may have received a card before that change was made and can discard that card. Please remember now and in the future that if you take cash option, you must upload a copy of your insurance card every year to bswift, even if there is no change. This includes those employees insured by another employee in the district.
Please note contact information below for insurance carriers.
Medical Plans
- UMR 866-683-6438
- Surest (previously Bind) 866-683-6440
Prescriptions
- Maxor 800-687-0707
- RxResults 844-853-9400
Dental Plan
- Delta Dental 800-234-3375
Vision Plan
- Surency Vision 866-818-8805
Flex Spending Account
- ASI 800-659-3035
EMPLOYEE BENEFITS CONTACT INFORMATION
Back Row: Gina Wiedemann, Alexis Summers, Douglas Mumma, Nicole Heizelman, Sandra Cruz
Front Row: Terry Fields, Boni Burkhart, Danielle Dettmer, Jeana Melton
Gina Wiedemann - Benefit Analyst
- Administration of employee and retiree health plan which includes medical, dental, vision, pharmacy benefits, and flexible spending accounts
- Annual open enrollment
(316)973-4564
Alexis Summers- Retirement Specialist
- Serves as the district retirement liaison
- Acts as the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System (KPERS) designated agent for USD 259
(316)973-4590
Douglas Mumma - Risk Compliance Analyst
- Property & Casualty Insurance Claims related to damage to district property and buildings
- Risk Analysis
- Bodily Injury Claims for Students & Members of Public
(316)973-4566
Nicole Heizelman - Employee Benefits Health, Wellness & Disability Technician (Certified Staff)
- Certified staff contact for Medical Leave
- Certified staff contact for FMLA
- Certified staff contact for Maternity/Parental/Adoptive Leave
- Unpaid Health Leave of Absences
(316)973-4632
Sandra Cruz - Workers' Compensation Technician
- Administering all aspects of the district's Workers' Compensation program
- Authorization and coordination of care as directed by Kansas State Statutes under the KS Department of Labor
(316)973-4579
Terry Fields - Benefits & Budget Assistant
- District life insurance & supplemental life insurance
- New hire benefits enrollment
- Annual open enrollment
- Budget tracking assistance for department
(316)973-4522
Boni Burkhart - Supervisor of Employee Health, Wellness & Disability Programs
- Supervising Workers' Compensation, FMLA and Medical Leave Programs
- Managing mandatory referrals to, and promotion of, ComPsych EAP (Employee Assistance Program)
- Administration of Catastrophic Leave Pool and benefit applications
(316)973-4737
Danielle Dettmer - Manager of Employee Benefits & Insurance Management
- Facilitating strategic goals that bring competitive and diverse benefit choices to USD 259 employees
- Developing communications and educational resources for employees to help them become independent consumers of their own benefits
- Overseeing multiple benefit specialty areas for the district and managing a team of subject matter experts
- Aligning benefit offerings with district mission and vision
(316)973-4561
Jeana Melton - Employee Benefits Health, Wellness & Disability Technician (Classified Staff)
- Classified staff contact for Medical Leave
- Classified staff contact for FMLA
- Classified staff contact for Maternity/Parental/Adoptive Leave
(316)973-4458
Danielle Dettmer
Manager of Employee Benefits
HR/Employee Benefits & Insurance Management
Email: employeebenefits@usd259.net
Website: http://www.usd259.org/HumanResources
Location: 903 South Edgemoor Street, Wichita, KS, USA
Phone: 316-973-4581