Regent's Recap June 2002

Submitted by Jeannie Phillips
Phone: (907) 474-7908
07/02/02

Regents of the University of Alaska were briefed on the university’s escalating health care costs at their June meeting in Fairbanks.

Janet Jacobs, the university’s executive director for Human Resources, told the regents that the university has caught up with national trends in rising health care costs. While the rest of the nation was experiencing significant cost increases, the university’s experience remained relatively steady in FY00 with total claims costs of $17.6 million.

"We now have dramatic increases that show no sign of stopping," she said.

Jacobs told the regents the primary cost drivers and their relative impact on cost increases are:

• Increased staff more employees and their dependents on the plan plus increased average number of claims per participant higher use (48%).
• Increased average cost per claim inflation in costs for medical and related services (24%).
• High claims claims over $50,000 (28%).

For the current fiscal year, the university’s health care plan covers 3,915 employees with total plan participants of 9,395. Total claims costs for this fiscal year are projected to be $25.9 million, compared to $21.3 million for FY01 and $17.6 for FY00. "A dialogue has begun and will continue with all the university’s constituency groups," Jacobs said, as the university addresses the issue. The board approved six new academic programs, four at UAA and two at UAF. At UAA, the new programs are Certificate in Pharmacy Technology, Associate of Applied Science in Radiologic Technology, Bachelor of Arts in Early Childhood Education and Master of Public Health in Public Health Practice. At UAF, regents approved the addition of Certificate in Health Care Reimbursement and the addition of Master of Software Engineering. At the request of the administration, the Board of Regents deleted two education programs at UAF. The Master of Arts in Elementary Education and the Bachelor of Education programs were outdated and have been replaced by others. No students were enrolled in either of the deleted programs.

Regents also approved the acceptance from the state of the Old Fairbanks Courthouse and the Courthouse Parking Garage in downtown Fairbanks for use by the Tanana Valley Campus of UAF. At present, TVC has two primary buildings, the old University Park building and the Downtown Center, and is short of space.

UAF’s campus master plan was approved by the regents, who also okayed the project and schematic designs for several facilities, including the UAF Arctic Health Research Building Laboratory Revitalization, the UAF West Ridge utilidor extension project, and the UAF Arctic Health Fire Sprinklers project.

The board also approved the project and schematic design of the UAA Community and Technical College Center at a total project and finance cost not to exceed $15.5 million, and authorized the university administration to execute a purchase agreement for the University Center space not to exceed $14 million. Acquisition of the University Center space will enable the expansion of UAA into a metropolitan area of Anchorage. The center will provide convenience, accessibility, and adequate parking for students, parents and the community at large. The types of programs that will be located in the facility are those that best support entry-level students, returning non-traditional students, and anyone needing access to student administrative functions.

The Board of Regents met in a joint session with the state Board of Education and Early Development to discuss issues of mutual interest. The two boards also passed a resolution of support for the Alaska 20/20 Project, a public process to engage Alaskans in charting Alaska’s future. The 20/20 Project was initiated by the Alaska Humanities Forum.

Resolutions of Appreciation were approved for former Regents Mark Begich, Joe Hardenbrook and Marlene Johnson, all of whom lost their seats on the board when the legislature failed to hold a confirmation vote on their nominations.

Regents also passed a resolution of appreciation for Ann Tremarello who has served the University of Alaska Fairbanks since 1957 in college admissions and records. She is retiring this summer after nearly half a century of outstanding service.

University President Mark Hamilton presented Make Students Count awards to Cindy Marshall, Student Affairs Manager for the UAA Division of Student Affairs; Tonya Trabant, Counselor in UAF Career Services; Roxy Felkl, Administrative Assistant for UAS Student Activities and Housing; and Janet Johnson, Senior Lead Analyst Programmer for the Banner Student Information System.