2020-04-15 Disability Board MinutesEDMONDS' DISABILITY BOARD
Meeting Minutes
Regularly Called Meeting
04/15/2020
MEMBERS PRESENT:
Ken Jones, Board Chair
Gary McComas, Board Member
Susan Paine, Council Member
Vivian Olson, Council Member
Jim Distelhorst, Citizen -at -Large
STAFF PRESENT:
Carly Derrick, Human Resources Assistant
Emily Wagener, Human Resources Analyst
Sharon Cates, City Attorney
MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC PRESENT:
None
CALL TO ORDER:
Chair Ken Jones called the meeting to order at 10:01 AM.
MEMBER RE-ELECTION STATUS:
HR Assistant Carly Derrick gave a brief update on the election results for the re-election of Board
Member Gary McComas. HR Analyst Emily Wagener suggested extending the term for the fire member
and re -sending out ballots. Council member Susan Paine suggested extending his term 120 days.
Chair Jones moved to extend the deadline for the fire member election for 120 days. Council
member Paine seconded the motioned. The motion carried.
LTC INQUIRY UPDATE:
Ms. Wagener gave a brief update stating that there was no further information regarding a LEOFF
member's mention of possibly needing long-term care.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Chair Jones moved to approve the minutes from the regularly scheduled 2/25/2020 meeting.
Citizen -at -Large Jim Distelhorst seconded the motion. The motion passed.
DISCUSS AND APPROVE CLAIMS SUMMARY REPORT
Chair Jones introduced the claims summary report for the first quarter of 2020. Mrs. Derrick spoke
briefly about the claims summary report, indicating that it was similar to the same period of time for the
prior year.
Edmonds Disability Board- 4/15/2020
Summary of Current Costs
01/01/2020 — 03/31/2020
SERVICE
Number of Claims
Total Paid for Service
Deductibles
1
$ 300.00
Dental Expenses
4
$ 772.00
Hearing Aids
1
$ 2,579.96
Long Term Care
5
$ 34,705.00
Medical Services
4
$ 862.38
Medicare Premium
17
$ 26,163.00
Prescription Eyeglasses
1
$ 225.00
Prescription Medication
15
$ 3,732.84
Grand Total
48
$ 69,340.18
Chair Jones made a motion to approve the claims summary report for the period 01/01/2020 to
03/31/2020 in the amount of $69,340.18. Council member Paine seconded the motion. The
motion carried.
REVIEW/DISCUSSION OF A LEOFF 1 MEMBER'S PRIOR LTC CLAIMS OVER ALLOWED
AMOUNTS & OTHER PENDING APPROVAL ITEMS.
Ms. Wagener explained that HR had received a request for reimbursement from the spouse of a
recently passed LEOFF 1 member that showed excess charges upon move out from one LTC facility
and that these charges were approximately $3,000 over the amount that was previously approved by
the Board. Ms. Wagener further explained that this was discovered after the fact due to the delay from
the LEOFF 1 member's spouse in informing HR about the move. Ms. Wagener further mentioned the
board would need to approve the overage amount retroactively.
There was a question from Council member Vivian Olson who asked if it was typical for charges to be
double for one-on-one care. Citizen -at -Large Distelhorst confirmed this was standard billing procedure
for long term care. Council member Paine asked if one-on-one care is typical in long-term care. Chair
Jones mentioned that this was end of life care and asked Citizen -at -Large Distelhorst if this was typical.
Citizen -at -Large Distelhorst confirmed that it was normal for end of life care. Ms. Wagener clarified that
the member didn't pass away until several months later and that one-on-one care wasn't provided at
the new facility so there was question as to the medical necessity of the one-on-one care from the
previous facility. Citizen -at -Large Distelhorst agreed it was interesting that one-on-one care was not
provided at the second facility.
Council member Olson expressed concern from a consumerism standpoint. Citizen -at -Large.
Distelhorst agreed that we should question the medical necessity of the one-on-one care. Chair Jones
was in favor of asking for more information from the member's spouse in regards to medical necessity.
The board further discussed additional requests for reimbursement from the same member for
ambulance bills that were not covered by Medicare or the supplemental insurance. There was some
discussion regarding receipt of proof that Medicare and the supplemental insurance denied the
ambulance bills. Ms. Wagener said that we can ask the member's spouse to provide EOB's for those
bills. Council member Paine agreed. Council member Paine brought up the RCW and needing to find
out the reason behind the transport. Chair Jones thought the Board would need to pay it, but wanted to
know first if the bills were denied by Medicare and the supplemental insurance. Board Member
McCommas agreed we should ask for the EOBs.
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Edmonds Disability Board- 4/15/2020
Chair Jones proposed holding a special meeting so that the member's spouse did not need to wait until
the next regularly scheduled meeting for a resolution. The Board agreed unanimously that once the
requested documentation was received, a special meeting would be scheduled.
The board agreed that it needed more information from the member's spouse regarding the one-
on-one care charges and the EOB's for the ambulance bills. This action will be deferred to the
next meeting.
REVIEW/DISCUSSION OF A LEOFF 1 MEMBER'S REQUEST FOR REIMBURSEMENT FOR
COURT -ORDERED COUNSELING SERVICES.
Chair Jones asked for clarification on what the copies of the checks were for. Mrs. Derrick confirmed
that the member is making payments for counseling services, but is unclear on the reasoning for the
amounts. Ms. Wagener clarified that the RCW doesn't cover counseling services and mentioned that
HR didn't believe Medicare or the supplemental insurance would cover court -mandated counseling
services. Citizen -at -Large Distelhorst asked about the reasoning behind this request. Chair Jones gave
background regarding the member and mentioned that several years ago the Board paid for these
counseling services prior to the member being incarcerated. Board Member McComas recalled
speaking with an attorney (Mr. Fischnaller) seven to eight years ago who confirmed that the Board
would need to reimburse for these court -mandated services.
There was further discussion from the board who wondered if there was a legal requirement to pay
these services and if so, could we review prior meeting minutes to confirm if this was paid previously.
Chair Jones mentioned that to his recollection that the board had previously paid for it.
The board would like to see what was done previously. HR will look at historical meeting
minutes from 2011-2012 to see how this was processed previously.
REVIEW DRAFT CHANGES TO DENTAL POLICY 02-05
Board Member McComas made a motion approve the changes as presented for the dental
reimbursement policy retroactive to January 1. Chair Jones seconded the motion. The motion
carried.
OTHER
Ms. Wagener mentioned that she was postponing the review of other policies due to the current COVID
situation.
Chair Jones discussed dates for the next meeting. Ms. Wagener proposed holding off. Chair Jones
agreed pending the ability to meet in person and noted that the board can discuss regularly scheduled
meeting dates at the specially called meeting.
Chair Jones adjourned the meeting at 10:43 AM.
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