Sept. 19, 2003

Retirement Board Elects Chair and Vice Chair
Eugene Norris was elected chair and Joe Endry vice chair of the State Teachers Retirement Board. The two will serve one-year terms as officers. Norris has been a member of the board since 1996, while Endry joined the board in 2001.

New Member Selected for Retirement Board
Robert B. Brown was selected as the newest member of the State Teachers Retirement Board during the board’s Sept. 19, 2003, meeting. Brown fills the seat vacated by Hazel Sidaway on June 30, 2003, upon her retirement as a teacher in the Canton City Schools. He will complete Sidaway’s term, which runs through Aug. 31, 2006.

Brown is a professor in the Department of Mathematics at The Ohio State University. He has been a member of the department for 33 years. He also taught at the University of Toronto and the University of California and was an assistant actuary at Midland Mutual Life Insurance Co. for one year. He is currently an associate with the Society of Actuaries and a member of the Ohio and National Councils of Teachers of Mathematics and the American Mathematical Society. He initiated and directed the actuarial program at The Ohio State University. He received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and master’s and doctorate degrees from the University of Chicago.

Retirement Board Identifies Issues and Priorities for the Coming Months
Reflecting on the events of the past few months during its Committee on Annual Planning and Evaluations meeting, the Retirement Board reviewed the current issues facing the retirement system, focusing primarily on legislation (both introduced and proposed), health care funding and communications. The board discussed the importance of being involved in legislative activity at the Statehouse. However, before any legislative language can be developed, the following steps must be taken:

Report Confirms Potential Cost Savings and Privacy Provisions of LifeMasters Disease Management Program
As part of its Health Care Committee meeting, the Retirement Board received a report on the LifeMasters Disease Management Program in response to some STRS Ohio members’ concerns about the cost of the program and confidentiality of personal health information.

The LifeMasters Disease Management Program is offered to Health Care Program enrollees with diabetes, coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure and/or chronic lung disease. The program is provided at no cost to the enrollees and is completely voluntary. The goal of the program is to maintain and improve the health of enrollees with these chronic conditions, which will result in a savings in health care expenses for both these members and STRS Ohio.

The review showed that of the total number of non-Medicare and Medicare B only enrollees eligible for the program, 6,956 enrollees have the chronic conditions managed by LifeMasters. These individuals account for approximately one-third of STRS Ohio’s health care costs for this targeted group. Of these enrollees, 88% have chosen to participate in the LifeMasters program. Nearly 1,000 of those participants are considered high to moderate risk and are engaged in vital sign and symptom monitoring and reporting to LifeMasters on a regular basis.

Early indications of the program’s impact on participants’ health status are positive. For example, clinical measures such as the use of drugs to keep blood pressure down in congestive heart failure patients, the frequency of eye and foot exams in diabetes patients and the use of flu and pneumonia vaccinations in all enrollees have improved.

LifeMasters has guaranteed STRS Ohio will save more than the fees paid for the service. LifeMasters must save STRS Ohio the total amount of fees paid to LifeMasters plus a percentage of the expected claim costs for the targeted population or refund 80% of the fees paid by STRS Ohio. For the remaining 20% of fees, LifeMasters must demonstrate improvements in the health of enrollees through clinical measures (10%) and show participant satisfaction with the program (10%) or those fees must be refunded as well.

During the meeting, legal counsel also explained that STRS Ohio is in compliance with HIPAA privacy regulations in its administration of the LifeMasters program.

Next spring, the Retirement Board will receive a report of the first-year results of the program.

Health Care Premium for Survivors of Service Retirement Benefit Recipients Adjusted
Changes to the 2004 STRS Ohio Health Care Program included eliminating the premium subsidy for survivors of service retirement benefit recipients; previously they had received the same level of subsidy as the benefit recipient received while living. However, upon staff’s recommendation, the Retirement Board approved a change to return to the previous methodology for determining premiums for five years, beginning the latter of 2004 or the effective date of survivor benefits. With this change, the 2004 premium costs for approximately 4,575 survivors will be reduced.

Retirement, Investment Transactions Approved
The Retirement Board approved the following retirements and investment transactions:

Additional Items Reported at the Meeting
Interim Executive Director Damon Asbury reported that he is continuing to review a number of STRS Ohio management and spending practices. Under consideration are the following:

To date, the Retirement Board and Dr. Asbury have:

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