IIIA reports savings, higher stop‑loss costs and low wellness participation for McCall

Amy Manning, executive director of the IIIA self-funded health trust, told the McCall City Council the trust ended its fiscal year with about $42.5 million in budgeted benefits and reported membership across 124 agencies covering roughly 2,600 employees and 6,500 total members. Manning said prescription rebates increased roughly $2 million year over year and prescription cost per employee per month fell about 5 percent after the trust moved pharmacy administration to SmithRx.

Manning warned the council that stop‑loss (catastrophic) insurance premiums rose about 15 percent, linked to a year with several high claims; the trust had 34 plan members whose annual claim totals exceeded $100,000 as of the most recent reporting. She also described wellness‑screening results: McCall had 112 eligible members and 37 participated (about 33 percent). Screenings identified elevated PSAs, positive Cologuard results, elevated A1Cs and two stage‑1 melanomas found via added skin checks.

The trust highlighted several cost‑containment programs: pharmacy plan redesign (estimated $3 million annual savings), an infusion‑to‑pharmacy shift (about $500,000 in annual savings), telehealth (5,318 calls last year with estimated urgent‑care cost avoidance of about $771,000) and an in‑house mental‑health/EAP program that recorded 3,022 visits and a year‑over‑year drop in inpatient behavioral‑health admissions. Manning urged McCall to boost participation — for example, by promoting screenings, enrolling eligible members in SmithRx programs, and naming a wellness champion — and offered IIIA’s assistance to increase outreach.

The presentation closed with a local ‘report card’ showing McCall’s participation lagged the trust average and with an offer by IIIA to provide additional on‑site screening opportunities or scheduling adjustments to improve uptake. The council thanked Manning and asked staff to follow up on possible local partnerships to raise screening rates.