Address by Chairperson of GEMS

Prof. Richard Levin

Monday, 26 October 2009 - Sibaya Casino - KwaZulu Natal

GEMS: Contributing to the Public Service's HR Management
Minister Baloyi,
Deputy Minister Padayachie
The GEMS Board of Trustees
Esteemed guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen.

When we convened the Scheme's inaugural annual symposium on 4 June 2008, we celebrated the successes achieved by the Scheme in respect of fulfilling the policy objectives set before it. 

We recognised that there was still a great deal of hard work ahead of us in respect of extending healthcare cover to many more public service employees and their families, especially employees on the lowest income levels.  We also did not forget that the growth of the Scheme's membership means that the operational capacity of the Scheme needs to be enhanced continuously to ensure that the public service employees who are members of the Scheme receive exemplary service.

What we need to do today, is to consider the progress made by the Scheme in the context of the Scheme's ability to add value to the human resource management function in the Public Service and to consider the untapped potential in this regard, which I believe is vast.

Considering the demographic transformation of the public service since 1994, GEMS is the first medical scheme of its kind. It is a restricted membership medical scheme established to provide all public service employees with medical cover regardless of race, income, gender or creed.  Whereas the obligations of human resource managers in the pre GEMS dispensation only extended to informing public service employees of their medical assistance subsidy entitlement, human resource managers now have a vested interest in the efficient functioning of the Scheme. 

Let me confirm that the legitimacy of GEMS stems from the imperative on Government as, employer, to protect, improve and support the health status of its work force in a manner, and at a cost, that is justifiable to the citizens of this country. In GEMS, the employer has one of the most effective and efficient mechanisms at its disposal to pro-actively provide for a healthy and productive workforce and to support those employees who suffer from ill-health.

As such, the Scheme is an important ally to human resource managers in the public service who take their role with regard to improved productivity for improved service delivery seriously.

The Principal Officer will present information on the State of the Scheme and will assess the level to which the Scheme has succeeded in meeting its stated mandate. 

The specific areas of work where the Scheme has achieved remarkable success will also be presented with a view to consider how the lessons learnt may be applied in the public service. I will focus on the converging interests of the Scheme and human resource managers with a view to highlight the areas where successes have been achieved but also those where a great deal of work is still needed in order to fully optimise synergies.

Let us start by considering the link between membership growth and the value that GEMS may add to the human resource management function in the public service:

The medium term strategic plan adopted by the Board of Trustees in 2006 incorporates the strategic objective of effectively marketing the Scheme to all its members, as well as non members, in order to significantly reduce the number of uncovered employees in the public service. 

The Scheme recently surpassed the milestone of 400 000 principal members. Not only is this remarkable considering that the Scheme enrolled its first member in December 2005 for 1 January 2006 but the membership growth experienced by the Scheme since inception confirms that the establishment of the Scheme was indeed the right thing to do. We have almost 150 000 public service level 1 to 5 employees covered and membership exceeds 1 in 3 public service employees. The membership numbers position the Scheme to provide the public service with valuable data pertaining to key health trends in the public service.  Reliable data, together with accurate analysis and meaningful interpretation, represents knowledge and the Scheme possess both the experience and skills within its operational structures to analyse and interpret data in this fashion. We can through GEMS data, immediately ascertain the impact of swine flu on the public service and even the number of members who have had babies. When we discuss these matters we always do so acknowledging the Scheme's duty to protect confidential member information. 

The sick leave and incapacity leave experience of the public service leaves no doubt that there are health risks that require our attention, firm decision making and the introduction of effective and efficient controls. I believe that Human Resource Managers in the Public Service already have a firm understanding of the health related issues and problems that hamper service delivery in the public service.  The Scheme is in a position to not only confirm this understanding but also to provide human resource managers with valuable information on the drivers of this experience for the development and implementation of effective and efficient interventions - enhancing productivity and the functional capacity of each employee.

The value that may be added by the Scheme is not limited to informing the development and implementation of interventions targeting the identified drivers of the ill health experience of the public service.  The Scheme is also able to support departments in respect of measuring the effectiveness of these interventions and to make changes where indicated.  GEMS data provides a living monitoring and evaluation tool!
The capability of the Scheme to add value to the management of human resources in the public service will increase with continued membership growth and I want to encourage Heads of Department, human resource managers and health and wellness officials present today to not only consider meaningful interaction with the Scheme in relation to the development of health and wellness interventions in their departments but also to support the Scheme's membership growth initiatives.

We should at this point in time also consider that the Scheme itself will benefit greatly from the introduction of effective health and wellness initiatives in the public service that are proactive in nature. Healthier employees mean healthier members which in turn leads to lower claims and member contributions. The potential for cost reduction and thereby the extension of more benefits to those who really need it is immense. Importantly, when we refer to the Scheme, we should remember that we are not referring to a third party or a vague entity but in fact to the collective membership of the Scheme. A productive and reciprocal relationship between the management structure of the Scheme and human resource managers in the public service is imperative!

Let us now consider the value that the Scheme may add in respect of communicating with public service employees:

The public service is vast and the geographical distribution of public service employees coupled with a lack of up to date data may at times hamper communication between the employer and employees.

Effective and fast communication with the members of the Scheme is imperative in ensuring the sound management of the Scheme.  The Scheme's member communication systems and mechanisms are highly effective and make optimal use of available technology. The Scheme distributes on average 1.5 million communication items such as member letters, newsletters, brochures, posters, statements and sms's during the course of a month to its members.

The value that the Scheme may add in supporting the communication of health and wellness information to all employees has not been fully explored as yet, however, the public service may benefit from the Scheme's expertise in respect of member communication as well as the member contact details at the Scheme's disposal.

At this point in time, the Scheme's official website contains a wealth of health related information and a free health advice line is available to members. What cost reductions would be realized if departments used this line rather than purchasing their own?

The next step should be to provide public service employees with customised information.  As an example, an analysis of claims relating to hospital admissions and chronic medication indicated a high prevalence of mental health conditions in some provincial departments. A partnership between the Scheme and employer to educate employees of these departments on mental health conditions and to encourage and assist them to seek the appropriate treatment early on would go a long way in mitigating problems experienced by employees and employers such as absenteeism.  The Scheme already supports the health and wellness days of departments by providing essential screening services and health advice to employees who attend these sessions and the potential for enhancing health and wellness days based on clinical analysis and the identification of key health trends is vast.

Too often, dynamic communication between public service employees and the human resource management function is limited, leaving public service employees with the impression that the employer is unresponsive or not concerned with the challenges faced by public service employees in their respective places of work. The Scheme is ideally placed to support the employer in "caring for the care givers" which in turn should impact positively on service delivery to the public. Lessons learnt by the Scheme in conducting its annual member satisfaction survey may be well used by HR managers to survey employees in respect of the quality of services received from human resource practitioners and to convey their expectations to human resource managers. On the part of GEMS, the quarterly human resource practitioner newsletter is a first step to opening the doors of engagement.

The partnership fostered between the Scheme and human resource practitioners is already yielding good results and provides a solid basis for continued reciprocal engagement.  Let us consider the progress made in this area and the potential for strengthening these partnerships.

The Scheme convenes and participates in a number of stakeholder forums. These forums include participation by human resource practitioners, health and wellness practitioners and the entities responsible for administering the payroll systems of the public service and meetings take place on a quarterly basis. The engagement in these forums takes the form of progress reporting by the Scheme and the discussion of matters of mutual interest.

I wish to encourage those Departments who do not as yet form part of the Scheme's stakeholder forums to commence participation as these forums provide a platform for sharing important information.  

The Scheme introduced an annual HR Practitioner training programme in 2006. Based on the feedback received from attendees, this programme has proven to be valuable to both the Scheme and human resource practitioners.  The training programme initially served to increase awareness of the Scheme, the Scheme's benefit offering and the amended medical assistance subsidy policy. With the Scheme maturing, existing services and programmes are modified continuously while new services and innovations are being implemented.

The Scheme's annual HR Training Programme has now become an important event for human resource managers to receive and discuss information on new developments. While the programme typically runs from April to June every year, the Scheme provides additional and customised sessions for departments who wish to send large numbers of human resource practitioners for this training. Human resource practitioners who attend the programme have also seized the opportunity to discuss problems experienced on the ground with the Scheme in these sessions. The Scheme has been able to implement various interventions aimed at improving member services as a result and departments have benefitted from their enhanced understanding of the administration of medical assistance deductions on the payroll system. The enhancement of the Scheme's contribution reconciliation statement to make it user friendly is an example of the Scheme responding to feedback received from HR officials.

The partnership fostered between the Scheme and HR Practitioners is also embodied in the quarterly newsletter that the Scheme distributes to HR practitioners and the actions that flow from publishing information in this fashion. The HR Newsletter was used to great effect in 2009 to reduce the Scheme's premium management complaints experience. By keeping human resource managers informed about the causes of member contribution debt and by obtaining their assistance in this important matter, the Scheme was able to reduce premium management complaints by 50% in the first two quarters of 2009 and to bring member debt levels down. This co-operation enhances the financial management of the Scheme and also makes for happier public service employees. I wish to thank human resource managers in the public service who act positively on information provided by the Scheme and I also wish to encourage those practitioners, who do not receive the newsletter, to register on the Scheme's HR practitioner database.

The Scheme is continuously looking for new ways in which to support human resource managers in dealing with medical assistance matters and an HR toolkit is available on the Scheme's website. The HR toolkit contains essential information such as the calculation of membership fees and the medical assistance subsidy that members of GEMS may qualify for. A special communication channel was also created for human resource practitioners who need to obtain information from the Scheme on member premiums.  Human resource practitioners make active use of the premiums@gems email facility to resolve premium related queries and complaints.

In my address to you today, I could only focus on some of the benefits to be derived from constructive co-operation between the Scheme and human resource managers. I trust that officials attending the symposium will gain a good understanding of the opportunities available for constructive engagement. 

As Chairperson of GEMS, a public service employee and a member of the Scheme, I appreciate your presence here today and the hard work and dedication that goes into protecting and improving the health and wellbeing of our workforce.  The presence of a fit and healthy public service employee is central to human resource management. Through GEMS, we can and do enhance the health status of our employees.

Let us go forward together in order to ensure that our mutual efforts will result in making Government an employer of choice.
Thank you for all your efforts.