Elmbrook Schools

As you may have heard, on January 10, 2022, The Departments of Labor, Treasury, and Health and Human Services released guidance to support the Administration's directive that health insurers and group health plans cover, subject to certain criteria, the cost of FDA-authorized and approved over-the-counter (OTC) at-home COVID-19 tests beginning on January 15, 2022.

Human Resources is seeking your feedback about the Employee Handbook! Do you have a good idea you'd like to share? Please consider completing this brief, 2-question survey. The results directly impact annual changes to the Employee Handbook.

The Retirement Planning for All Ages presentation was given on January 10th. For those that were unable to attend, the presentation slides and the recording of the presentation are available here for you to review on your own time.

Optum Financial, Elmbrook Schools' HSA and FSA vendor, is launching enhancements to their online and mobile experiences. In order for these enhancements to take place, current online accounts will be read-only access from February 2nd through February 10th. Current payment cards will be inactivated as of February 2nd and a new card will be issued and received by February 11th. On February 11th, accounts can be accessed via the new website (optumfinancial.com) and claims can be submitted again.

A friendly reminder that as part of your benefits program, Elmbrook School District offers a service to help with all your health care and benefits questions. DirectPath helps you and your covered dependents save money, maximize your benefits and make the right choice for your unique situation.

Employees and spouses who participated in the Health Risk Assessment (HRA) and have one or more risk factors, or have not had a follow-up visit in the past, must do so by June 30th to maintain the reduced wellness premiums of $60 per person per month.

You should've received your results from your HRA in the mail directly from Everside. That letter will tell you your number of risk factors. Deadlines and requirements for follow-up visits are:

• New enrollments and participants never having a follow-up visit need one visit by June 30, 2022
• Those with one risk factor need one visit by June 30, 2022
• Those with two or more risk factors, need two visits (three months apart) with the first visit between now and March 31, 2022 and the second visit between April 1, 2022 and June 30, 2022

Call the Wellness Center now at 262-214-1101 to schedule your appointment(s). Please share this information with your spouse as well.

Flu shots are available at the Wellness Center for all employees. They are also available for all family members age 3 and up on the health plan. Call the Wellness Center at 262-214-1101 to schedule your appointment. Please complete and bring this consent form to your appointment.

Save the date! The Retirement Planning for All Ages presentation will be held at the Brookfield East Excellence Center today, Monday, January 10th at 4:15pm. It will also be recorded and placed on the website afterwards.

No matter your age, there are topics and guest speakers for everyone which includes:

• 403(b) Plans
• Health Savings Accounts
• Elmbrook's Retirement Plan
• Mid-America Premium-Only Health Reimbursement Arrangement (OPEB-HRA)
• WRS/ETF - State Pension Program
• Medicare
• Retiree Insurance Plans Available Outside of Elmbrook

We look forward to seeing you there!

Reminder to employees thinking about retirement at the end of the 2021-22 school year, the notification deadline to your Human Resources Department is February 1, 2022.

Elmbrook's Employee Assistance Program (EAP), administered by Empathia, is a great confidential resource to help address personal problems and is available to all employees and their household members. 

Life assistance is available 24/7 through Empathia's Care Center at 1-800-634-6433. Emails to online@empathia.com receive responses within 2 business days. 

Visit Empathia's website at www.mylifematters.com (password: ELM1) to access more than 20,000 pieces of content and a variety of resources.

Please be sure to share this information with your family as this is a resource for them too!