APC Extended Illness Bank Plan

The Health Alliance provides Extended Illness Bank (EIB) coverage designed to continue a portion of your pay during personal illness up to 64 hours each calendar year (depending on your years of service). All unused hours are forfeited at the end of each year, upon transfer to a non-Alliance Primary Care Department, termination of employment or retirement. Benefits under this plan must be coordinated through the employee health department and can only be used for your personal illness during your employment in Alliance Primary Care.

How Benefits Are Determined
You must complete 90 days of continuous service in order to access your Extended Illness Bank (EIB) time. The amount of EIB coverage provided to you each January 1 is based on your budgeted scheduled hours of work (FTE status) and on your years of Health Alliance service on January 1. If you are a newly hired associate who has not completed a full year of employment on January 1, EIB is prorated based on the months worked during the previous year. Only full months are credited toward the service component when determining EIB. Newly hired associates and associates who transfer into Alliance Primary Care receive credit for previous months or years of service when determining EIB on the next January 1, however there is no mid-year EIB time loaded into your bank. Therefore, EIB benefits are not available during the first calendar year of employment in Alliance Primary Care. However, any hours accrued under a Health Alliance hospital’s previous sick time plan will transfer over and can be used for a personal illness immediately after satisfying the Paid Time Off (PTO) requirement (see below).

The following illustrates EIB hours earned on January 1 (based on a 40 hour per week budgeted position):

How EIB Works
EIB benefits begin after 40 consecutive hours of disability during scheduled hours of work. This applies each time you are off work for a different illness unless the different illness occurs concurrently and requires continuation of the current leave of absence. The 40-hour elimination period also applies if you have a repeat of the same illness when recovery has allowed you to return to duty for 90 days or longer. During those first 40 hours, you must use your accrued PTO. If you don't have any PTO, those 40 hours will be unpaid leave. At the end of that 40-hour period, EIB payments will begin. If your weekly budgeted schedule is fewer than 40 hours, the 40-hour PTO requirement will be prorated. For example, if you are scheduled to work 36 hours a week, you will be required to use 36 hours of PTO (or unpaid time) before EIB payments will begin. If you experience a midyear change in your scheduled hours (status change), you will not see a midyear adjustment to your EIB. However, EIB is paid out based upon your status at the time of a medical leave.

Example: You are planning to go on medical leave beginning March 1. You are budgeted to work 40 hours per week on January 1 and you have 3 years of service. You receive 40 hours of EIB on January 1. However, on February 5 you reduce your budgeted scheduled hours to 32 hours per week.

Method of Payment During the Leave
During your first week of medical leave, 32 hours of PTO will be paid or no pay if PTO is unavailable. You will then receive 32 hours of EIB during the second week and 8 hours of EIB during the third week of the leave. Any PTO that is available is paid during the remainder of the leave until all PTO is exhausted.

If you are on a personal medical leave of absence at the end of a year and the leave continues into the next calendar year, you are immediately eligible to use any earned EIB that is loaded into your bank on January 1.

Example: Your leave of absence starts on 11/25/03, you are budgeted to work 40 hours per week at the time of the leave and you are eligible for 40 hours EIB. The physician has estimated your medical leave to last 6 weeks or longer.

Method of Payment During the Leave
You will receive pay in the following manner: 40 hours of PTO or no pay if PTO is unavailable, grandfathered sick time until exhausted, 40 hours from EIB, back to PTO until it is exhausted, then no pay. On January 1, 2004 you receive 40 hours of EIB and are again paid from the 40 hours of EIB until exhausted, then PTO (hours earned while being back in paid status) before going to unpaid status.

You continue to accrue PTO hours while you receive EIB payments. PTO hours must be paid after EIB benefits are exhausted before going to an unpaid status.

Coverage under the Health Alliance benefit program continues while you are receiving EIB payments. When EIB payments end, contact Alliance Benefits at 513-585-6060 or through e-mail at Benefits@healthall.com to make arrangements for continuation of your insurance coverage.

Who is Covered
Alliance Primary Care associates regularly scheduled to work at least 32 hours each week are covered.

Cost of Coverage
The Health Alliance pays the full cost of EIB coverage. You pay nothing.

EIB payments are subject to regular income tax, Social Security tax and any other deductions normally withheld from your pay such as premiums for medical and dental coverage. EIB payments will offset any Workers’ Compensation pay that you may have been entitled to receive if the illness is work-related.