PSHCP 2012 Annual Reconciliation - Dual Certificate Number Information and Templates

Date: October 3, 2012

To: Compensation Managers, Heads of Human Resources, Participating Employers

The purpose of this notice is to provide you with information on the results of the 2012 Public Service Health Care Plan (PSHCP) annual reconciliation exercise and the templates for use when communicating with members identified as having dual PSHCP certificate numbers.

Discrepancy reports from the June 2012 reconciliation exercise will be supplied to affected organizations in October 2012. Information and direction regarding the various discrepancy codes is available in the May 4, 2011, Information Notice as well as Compensation Directive (CD) 2010-006 and Compensation Directive (CD) 2012-003.

With respect to the DUP005 code, there are two possible dual certificate scenarios to consider when examining your reconciliation reports. The majority will be one member with two different certificate numbers. Less common will be two members sharing one certificate number. While the development of the PSHCP Compensation Web Application (CWA) tool reduced duplicate certificate issuance, not all participating organizations use CWA. For this reason, it is suspected that non Public Service Superannuation Act (PSSA) pensioners working in the federal government may comprise the majority of these duplicate scenarios. Furthermore, while there exists a duplicate discrepancy code to report these issues to organizations, not all cases are evident. Sun Life uses a member's surname, date of birth and certificate number to link a record. As a result, DUP005 records are comprised of known cases identified through a member enquiry to Sun Life. Other cases may exist and will only be discovered when evaluating other discrepancy cases for which the code supplied does not seem right.

For organizations receiving DUP005 records, there is a template letter for use when communicating with members. Your first consideration will be which organization contacts the identified member as both organizations linked to the member will receive a DUP005 message. The organization where the member is actively employed will take the lead.

If the member is actively employed in both organizations, coordination between both organizations will be required. With the exception of address information, all data to complete the letter will be supplied in the discrepancy report. A copy of the letter sent to the member must be supplied to the non-lead organization.

After 45 days, if a response is not received, a second template follow-up letter is available. The cancellation date to be reported in this letter will be two weeks from the date of the issuance of the second letter. As such, the member will have had 60 days to make a decision before a certificate is cancelled.

When considering which certificate to cancel, it is recommended that you consider family situations as well as the higher cost of the employee's contributions. In the event employee contributions from both organizations are identical, contact the Sun Life coverage unit to determine under which certificate number the least amount of claims were submitted.

Note: A member's claims history associated with the cancelled certificate number will not be transferred to the retained certificate number. This reality is unavoidable where the second certificate is associated with an organization using CWA. In the event neither organization is using CWA, both organizations should discuss the appropriate course of action.

Should you have any questions regarding this notice or wish to receive the template letters, please write to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, Pensions and Benefits Sector email address at pbs-spas@tbs-sct.gc.ca.

Bayla Kolk
Assistant Deputy Minister
Pensions and Benefits Sector