Engineering Inc. - November/December 2006 - 34

B u s I N Ess INsIGhts fROM ACEC's INstItutE fOR BusINEss MANAGEMENt
ReaSSeSSINg THe CoNCepT of RISk; TakINg CoNTRol of HealTHCaRe CoSTS; New
INduSTRy TReNdS SuRvey Not So Risky Business grow tax-free through
investment earnings, similar to an IRA, Before the natural catastrophe of
Hurricane Katrina and before and unused funds remain available for use in
later years. the manmade terror of 9/11, there was a feeling in the
engineering Since being signed into law and opened up to all firms, HSAs
industry that codes and standards in place at the time ensured struc- have
exploded in popularity. According to the American Health tural and
infrastructure safety. That's no longer the case, according to Insurance
Plans, a national association that represents health insur- Neil S. Grigg,
a civil engineering professor at Colorado State Univer- ance providers,
438,000 individuals were covered by HSA plans in sity. Grigg and CSU, a
continuing education partner with ACEC, November of 2004, and by December
of 2005, 3.2 million people offered a two-day seminar in October on
risk-based design, flood were in HSAs. And by 2010, the U.S. Treasury
Department proj- design, civil infrastructure systems and risk assessment.
ects that 25 to 30 million will have HSA accounts. In the past, facilities
and infrastructure were designed and built Health Reimbursement
Arrangements, like HSAs, typically are based on codes and standards that
you would consider normal for paired with high-deductible health plans.
Funds that accumulate risk, Grigg says. But after 9/11 and Katrina the
concept of risk is in an HRA are used to reimburse employees for qualified
medical much higher than we once thought. We need to think outside the
expenses. Once HRA funds are exhausted, the employee's health- box when
looking at risks. care costs are covered by the high-deductible health
plan. And, Grigg stressed the importance of risk-based design that
analyzes similar to HSAs, any HRA funds left over at year's-end can be
threats, vulnerabilities and consequences. Threats, in this context,
rolled over, effectively saving for future health expenses. are the `what
ifs,' the variety of things both manmade and natu- The HRA strategy, Kruse
says, is potentially much less expen- ral that could impact structural and
system reliability, he says. sive for employers without sacrificing
first-rate benefits. Vulnerabilities analyze the reliability and
resilience or lack thereof Likewise, the ACEC Life/Health Trust offers a
variety of con- of a structure or system. And consequences, he says, are
dealt with sumer-driven health plans, including 28 HSA qualified plans by
weighing the benefits versus the costs of risk-based design. and two HRA
plan options. Roger Jacobson, a principal of Engi- He also advocates
redundant design schemes so that structures neering Associates in Cody,
Wyo., and ACEC Life/Health Trust and systems remain reliable even after a
catastrophic event as well Trustee, is a proponent of a more
consumer-driven approach to as safety and security audits incorporated
into the design phase to healthcare costs. HSAs appeal to all kinds of
people, Jacob- pinpoint potential weaknesses early on. Grigg advises that
firms son says. For those who are older, it's a nice way to build up
working in energy infrastructure, water and wastewater systems some money
pre-tax. For younger people, it's a really good deal and transportation
systems strongly consider the following: because they don't use health
insurance as much. It's another way n Learn from recent catastrophic
events and their effect on the for them to put money away for the future.
built environment; 2007 2008 Industry Trends Survey in the Mail n
Incorporate the tenets of risk-based design from Day One; and n Keep an
eye out for new markets for safety and security design. ACEC will soon
send out questionnaires for its 2007
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Engineering Inc. - November/December 2006

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