County officials to update IT policy

The Hot Springs County Commissioners held their second meeting of the month on Tuesday afternoon, discussing a possible upgrade to their health insurance and a new IT policy for the county.

Insurance representative Brad Johnson talked with the commissioners about a ‘concierge program’ that could be added to the current insurance policy that would let members somewhat pick and choose where they go for surgeries, orthopaedics and other proceedures through a contract system with various hospitals.

Those facilities go under contract with the insurance company offering package deals for certain proceedures, such as knee replacements for instance, at a much lower cost. The service would only add $7 or $8 per month to an employees current policy.

The commissioners were interested in the idea and have asked Johnson to put together more information on the service and return in May for a followup.

The commissioners also talked with Dean Peranteaux, the county’s IT person, about a new countywide IT policy that would cover computer usage, Internet usage and other IT programs.

The county’s policy hasn’t been updated in nearly 10 years.

The county attorney will look over the policy and the commissioners will vote on it at their first meeting in March.