The open enrollment season for benefits is here. For employees of The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System Corporation or the school of medicine, the open enrollment period is your opportunity to select a health care benefit plan for 2018. As you prepare to make important decisions about your benefits options for 2018, here are a few highlights to keep in mind.

Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System Corporation Employees

Open enrollment dates: Oct. 23 through Nov. 7

A new benefits portal and enroll­ment platform. We have launched a new portal during the open enrollment period to select medical and dental coverage for you and your dependents, as well as an array of voluntary benefits offered. The new portal –called Smart­Source – is your one stop shop when it comes to benefits-related information and tools. The Benefits Marketplace, available on the SmartSource portal, is your benefits enrollment platform, simpler and easier to use than ever. It is important to remember that whether you’re keeping your benefits from last year, making changes or enrolling for the first time, everyone must sign on to SmartSource and enroll to have benefits in 2018!

You can access the SmartSource enroll­ment portal from the home page of the my.jh.edu portal. Click on the HR tab in the left navigation bar and look for the link to SmartSource. A link to Smart­Source is also located under the Staff tab at the top of the my.jh.edu page.

A single plan. For 2018, we are return­ing to a single plan that features low deductibles, fixed copays for most doctor visits, and out-of-pocket limits that protect you from catastrophic expenses. There are three options to receive your care under the plan.

• Hopkins Preferred: Services pro­vided by Johns Hopkins providers at Johns Hopkins Medicine facilities will be covered at 90 percent.

• Employer Health Programs (EHP) In-Network: Services by providers at locations in the EHP network but not at Johns Hopkins Medicine facilities will be covered at 80 percent.

• Out-of-Network: Services by provid­ers at facilities that are outside of the Johns Hopkins Medicine and EHP networks will be covered at 70 percent of the reasonable and customary rate.

We will continue to provide 100 percent coverage for preventive care services, such as preventive care visits to primary care providers and gynecologists, preventive exams and diagnostics, most immunizations and inoculations, and screenings obtained through Hopkins Preferred and the EHP Network.

Other changes

• The dental plan network will change from United Concordia to Delta Dental.

• To help keep prescription drug costs low for you and your family, we have reviewed and revised our list of pre­ferred brand-name drugs that are paid for by the prescription plan.

• More voluntary insurance benefits will be offered by Unum and Aflac.

For more information about 2018 ben­efits please visit hopkinsmedicine.org/ human_resources/benefits/open_enroll­ment.html or contact Human Resources Employee Benefits at hrbenefit@jhmi. edu or (443) 997-5400.

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Employees

Open enrollment dates: Oct. 20 through Nov. 7

Medical Plan

Medical plan premiums will increase by only 1 percent. Contributions continue to be based on your salary, so those who are paid less will have lower premiums. In addition, all who waive medical plan coverage for 2018 will need to complete a new medical waiver form.

Pharmacy Plan

In order to encourage lower medical plan premium increases, we will introduce some new programs to our pharmacy benefits through Express Scripts to help you get the right prescription at the best price. In addition, there will be changes to the mail-order pharmacy cost structure.

Short-Term Disability

The short-term disability weekly maxi­mum benefit is being increased to $2,500 from the current $1,000 cap, providing additional coverage to many more fac­ulty and staff members. Consider enroll­ing in this benefit to help protect your income if you need to be out of work due to an unforeseen illness or injury.

Life Insurance

Life insurance and an updated accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) plan—currently known as personal accident insurance—are being introduced by Securian. It is a good time to review your coverage at these new competitive rates. You will need to actively enroll in AD&D insurance during annual enrollment to have more than the university-provided $10,000 of employee coverage beginning Jan. 1, 2018.

Health Care Flexible Spending Account (FSA)

The health care FSA maximum contribu­tion is increasing to $2,600. You can roll over up to $500 in your health care FSA from 2017 to 2018.

Voluntary Accident Insurance

A new offering for the voluntary acci­dent insurance benefit will be available through MetLife, providing you with greater choice at a significantly discount­ed group rate.

The myChoices tab on the Benefits website at benefits.jhu.edu/mychoices is your primary resource for 2018 annual enrollment information, including plan details, benefits tools and the link to the enrollment website.