GME Times
The UIC Graduate Medical Education Newsletter
April 2006
Vol. 3, No. 10
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GME Resident HotLine - 312-996-8662


The GME Office will be closed on Monday, May 29, for Memorial Day.


2006-2007 Resident Stipends
The Graduate Medical Education Operating Committee has approved a 3% increase in resident stipends for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2006. You may review the 2006-2007 stipends on the GME website at:


2006 Benefit Choice Enrollment Period
From:     James P. Davito, Director Benefits Service Center, April 25, 2006
If you have any questions about your benefit plans or your options at this time, please contact the Chicago campus Benefits Service Center Office at 312-996-6470, or send e-mail to benefits@uillinois.edu.
The State Department of Central Management Services (CMS) has announced that the annual Benefit Choice Enrollment period is being held from Monday, May 1 through Wednesday, May 31, 2006. All currently insured employees will receive a copy of the FY07 Benefit Choice Options booklet sent directly to their homes. During this enrollment period you may change your State health and life plan enrollments, opt into or opt out of the State group health insurance plan (if you have other non-state group coverage), opt into or opt out of the dental plan and enroll or reenroll in flexible spending accounts. Changes become effective on July 1, 2006.
All current health plans will again be available for this upcoming year beginning July 1, 2006. PersonalCare has expanded its service area into several new counties throughout the state (see page 14 of the FY07 Benefit Choice Options booklet). There will be no plan administrator changes this year and no new health plans will be added. However, there are several changes in deductibles, copayments and premium increases.
Effective July 1, 2006, CMS will begin offering health, dental and vision coverage for same-sex domestic partners. THIS NEW BENEFIT IS NOT AVAILABLE TO UNIVERSITY EMPLOYEES. At this time, it is only available to eligible employees in agencies that are under the jurisdiction of the governor.
Please carefully consider all the different plans, options, providers and availability of providers, so you can most effectively use this annual Benefit Choice opportunity to choose the benefit plans that best suit your needs and preferences.
By accessing the "Benefit Choice" option in the University's web-based NESSIE system at
you can make your benefit changes online. If you need assistance, select the Help link that appears on every screen for answers to common questions and phone numbers to call for assistance.

For a complete and detailed explanation of all benefit changes effective July 1, 2006, please refer to the July 1, 2006 Benefit Choice Options booklet (also available online at the "Benefit Choice" option in NESSIE).
PLEASE NOTE:  DO NOT USE the paper Election Form which is contained in the Benefit Choice booklet. You must use NESSIE.
Again this year, you will use NESSIE to enroll or reenroll in flexible spending accounts. If you are participating in one of the flexible spending accounts now, CMS has already sent an FSA booklet to your home with information about the program for next year.
Full time employees who want to opt into or opt out of health coverage and part-time employees who want to waive health and dental coverage, must contact their campus Benefits Service Center Office for special handling of those requests.
IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO MAKE ANY INSURANCE PLAN CHANGES, YOU DO NOT NEED TO DO ANYTHING.
IF YOU WANT TO MAKE *ANY* MEMBER OR DEPENDENT HEALTH OR LIFE PLAN CHANGES OR ENROLL IN AN FSA, YOU MUST USE NESSIE AT TO MAKE ANY ENROLLMENT CHANGES. Beginning May 1, 2006, the Benefit Choice option can be found under the "Benefits" tab of NESSIE.  NESSIE can be used to make changes until midnight Wednesday, May 31, 2006. Intermittent outages of NESSIE may occur during the Benefit Choice period due to Banner maintenance. Any outages will be posted on the NESSIE home page.
The State Department of Central Management Services does not permit [the Benefits Center] to accept Benefit Choice changes submitted after May 31, 2006. Remember that NESSIE can be used until midnight Wednesday, May 31, 2006.
If you have any questions about your benefit plans or your options at this time, please contact the Chicago campus Benefits Service Center Office at 312-996-6470, or send e-mail to benefits@uillinois.edu.


Duty Hours Buzz: Web-Based Rotation Evaluations
A rotation evaluation is required for every rotation throughout your residency or fellowship program.  For more information and to access the web-based rotation evaluation program, select “Rotation Evaluation” from the GME Office  homepage.


GME Online Core Curriculum

To complete a residency program, you must have completed four online Core Curriculum modules per year, or a total of ten modules for a program of three or more years. To complete  a subspecialty or fellowship program, you must complete four online Core Curriculum modules per year unless you have previously completed them at UIC or can produce documentation of completion of a similar curriculum at another institution.
Please note that due to the high volume of submissions at this time of year, it can take three to four weeks or more for the instructors to sign off your course work once you have submitted a module. Thoughtful professional responses to the discussion items will do more to speed the review process than responses that cause the faculty reviewer to ask you for further explanation before signing off on your participation. Another way to speed up the review process is to remember to submit the end-of-module evaluation as soon as you have posted your responses to the WebBoard. The submission of the end-of-module evaluation tells the administrators of the Online Core Curriculum to submit the summary of your contributions to the reviewer.


Insurance Stipends Terminate Yearly on June 30
According to GME policy, residents who have dependents on their University health care coverage are entitled to a reimbursement for a portion of the cost of the dependent coverage.
Because the Benefits Center does not notify the GME Office about changes made during the annual, upcoming Benefits Choice period, you must let us know your current number of dependents. The GME Office will then reinstate or change the stipend amount to which you are entitled so that you will receive payment.
If you have questions about insurance stipends for residents, send them to your GME Program Contact:
Denise Hicks, deniseh@uic.edu
Kurt Trede,  ktrede@uic.edu
Mildred Velez,  mvelez@uic.edu