 Hospital System’s Financial
Planning Service Going Strong for Nearly a Decade
The Washington County Hospital System (WCHS), which has
about 2,100 employees, launched a service in 1996 for employees enrolled in its
retirement program to get independent, professional financial advice. Before
the program began, employees would sign up for their retirement plans or make
changes to their financial portfolios without professional advice. Many blindly
made decisions about money they plan to use in their golden years based on a
hunch or with limited information.
Ensuring staff had access to independent, unbiased, and
objective investment advice became a priority for the hospital’s senior
management, said Brooks McBurney, vice president of Human Resources at WCHS.
WCHS hired a Hagerstown-based financial planner who comes into the hospital on
a particular day a month to meet with employees and review their portfolios.
Employees are also able to visit the financial planner outside of the hospital
if they aren’t able to make an appointment on the date the planner is in
the hospital. Employees get as much time with the financial planners as they
need – a luxury that hasn’t been abused, according to McBurney.
Employees pay $10 a year for the service and WCHS contributes $48,000--saving
employees the thousands of dollars that financial planners typically charge.
McBurney, who says the service is unique among Maryland
hospitals, was inspired to offer the financial consulting to employees after
the health care system converted its retirement plan – the 403(b) –
from a non-match plan to a match plan. The health care system matches an
employee’s contributions based on how much they are actually putting in
their 403(b). At least 1,300 hospital employees are enrolled in the 403(b),
which is made available to all full-time and part-time employees.
While the financial firms that manage 403(b) funds provide
client services as part of the program, hospital officials felt it would be
better for employees in the 403(b) to get independent financial counseling and
not be influenced by an organization’s hidden agenda such as financial
incentives from mutual funds, according to McBurney.
While the financial planning service is geared to the
system’s 403(b) program, employees have the option of talking to a
financial planner about their entire financial future, including education
savings for dependents. “The financial planner takes into consideration
what other types of investments employees might have,” McBurney said
Laurie Bender, internal auditor for the health system,
recently took advantage of the service to discuss her entire financial outlook
with the planner.
“It was getting close to the end of the year and I
started to worry about my investments,” said Bender, mother of four
children. “It had been a while since I tweaked them.”
Bender says she’s met with the planner several times in
the eight years the service has been available.
She likes the convenience of the service with its
availability at her work site and the ability to fit it into her busy
lifestyle. And since she’s met with the financial planner on a regular
basis, he is familiar with her portfolio
“Now I’m so used to having this service, I
can’t imagine not having it or having to pay for it without the help of my
employer,” she said. “It’s a valuable and useful benefit.”
Contact:
Brooks McBurney
Washington County
Health System
mcbrooks@wchsys.org
301-790-8505 (Back to the top)
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