Welfare Plans Edition
December 22, 2000
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Privacy for Patients
Excerpt: "Joining me now [is] Janlori Goldman, director of the Health Privacy Project at Georgetown University; and Chip Kahn, president of the Health Insurance Association of America, which represents 295 health insurers and plans. Well, Chip Kahn, what do you make of the new regulations?" (National Public Radio interview transcript)
The Medical Privacy Debate: Do Clinton's Regulations Go Far Enough?
Excerpt: "Privacy advocates-- and even the American Medical Association-- have long pressured Clinton to limit the 'unfettered' access to private medical records that law enforcement officers enjoy in many parts of the country. And many were disappointed that the president didn't issue more stringent regulations for government access in the new guidelines." (Salon)
New Medical Privacy Rules Have Sweeping Implications
Excerpt: "The final standards, which will be effective in February 2003, protect paper, oral and electronic records, whereas the proposed regulation protected electronic records and any paper records that had existed in electronic form at some point, officials said. The standards also require that health care organizations receive patients' consent for routine and nonroutine use and disclosure of medical records ..." (ZDNet's eWeek)
Administration Releases Final Medical Privacy Regulations
Excerpt: "Due largely to National CPR's and others' efforts, the final regulations have been strengthened because they now require patient consent for disclosures/uses of medical information, and will cover not only electronic, but also paper records and verbal communications." (National Coalition for Patient Rights)
HIPAA Costs Will Be Meaningful But Not Devastating, Says Moody's Investor Service
(Modern Healthcare)
HMOs Must Gain Meaningful Web Presence Or Risk Extinction
Excerpt: "As more employers accept the idea of employee empowerment when it comes to health care selection, plans must be ready when consumers turn to the Web for plan comparisons. 'Those that don't invest will ultimately have higher costs,' one analyst said. And all health plans must comply with new federal regulations requiring standardized computer language and privacy and security measures to protect patients." (Fax Watch Inc.)
Final HIPAA Privacy Regulation Contain Significant Changes
Excerpt: "More than 100 pages in length and accompanied by more than 1400 pages in commentary, the regulations impose a massive and complex burden on providers, health plans and clearinghouses, as well as their business associates." (Davis Wright Tremaine LLP)
Holiday Season Puts Companies in Giving Mood
Excerpt: "Nationwide, three out of four employers host an end-of-the-year party and two of five give employees holiday gifts or cash, according to a survey of 366 U.S. companies by the Bureau of National Affairs, a Washington-based news organization." (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Holiday Bonus Is No Longer a Given
Excerpt: "Recent national surveys paint contradictory scenes of whether American employers are planning to give year-end rewards to workers. Whether employers tie extra perks to the year-end holidays appears to hinge on whether they are using bonuses to engender loyalty or to pay for performance." (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
Tiered Copayments Used by More Employers as Incentive To Choose Lower-Cost Drugs
Excerpt: "[T]he majority of workers in all plan types now have either a 2-tier (1 payment for generic drugs and 1 for brand names) or 3-tier (1 payment for generic drugs, another for name brand drugs with no generic substitute, and a third for name brands with generic substitutes) cost-sharing formula for prescription drugs." (Medscape; free registration required)
EBRI Conclave Powerpoint Presentation: The Future of Retiree Health Benefits
(Might require Internet Explorer version 4 or higher to view.) (Paul Fronstin of the Employee Benefit Research Institute)
EBRI Conclave Fact Sheet: Retiree Health Benefits (PDF)
Useful brief factual background of this topic; identifies current issues under discussion in the benefits community; includes insightful questions that may illuminate some of those issues and raise others. (Employee Benefit Research Institute)
EBRI Conclave Fact Sheet: Defined Contribution Health Plans (PDF)
Useful brief factual background of this topic; identifies current issues under discussion in the benefits community; includes insightful questions that may illuminate some of those issues and raise others. (Employee Benefit Research Institute)
Boston Herald Employees Rally for Health Care Benefits
Excerpt: "Carrying signs, chanting slogans, and carrying lumps of coal passed out by someone dressed as the Grinch, about 70 Boston Herald employees gathered outside the newspaper yesterday to vent their dismay with what they see as inadequate health care benefits." (Boston Globe)
Text of Clinton Order Protecting Privacy of Health Information in Federal Oversight Investigations
December 20, 2000. Excerpt: "It shall be the policy of the Government of the United States that law enforcement may not use protected health information concerning an individual that is discovered during the course of health oversight activities for unrelated civil, administrative, or criminal investigations of a non-health oversight matter, except when the balance of relevant factors weighs clearly in favor of its use." (U.S. Newswire)
A 20-20 Vision for American Health Care
Excerpt: "[The program we propose] has 5 basic features: (1) automatic and affordable health insurance coverage for all; (2) access to health care for all; (3) patient-responsive health care; (4) information-driven health care; and (5) commitment to quality improvement." (The Commonwealth Fund, published by the American Medical Association)
Opinion: Claims Regulations Are a Lame Duck Gesture by President Clinton
Excerpt: "Despite skating into office on a 1992 campaign promise to revamp the nation's health care system, Bill Clinton has gotten virtually nothing done on the health-care front. This surely rankles the legacy-sensitive lame duck president." (The Augusta [Ga.] Chronicle)
Health, Insurance Regulators Pushing Hmo Reform Law Toward Reality
Excerpt: "Massachusetts residents enrolled in HMOs will enjoy an array of new patient protections in less than two weeks, after public health regulators today approved emergency regulations to implement the landmark managed care reform law passed in July." (Boston Herald)
Britain Moves to Protect Long-Term Care Insurance Buyers
Excerpt: "It seems sensible that advisers, often already regulated for advising on other investments, should also be subject to regulation when selling a product as important as [long-term care insurance]." (M2 Communications)
Among Managed Care Organizations, Kaiser HMO Model Is Best, UC Berkeley Researcher Finds
Excerpt: "Of the three types of managed care surveyed, the staff/group model, in which the doctors exclusively see patients from one HMO, received the fewest consumer complaints. Kaiser Permanente is the largest such plan in California." (University of California, Berkeley)
Consumers, Congress May Force Semi-Managed Care
Excerpt: "The only saving grace of a much-reviled industry has been holding down health insurance costs. But HMO premiums increased this year by as much as 9 percent to 13 percent for large companies and up to 20 percent for small companies, according to business consultants. The Congress, reacting to consumer complaints, is about to jump on HMOs with both feet. So the question arises. Can managed care, as presently structured, survive?" (Knoxville News-Sentinel)
(Following also appears in Retirement Plans Edition)
Court Refuses to Hear Appeal in GE Executive's Stock Options Case
Excerpt: "The Connecticut Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal filed by the ex-wife of a General Electric executive who had sought to have her divorce settlement award increased from $20 million to $35 million.... The case was watched closely by divorce lawyers nationwide because it revolved principally around distribution of unvested stock options and retirement and pension plans." (Associated Press, via Excite!)
Qualcomm Sued Over Stock Options
Excerpt: "Dozens of Boulder County workers have sued a former employer, saying it forced them to lose benefits when it sold their division to a competitor. The case brings up a question courts have had to deal with more often: What exactly are stock options? Workers often argue they are part of compensation in line with wages; the companies argue those options are perks or incentives to keep the best employees working hard for the company." (thedailycamera.com)
Disappointed Employees Weighing Their Options
Excerpt: "With layoffs on the rise and share prices falling, angry employees are taking their employers to court over their stock options." (LocalBusiness.com)
EBRI Conclave Fact Sheet: The War for Talent (PDF)
Useful brief factual background of this topic; identifies current issues under discussion in the benefits community; includes insightful questions that may illuminate some of those issues and raise others. (Employee Benefit Research Institute)
EBRI Conclave Fact Sheet: 'Total Rewards' Compensation (PDF)
Useful brief factual background of this topic; identifies current issues under discussion in the benefits community; includes insightful questions that may illuminate some of those issues and raise others. (Employee Benefit Research Institute)
Graef Crystal: Apple's Shares Aren't Flying Like Jobs
Excerpt: "Chief Executive Steve Jobs got a shiny new jet as this year began, and the company's shares have plummeted since then." (Graef Crystal, on Bloomberg.com)
IRS Delays Requiring Companies to Track Employee Stock Options for Form W-2
Excerpt: "The Internal Revenue Service said it will delay requiring that companies such as Microsoft Corp. and General Electric Co. track employee stock options after payroll managers complained they didn't have enough time to comply. The IRS said it gave all companies that distribute stock options until 2002 instead of 2001 to begin segregating that income from total wages on W-2 forms." (Bloomberg, via OptionWealth)
EBRI Conclave Powerpoint Presentation -- Productivity: The Business Case for Benefits
(Might require Internet Explorer version 4 or higher to view.) Overview of theory and evidence on relationship between employee benefits (primarily welfare benefits) and worker productivity. (Paul Fronstin of the Employee Benefit Research Institute)
EBRI Conclave Fact Sheet: Productivity Effects of Employee Benefits (PDF)
Useful brief factual background of this topic; identifies current issues under discussion in the benefits community; includes insightful questions that may illuminate some of those issues and raise others. (Employee Benefit Research Institute)
EBRI Conclave Identifies Benefits Research and Education Topics and Opportunities
(Employee Benefit Research Institute)
EBRI Conclave Powerpoint Presentation: Benefits Issues and the New Government
(Might require Internet Explorer version 4 or higher to view.) Overview of key Congressional players, benefits issues that seemed to matter most to voters in the presidential election, benefits issues likely to be addressed in upcoming legislation. (Dallas Salisbury of the Employee Benefit Research Institute)
EBRI Conclave Fact Sheet: Role of Stock Options in Benefits Package (PDF)
Useful brief factual background of this topic; identifies current issues under discussion in the benefits community; includes insightful questions that may illuminate some of those issues and raise others. (Employee Benefit Research Institute)
| 401(k) Administrators | for Geller & Wind, Ltd. in NY |
| ERISA Paralegal | for Geller & Wind, Ltd. in NY |
| Employee Benefit Tax Manager | for Deloitte & Touche, a Professional Services Firm in OH |
| Sales Executive | for Evolution Health, Inc. in ALL STATES |
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