| The BenefitsLink Newsletter - Welfare Plans Edition |  |
July 10, 2001
Today's sponsor: RetireGuard - MassMutual (click)
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HHS Issues Medical Privacy Implementation Guidance Materials
Excerpt: "Consumer advocates and health care industry officials 'welcomed' the patient privacy guidelines." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Science Friction: Genetic Testing Rubs EEOC the Wrong Way
Excerpt: "For years, genetic testing of unsuspecting employees has been a sort of urban legend. Claims by workers and by medical privacy advocates that employers have been secretly probing intimate medical information--and using it to discriminate in employment matters--were short on hard evidence... [In February] the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) sued Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. for conducting secret genetic tests on workers who filed carpal tunnel syndrome claims." (HR.com)
Accounting and Reporting by Health and Welfare Benefit Plans
Excerpt: "The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) has issued revised disclosure requirements for the financial statements of health and welfare benefit plans. Statement of Position 01-2 (SOP 01-2) amends SOP 92-6, Accounting and Reporting by Health and Welfare Benefit Plans. In general, the revised requirements apply to financial statements prepared for the Form 5500 filings of funded health and welfare plans." (Hewitt Associates)
Make Room for Daddy
Excerpt: "James Levine, director of The Fatherhood Project in New York, a national research and education project that is examining the future of fatherhood and developing ways to support men's involvement in child rearing, says that new fathers tend not to take as much time off as women. For example, he notes, at one major financial firm that allows up to 13 weeks of leave, the average amount of time male employees take off is two weeks." (HR.com)
New Web Site Promotes Telecommuting Initiatives for Federal Government Employees
Excerpt: "By law, federal agencies must establish policies allowing eligible employees to telecommute. The law also requires OPM to ensure that 25 percent of the federal workforce is participating in telecommuting programs at least part of the time." (GovExec.com)
Bush Puts Patients' Rights on Main Agenda for July
Excerpt: "President Bush, bowing to Democratic pressure for new health insurance regulations, on Monday urged passage of a 'patients' bill of rights' as one of his top three priorities for the month." (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
House GOP Leaders Face 'Stiff Test' in Patients' Rights Debate
Excerpt: "As Congress returns from the July 4 recess, House Republicans leaders face 'stiff tests of their ability to modify or derail' a patients' rights bill (S 1052) passed in the Senate last month, the Los Angeles Times reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Motorola, With Self-Run Health Plan, Is Wary of Rights Bill
Excerpt: "Motorola, the cell phone maker, provides health benefits to 230,000 workers, retirees and dependents around the country. For 40 years, in an effort to control the quality of its health plan, the company has reviewed and paid claims itself. Now, Motorola executives say, they have become acutely concerned about federal legislation to define patients' rights, and they think it could force them to change many aspects of what they do." (New York Times; free registration required)
HealthCast on the Hill: Hearings, Briefings, Analysis
Excerpt: "As the House readies for debate over patients' rights legislation, Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., faces a series of tough decisions. Does he send a leadership backed bill (H.R. 2315) co-sponsored by Reps. Ernie Fletcher, R-Ky., and Collin C. Peterson, D-Minn., through the committee process, where it could get bogged down with Democratic amendments, or does he take it straight to the House floor?" (KaiserNetwork.org)
Did You Forget About Newborns and Mothers?
Excerpt: "If you forgot about the Newborns' and Mothers' Health Protection Act, you are not alone. A recent review of group health plans by the Department of Labor resulted in only a 74% compliance rate. In other words, 26% of the plans reviewed did not comply with the Act. If you are in that 26%, here's how to join the majority." (Michael Greve of Jesse Consulting, Inc.)
Guidelines on Patient Privacy Rules Issued
Excerpt: "Nothing in yesterday's guidelines alters the safeguards approved last December, but in offering the lengthy interpretation the Bush administration soothed health care industry officials who complained that the regulations were unnecessarily burdensome and costly." (Washington Post)
Milliman's Monthly Benefit News and Developments (PDF)
2 pages. Summary of patients' rights bill status, regulatory roundup summarizing agency pronouncements. (Milliman USA)
Hidden "Time Bomb" of Underwater Options on Diluted Earnings Per Share
6 pages. Excerpt: "With the depressed stock prices that many companies face, the significant numbers of underwater stock options may have an unanticipated drag on growth in diluted earnings per share (EPS) when stock prices recover. This alert letter summarizes the key issues for compensation professionals, and provides examples to assist in estimating the impact..." (Frederic W. Cook & Co., Inc.)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings (Post Yours!)
| Implementation, Health and Welfare | for Buck Consultants, Inc., A Mellon Consulting Company in NJ |
| Vice President, Relationship Manager | for Fidelity Investments in MA |
| Conversion Participant Accounting Representative | for Marshall & Ilsley Corporation in WI |
| Benefits Specialist | for Pioneer Electronics (USA), Inc. in CA |
Newly Posted Webcasts (Post Yours!)
| Pension Reform Webcast | on June 19, 2001 presented by ASPA |
Newly Posted Press Releases
| U.S. Bank Selects ExpertPlan to Provide Private Label Web 401(k) Product (ExpertPlan) |
Subscribe to the Retirement Plans Edition, too (click)
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