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The BenefitsLink Newsletter -
Welfare Plans Edition
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March 27, 2002 - 6,423 subscribers
Today's sponsor: SunGard Corbel

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(Help BenefitsLink to provide this newsletter at no charge to you -- our sponsors pay our way. Remember to visit them periodically; we try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)

Analysis: DHHS Proposes Changes to HIPAA Privacy Regulation
Excerpt: "The proposal would also give payers and providers greater latitude in sharing health information for payment and operations. Under the current rule a covered entity can use health information for its own purposes, but cannot, for example, give the information to another provider to use to obtain payment or for quality assurance. The proposed changes would permit the sharing of information for these and other similar purposes." (Davis Wright Tremaine LLP)

Full Text of Proposed Changes to HIPAA Privacy Rule, With Descriptive Explanation (PDF)
41 pages, published March 27, 2002. Excerpt: "The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposes to modify certain standards in the Rule entitled 'Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information' (the 'Privacy Rule'). The Privacy Rule implements the privacy requirements of the Administrative Simplification subtitle of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996." (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)

The HIPAA Privacy Rule's Impact on Employers
Excerpt: "Subject to certain exceptions, below are the major steps that an employer will need to take in order to comply with the Privacy Rule with respect to use and disclosure of [protected health information] between the group health plan and the plan sponsor: ..." (Linda Malek, for HealthLeaders.com)

Office of Personnel Management Updates Federal Employees' Long-Term Care Insurance Web Site
Excerpt: "The U.S. Office of Personnel Management is pleased to sponsor this important new benefit program, which is likely to be the largest employer-sponsored long term care insurance program in the nation." (Office of Personnel Management)

HHS Quietly Releases White House Commission Report on Alternative Medicine
Excerpt: "Controversial from the start, the Commission took several hits during its two-year existence ... In a nod to that criticism, the report introduction stated that 'most [Complimentary and Alternative Medicine] modalities have not yet been scientifically studied and found to be safe and effective.'" (Reuters Health via Medscape; free registration required)

Link to Final Report of White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy
Excerpt: "The Commission, which is composed of individuals knowledgeable in both conventional and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), has been charged with addressing: research on CAM practices and products; delivery of and public access to CAM services; dissemination of reliable information on CAM to health care providers and the general public; and appropriate licensing, education, and training of CAM health care practitioners." (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)

RFI (Request for Information) Standard May Help Assess Healthcare Organizations
Excerpt: "Developed by employer group members of the National Business Coalitions on Health (NBCH), the standardized RFI was introduced three years ago to health plans in Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Des Moines, Orlando, Minneapolis, San Francisco and St. Louis. Since then, General Motors Corporation and Marriott International have joined the initiative." (BenefitNews.com)




Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings - Post a Help Wanted Ad
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Newly Posted Conferences (Post Yours!)
401(k) Plansin CA on June 4, 2002
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401(k) Plansin OH on May 21, 2002
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Cafeteria Plansin OH on May 22, 2002
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Cafeteria Plansin CA on June 5, 2002
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COBRA Compliance for Group Health Plansin OH on May 24, 2002
presented by Employee Benefits Institute of America LLC (EBIA)
COBRA Compliance for Group Health Plansin CA on June 7, 2002
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ERISA Compliance for Health & Welfare Plansin CA on June 6, 2002
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ERISA Compliance for Health & Welfare Plansin OH on May 23, 2002
presented by Employee Benefits Institute of America LLC (EBIA)
HIPAA & Other Federal Mandates for Group Health Plansin OH on May 23, 2002
presented by Employee Benefits Institute of America LLC (EBIA)
HIPAA & Other Federal Mandates for Group Health Plansin CA on June 6, 2002
presented by Employee Benefits Institute of America LLC (EBIA)

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Copyright 2002 BenefitsLink.com, Inc., but you may freely distribute this email newsletter in whole. This newsletter is edited by David Rhett Baker, J.D.