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February 20, 2003 - 8,036 subscribers
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2d Circuit Court of Appeals Decision Recognizes Patients' Right to Sue HMO for Medical Malpractice
Excerpt: "The ruling, issued on Feb. 11 by a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, essentially said that Vytra Healthcare, a health plan based in Melville, N.Y., could not invoke the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act, known as ERISA, to prevent Bonnie Cicio, the widow of Carmine Cicio, from suing Vytra in a New York State court, accusing Vytra of medical malpractice." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Gay Media Company Announces Online Directory of Large Companies with Domestic Partner Benefits
Press release. Excerpt: "Users of the PlanetOut Partners Corporate Pride Directory can search the directory by company or by GLBT-specific criteria, including the presence or absence of nondiscrimination policies that include sexual orientation, domestic partner benefits and/or recognized GLBT employee groups." (PR Newswire)
Knock-Knock! What To Do When Government Agents Want to Search Your Health Care Business
Excerpt: "For healthcare related businesses, the chances of having agents of the FBI or Office of Inspector General appear at their office with a search warrant demanding documents and seeking access to employees have never been greater. How the healthcare related business prepares for and responds to such a situation may significantly hurt or help the company's position in the investigation that may follow." (Nixon Peabody LLP)
Commentary: Managed Care and Patients' Rights
Feb. 19, 2003 issue. Excerpt: "The rarity of HMO appeals might be evidence of the extent to which members deem it futile to fight with their insurers. Of course, in the context of this study, rarity also could be a good sign; a deluge of appeals might suggest deep and systemic problems with the quality of the plan's operations." (Sara Rosenbaum, JD in the Journal of the American Medical Association)
Brief Overview: HIPAA Implementation for Employers
Excerpt: "This Perkins Coie Update provides a final checklist for employers who must comply with the April 14, 2003 deadline for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ('HIPAA') privacy rules." (Perkins Coie)
HMOs Win Most Appeals of Coverage Denial
Excerpt: " Most appeals brought lodged with managed care companies by patients who have been denied coverage are decided in favor of the health plan, a study of two large California HMOs concludes." (Reuters Health via Medscape; one-time registration required)
Over-the-Counter Claritin Prompts Coverage Decisions by Health Plan Sponsors
Excerpt: "When Schering-Plough's non-sedating antihistamine (NSA) Claritin went over the counter last December, plan sponsors confronted a big question: What coverage would they now provide for other prescription-only NSAs like Allegra, Zyrtec, and Clarinex?" (BenefitNews.com)
More Than 215,000 Enrollees Forecast for Fed LTCI
Excerpt: "The federal long-term care insurance program is off to an impressive start with 265,000 applicants this year." (BenefitNews.com)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Overview: DOL Proposed Class Exemption for Settlement of Lawsuits Brought by Plans
Excerpt: "When an ERISA plan has been wronged, the plan's fiduciaries must take steps to ensure the plan is made whole. This sometimes involves ... legal action against other plan fiduciaries or parties in interest. Even though it often may be in the plan's best interest to settle these claims, certain settlement agreements may violate ERISA's and the IRC's prohibited transaction rules. In order to facilitate settlements, the [DOL] is proposing a ... class exemption ..." (Deloitte & Touche Human Capital Advisory Services)
Commentary: a Theory on Corporate Greed
Excerpt: "[The recent corporate scandals] resulted from a widely accepted economic theory about how to create incentives to govern a business. Most of us have heard the argument. The overriding objective of a company's management should be to maximize shareholder value-- that is, keep the stock price rising. For Lynn Sharp Paine, a professor of business ethics at Harvard Business School, the single-minded attention to such priorities was at the heart of the recent problems." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Corporate Governance in Crisis: Executive Pay/Stock Option Overhang 2003
Press release, with link to report. Excerpt: "'The results of our latest analysis clearly demonstrate that, in both up and down markets, there continues to be a strong relationship between company performance and executive pay levels,' says Ira Kay, Ph.D., national director of compensation consulting at Watson Wyatt and author of the study." (Watson Wyatt)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Pension - Financial Planning Assistant
for Haddon Strategic Alliance
in NJ
Implementation Project Manager
for Transamerica the winning organization
in CA
Newly Posted Conferences
(Post Yours!)
Introduction to ESOPs
in CO
May 6, 2003
National Center for Employee Ownership
Introduction to ESOPs
in IN
May 15, 2003
National Center for Employee Ownership
Introduction to ESOPs
in MD
May 21, 2003
National Center for Employee Ownership
Introduction to ESOPs
in CT
May 22, 2003
National Center for Employee Ownership
First Annual WEB Conference
in VA
April 4, 2003
Worldwide Employee Benefits Network (WEB)
Newly Posted Press Releases
(Post Yours!)
United Benefit Advisors (UBA) Unveils 2003 Strategic Goals at Mid-Winter Meeting-- Unique Value Proposition Drives Phenomenal Growth
(United Benefit Advisors)
Willis Selects Firstdoor to Power 'Search Willis'
(Firstdoor)
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Search BenefitsLink
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research
- Employee Benefits Library
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