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April 10, 2003 - 8,101 subscribers
Today's sponsor: HIPAA Privacy Workbook for Group Health Plans
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Struggling to Meet the April 14 HIPAA Compliance Deadline? Help is at Hand! The 325-page HIPAA Privacy Workbook for Group Health Plans is a practical tool that tells you what you need to know and do to comply. It will save you time and money by providing more than 50 model documents tailored for group health plans. Click on the banner for the 33-page table of contents, a sample chapter, and a list of model documents.
(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Segal Co. Publishes HIPAA Compliance Checklist and Guidance on Business Associates
Excerpt: "[T]his Compliance Alert presents a brief checklist that sponsors of health plans may want to review. It also summarizes much-needed clarification of the term 'business associates' that was in guidance on HIPAA's privacy rules issued by the Department Health and Human Services (HHS)." (The Segal Company)
Employers Need Help Making Workers Aware of HIPAA
Excerpt: "According to a survey conducted by opinion research company APCO Insight ... most Americans-- 54%, to be exact-- do not know about the privacy regulations under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, nor do they know it is supposed to go into effect next week." (BenefitNews.com)
HIPAA Privacy Regulations: Overview for Employers and Their Health Plans
Excerpt: "The compliance date for small health plans is April 14, 2004. A small health plan is a health plan with annual receipts of no more than $5 million. How are the annual receipts of a health plan measured for this purpose? If the health plan files federal tax returns (most do not), guidance published by the Small Business Administration should be used to make this determination. A health plan that does not file federal tax returns should make this determination as follows: ..." (Chang, Ruthenberg & Long)
House Education and Workforce Subcommittee Approves Association Health Plan Bill
Excerpt: "The House Education and Workforce Employer and Employee Subcommittee on April 8 voted 13-8 to approve a bill (HR 660) that would allow businesses in the same trade groups to form association health plans exempt from state laws that require health plans to provide certain benefits, according to CongressDaily Markup Reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Opinion: AHP Bill Threatens Reliability of Health Benefits for Consumers
Excerpt: "BCBSA is joined by a large and growing collection of groups-- including the National Governors Association, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, National Small Business United, and many other consumer and business organizations-- that believe unregulated AHP insurers will expose consumers to increased costs, widespread fraud, and inadequate consumer protection laws." (Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (BCBSA))
House Approves Bill Allowing Private Employers to Provide Comp Time in Lieu of Overtime Pay
Excerpt: "The U.S. House of Representatives Education & the Workforce Committee approved the Family Time Flexibility Act (HR 1119), that would allow private sector workers to trade overtime hours worked for comp time." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)
What the Docs Are Reading: 'Check This Online Method To Appeal Claims'
Excerpt: "If you're a typical small practice, you probably have minimal resources to handle problem claims. But one firm offers a solution to help you more easily go after those dollars. Billing itself as an online appeals processing company, eAppeals (http://www.eappeals.com) offers a Web-based way to appeal claims with Medicare, Medicaid and other third-party payors." (Medscape; one-time registration required)
Two Court Cases Go Against Disability Insurer
Excerpt: "UnumProvident's ... PR problems continue, with two courts dealing major setbacks in recent weeks." (BenefitNews.com)
Gays Lobby Charlotte to Provide Domestic Partner Benefits to City Employees
Excerpt: "Members of a gay and lesbian advocacy group are asking the city of Charlotte to extend health benefits to the domestic partners of homosexual city workers." (The Charlotte [N.C.] Observer)
Teaming for Success: Mentoring in the Workplace
Excerpt: "With women now filling nearly half of all U.S. management positions, female mentors are becoming more commonplace. In the past, women usually turned to men as mentors. Today, about 60 percent of professional and managerial women report being mentored by other women ... But, advocates say, it is the mentoring relationship that is key, no matter what the mentor's gender." (Orlando Sentinel via the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)
Communications is Key to Success in Consumer-Directed Health Plans
Excerpt: "Since IRS cleared the way last June for employers to offer health spending accounts on a tax-free basis, more organizations are considering these types of plans. If you are one of them, the information in this article will help you to develop a strategic communications campaign that will ensure success for your employees and a healthy bottom line for your organization." (Aon Consulting)
Employers to Pay Bonuses to Good Doctors
Excerpt: "Businesses hope to improve the health of their employees with an initiative that gives doctors financial incentives for boosting patient care." (AP via the New York Times; one-time registration required)
National GOP Covets California's Caps on Malpractice Damages
Excerpt: "California has the strictest medical malpractice law in the country. The Bush administration and Republican members of Congress are pushing to extend California's rules to the rest of the nation-- reigniting the debate in this state over the fairness of restricting malpractice payouts and causing concern among doctors about future liability." (Oakland [Calif.] Tribune)
Wall Street Journal Examines PhRMA's Opposition to a Proposed Ohio Drug Discount Program
Excerpt: "The Wall Street Journal on April 9 looks at the tactics that the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America is using to contest a petition that seeks to implement a program in Ohio to negotiate prescription drug discounts for the uninsured." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
IRS Regs Affect Disclosure, List Maintenance and Confidential Corporate Tax Shelter Registration
7 pages. Excerpt: "The [IRS] has released final regulations ... requiring a taxpayer to disclose a broad range of transactions on its federal income tax return if they have certain characteristics common to tax shelter transactions. [The regulations] also require certain advisors to those transactions to maintain investor lists and retain certain other information relevant to the tax structure of the transaction." (Proskauer Rose)
Benefits for Employees on Leave; Have They Really Left? How Long Do Benefits Continue?
Excerpt: "As your company and your work force have grown you have tried to provide your employees with a competitive benefits package. Now, you are faced with additional costs-- the cost to maintain benefits for employees who are out on leave. This article addresses the different types of leave and the legal and practical requirements and limitations on employee leaves of absence." (Chang, Ruthenberg & Long PC)
Military Leave: An Employer's Basic Obligations
Excerpt: "This Update restates and supplements a prior Update, addressing several frequently asked questions about USERRA. Please remember that state law may impose additional requirements." (Perkins Coie)
Senator Calls for Reducing Tax Shields for Executives
Excerpt: "Congress should tighten laws that let Enron executives shield their salaries from taxes without risk, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee said [April 8, 2003]." (Bloomberg News via The New York Times; one-time registration required)
How Bad Business Conditions Can Affect Retirement and Welfare Plans
Excerpt: "As the post-dotcom bubble recession continues to drag on, many employers are now taking a long hard look at different ways to reduce their retirement and welfare program costs. Although some are considering discontinuing their plans altogether, most are focusing on making changes that will help them weather the storm." (Chang, Ruthenberg & Long PC)
Do You Know Where Your 457 Is? Governmental Employers and Nonqualified Deferred Compensation
Excerpt: "This article explains the principal method used by most governmental employers to provide nonqualified deferred compensation to their employees, as impacted by recent changes made by the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA), the Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act of 2002 (JCWAA), and the proposed regulations under Code section 457 published on May 8, 2002." (Chang, Ruthenberg & Long PC)
Stock Option Repricings: Employees Benefit, But What About Investors?
Excerpt: "A paper written by Wharton accounting professor Mary Ellen Carter and Luann J. Lynch, a professor at the Darden Graduate School of Business, examines the relationship between repricing underwater stock options and retaining employees." (The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania)
Delta Airlines Wants to Allow Employees to Trade In Worthless Stock Options
Excerpt: "After years of watching the value of employee stock options sink, Delta Air Lines wants to make them worth something again. The Atlanta-based airline has asked shareholders meeting later this month to approve a plan that will allow most employees to trade in old stock options. In exchange, they'd get a smaller number of new options that become valuable at a much lower stock price." (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution via NewsAlert.com)
Canadian Federal Government Takes Step to Speed Resolution of Same-Sex Benefits Lawsuit
Excerpt: "The federal government is streamlining its legal battle over benefits to same-sex widows and widowers by combining all the suits into a single federal case.... Ottawa recently agreed to pay survivor benefits to gays and lesbians who lost partners within the last four years." (CBC News)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Implementation Specialist
for ExpertPlan, Inc.
in NJ
Plan Administrator
for weaver partners, inc.
in ALL STATES
Institutional Trust Consultant III
for BB&T
in NC
Newly Posted Conferences
(Post Yours!)
Guns and Hoses 2003 - The Annual Reunion of the Nation's Police and Fire Pension Fund Leaders and Their Advisors
in CA
September 14, 2003
Institute for International Research
IRS and DOL Audit Activity/Enforcement/Compliance Programs
in NY
April 24, 2003
The New York Metropolitan Area Chapter - ISCEBS
Newly Posted Press Releases
(Post Yours!)
Mullin Consulting Gets High Marks from Clients in Benefits Consulting Satisfaction Survey
(Mullin Consulting)
U.S. Labor Secretary Appoints New Members To ERISA Advisory Council, Names Leadership
(U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration)
APRIL 14: Official End to Medical Privacy for America's Patients
(Citizens' Council on Health Care)
Quirks in Proposed Rules Would Trip Up Plans Never Questioned Before: Coalition Recommends Modifications
(Coalition to Preserve the Defined Benefit System)
CWA Presses Treasury Department on Pension Fairness
(Communications Workers of America)
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