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April 14, 2003 - 8,101 subscribers
Today's sponsor: HIPAA Privacy Workbook for Group Health Plans
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
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)
HIPAA Medical Privacy Regs Go Into Effect Today
Excerpt: "Privacy rules that take effect today for most health plans will cover every health insurance company, hospital, clinic, doctor and pharmacy. The rules, years in the making, prohibit disclosure, without patient permission, of information for reasons unrelated to health care." (AP via Newsday)
Medical Privacy Rules Face Bumpy Road
Excerpt: "New federal rules establishing the nation's first medical privacy standards set to take effect on Monday are likely to cause confusion in the short run, experts say." (Medscape; one-time registration required)
Another Question is Answered in the HIPAA Privacy Q&A Column
To whom do the HIPAA privacy rules apply, and when? (BenefitsLink.com)
Another Question is Answered in the HIPAA Privacy Q&A Column
We are an employer with a self-insured health plan. It's my understanding that because we are self-insured we are responsible for providing a Notice of Privacy Practices to our employees. Two of our insurance companies have sent us notices to provide to our employees. What is our obligation to send out their notices? Can we just send out our own? (BenefitsLink.com)
Another Question is Answered in the HIPAA Privacy Q&A Column
Is an employee benefit plan that includes health and welfare benefits considered a covered entity? (BenefitsLink.com)
Health Plan Advisers Must Surmount HIPAA Hype, Reality
Excerpt: "The law provides for two separate effective dates, with annual premium/claims paid used at the determining factor. For group health plans with annual premium/claims paid of $5 million or more in total (i.e., across all plans/options offered) the date is April 14, 2003. For those organizations with lesser volumes the date is April 14, 2004." (BenefitNews.com)
What is a 'Personal Representative' Under the HIPAA Privacy Rules?
Excerpt: "I understand that the HIPAA privacy rules generally require a covered entity to treat an individual's personal representative as the individual. What is a personal representative and how do we determine if someone is an individual's personal representative?" (EBIA Weekly (Question of the Week))
A New Revolution in Health Care Privacy
Excerpt: "This week begins a revolution in health care. From Monday April 14 forward, patients across the country will have rights to privacy that most have never had before, while doctors, hospitals, pharmacists, and other health care providers will have strong incentives to make sure that information about patients remains secret." (California HealthCare Foundation)
Premiums for Long Term Disability: To Tax or Not to Tax-- or Both?
Excerpt: "A recent IRS private letter ruling, PLR 200312001, released March 21, 2003, has put an interesting twist on the question of whether or not employees should have the option of paying taxes on employer-paid long term disability premiums." (Briggs and Morgan)
Opinion: the Symptoms of a Sick Society
Excerpt: "In case you've missed it, our promise of nation-building hasn't been going well, at least as regards to our own. Here are a few timely dispatches from experts on the front lines: Among large companies, 22% say they are about to eliminate health-care coverage for employees who are nearing retirement. An additional 13% already have." (John Balzar in the Los Angeles Times; one-time registration required)
Opinion: Health Reformers Must Reach Consensus on Importance of Access to Quality Health Care
Excerpt: "Participants at a two-day conference last week at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health concluded that health care reform efforts have failed to yield many results in part because reformers and politicians have not won a 'broad consensus on the fundamental question: How high a value does this society place on access to quality care, and what are we willing to pay for it?' David Broder writes in a Washington Post column." (David Broder of the Washington Post)
'Any Willing Provider' Law Might Be Coming to Florida
Excerpt: "The Supreme Court decision doesn't affect Florida for now because the state lacks an 'any willing provider' statute. But experts say the ruling opens the door for that kind of legislation to get interest." (The [Tampa Bay] Business Journal via bizjournals.com; one-time registration required)
Commentary: High Court Punches Another Hole in the Federal Law Shielding HMOs
Excerpt: "For the third time in four years, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that federal law doesn't automatically safeguard health plans from state insurance laws that might offer protection to physicians and patients-- and this time the justices said it unanimously." (American Medical News)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Commentary: CEO Pay-- Have CEOs No Shame?
Excerpt: "FORTUNE asked Equilar, an independent provider of compensation data, to analyze CEO compensation at 100 of the largest companies that had filed proxy statements for 2002. Their findings? Average CEO compensation dropped 23% in 2002, to $15.7 million, but that's mostly because the pay of a few mega-earners fell significantly. A more telling number--median compensation, or what the middle-of-the-road CEO earned--actually rose 14%, to $13.2 million." (Fortune.com)
The Latest Way to Hide Millions: CEO Pensions
Excerpt: "Think CEO pay is out of control? Wait till you see what these guys get when they retire." (Fortune.com)
The Pension Chasm Between Top Execs and Rank-and-File
Excerpt: "As workers' pensions are eroding, employees, shareholders, unions and legislators are focusing new attention on the many ways top executives' retirement packages outshine those of their employees." (Washington Post)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
401k Plan Specialist
for ADP TotalSource in Miami, FL
in FL
Benefits Consultant - 401(k)
for AARP
in DC
Trust Relationship Officer
for First Virginia Banks, Inc.
in VA
Health Fund Administrator
for Benefit Fund Office
in CT
Specialist/hwConnect
for Towers Perrin
in NY
Newly Posted Press Releases
(Post Yours!)
SunGard Corbel Adds Recurring Rebalance Transactions and DB 412(i) Plans to Relius Administration Software
(SunGard Corbel)
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Search BenefitsLink
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research
- Employee Benefits Library
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Editor and Publisher: David Rhett Baker, J.D.
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