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February 23, 2004 - 8,783 subscribers
Today's sponsor: Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA)
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Are Your Health Plans in Compliance? HIPAA imposes far-reaching privacy requirements on health plans, plan administrators, and insurers--and EBIA is here to help! Our HIPAA Portability & Privacy manual is the best and most reasonably-priced resource for HIPAA privacy compliance. The manual is also the best resource on HIPAA portability (special enrollments, PCEs, certificates of creditable coverage, and nondiscrimination)! For more information, visit www.ebia.com.
(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Drug Firms, Feds Seek to Ban Canada Drug Imports
2/20/2004. Excerpt: "The U.S. government and pr*scription drug makers continue their efforts to restrict or ban the importation of low-cost drugs from Canada. If Congress is unable to pass legislation legalizing the importation, Americans who buy their drugs from Canada may be forced to pay higher prices to fill their pr*scriptions. NPR's Joanne Silberner reports." (National Public Radio)
Attracting and Retaining Participants in Disease Management Programs: a Checklist
Excerpt: "Why is it that some people who need a disease management (DM) program don't participate? Interviews with executives at health plans and organizations involved in DM helped create the following checklist of actions that can be taken to achieve maximum participation in DM programs." (Healthplan via Medscape; one-time registration required)
HIPAA Regulations Now Take Center Stage At Smaller Companies
Excerpt: "Come April 14, employees at many small businesses will have to pay particular attention to what they say about their own health or someone else's as new federal privacy regulations take effect that day." (Tampa Bay Business Journal via bizjournals.com; one-time registration required)
Hewitt's Federal Legislation Quick Guide -- Health and Welfare Plans (PDF)
7 pages; 2/17/2004 edition. (Hewitt)
A Failure to Communicate: Why I No Longer Trust My Health Plan (PDF)
A readability and communication consultant tells of his trip through the healthcare claim meat-grinder. (Mark Hochhauser, Ph.D.)
Overview: CMS Announces Standard Unique Identifier for Health Care Providers (PDF)
Excerpt: "The basic purpose of this Memo is to answer the following questions about the January 23rd regulations: ... What Is The National Provider Identifier (NPI)? ... How Will The NPI Affect Group Health Plans? ... What Is The Effective Date(s) Of The NPI Requirements?" (TIC International Corporation)
Antidepressants Hazardous To Health Care Coverage
Excerpt: "When Amy M. left her steady job to become a freelance advertising copywriter, she had no idea the antidepressant she took to combat depression would have an unexpected side effect. She couldn't get health insurance." (San Francisco Chronicle)
AARP Opens Drive to Lower Drug Prices
Press release. Excerpt: "AARP is calling on Congress to change a section of the new Medicare drug benefit law that prohibits the government from negotiating pr*scription drug prices directly with the manufacturers-- a provision that has sparked widespread anger among older Americans." (AARP)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Overview: SEC Issues Interpretive Guidance on Item 201(d) Equity Compensation Plan Information Table
Corrected link. Excerpt: "In response to an American Bar Association request for guidance, the SEC recently issued interpretive guidance and clarifications addressing equity compensation plan disclosure issues under Regulation S-K, Items 201(d) and 601(b). The SEC's interpretive guidance and clarifications included: ..." (Perkins Coie)
Grand Jury Is Investigating KPMG's Sale of Tax Shelters
Excerpt: "A federal grand jury in Manhattan is investigating the sale of tax shelters by KPMG, the big accounting firm, to corporations and wealthy individuals who used them to escape at least $1.4 billion in federal taxes." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
From Coffee to Jets, Perks for Executives Come Out in Court
Excerpt: "Recent criminal and civil court cases involving top executives have brought to the fore an open secret in corporate America: for executives with multimillion-dollar salaries, no company-paid perk is too small -- or too big -- to accept." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Odds Look Favorable for Actuary Profession
Excerpt: "The actuary profession repeatedly gets top billing as one of the nation's best jobs, according to the Jobs Rated Almanac. Of course, those rankings are a statistical tally of several factors that, theoretically, add up to a good job. It's a number-crunching formula similar to how an actual actuary might evaluate a profession." (Seattle Times)
Opinion: Global Economy Puts American Benefit Packages at Risk
Excerpt: "The very concept of the traditional high-paid American job, with its generous health and pension benefits and paid vacations, is at risk.... The biggest and most ominous new fact for American workers is the dreadful employment environment of the current economic expansion." (Bob Herbert in the New York Times)
Hewitt's Federal Legislation Quick Guide -- Human Resources and Employment Law (PDF)
2 pages; 2/17/2004 edition. (Hewitt)
Employers Required To Expense Stock Options By 2005
Excerpt: "Making official what many employers and financial analysts knew was coming, the Federal Accounting Standards Board (FASB) announced that it will issue rules this year mandating the expensing of employee stock options, most likely effective in early 2005." (BenefitNews.com)
Newly Posted Events
Equity Compensation: Past, Present and Future
in California on March 18, 2004
presented by Western Pension & Benefits Conference - Orange County Chapter
17th Annual Employee Benefits Conference
in Ohio on June 17, 2004
presented by Cincinnati Bar Association - Employee Benefits Committee
Benefits for Baby Boomers and Beyond
in Illinois on March 11, 2004
presented by The Chicago Bar Association
Newly Posted Press Releases
Study Shows Leaders De-Energized and Why
(eePulse, Inc.)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Health Management Consultant
for Hewitt Associates
in IL
Communications Consultant
for Merrill Lynch
in NJ
Client Service Representative
for National Automobile Dealers Association
in VA
Part-Time 401(k) Account Manager
for CitiStreet
in NJ
Associate
for M Benefit Solutions
in OR
Assistant Vice President - Finance
for MassMutual Financial Group
in MA
Account Executive - Client Relationship Management
for Diversified Investment Advisors
in NY, TX
Client Relationship Manager
for Benefit Concepts
in RI
Trust Conversion Project Manager
for M&I Corporation
in WI
Director of Customer Service
for DailyAccess (DAC)
in AL
Assistant Administrator - Qualified Plans
for T. Charles Corporation
in CA
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