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April 28, 2004 - 8827 subscribers
Today's sponsor: Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. 


Do Your Health Plans Comply with HIPAA?
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 resource for HIPAA privacy
compliance. The manual is also the best resource on HIPAA portability
(such as special enrollments, PCEs, certificates of creditable coverage,
and nondiscrimination)! A great two-for-one deal!
Learn More

(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Experts Tackle Tough Questions About Treasury's HSA Guidance
Excerpt: "During an April 13 audioconference sponsored by ICDC, John Hickman and Ashley Gillihan -- both employee benefits attorneys with the law firm of Alston & Bird -- provided an overview of the Treasury Dept.'s March 30 guidance on health savings accounts (HSAs) and the DOL's ERISA guidance. Here's a look at some of the questions posed by listeners during the presentation:" (Inside Consumer-Directed Care via AISHealth.com)

HHS Fact Sheet: Harnessing Information Technology to Improve Healthcare
Excerpt: "HHS is working aggressively to promote the use of technology to improve patient safety and to allow quick, reliable and secure access to information that promotes the best possible care across the health care system. A key part of this broad effort is developing a National Health Information Infrastructure ..." (Via HIPAAdvisory)

Federal Agencies, Workers Benefit From Availability of Flexible Spending Accounts
Excerpt: "Flexible spending accounts appear to be taking hold with federal employees." (Washington Post; one-time registration required)

Two Courts Address Whether Death From Drunk Driving Constitutes Accident Under AD&D Policies
Excerpt: "Since neither policy defined the term 'accident,' both courts turned to federal common law to resolve whether a death that occurs as a result of drunk driving is an 'accident.' The Eighth Circuit adopted a two-step test developed by the First Circuit.... The Fourth Circuit, however, [applied] its own previously-established interpretation ..." (Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA))

It's a Wonder Any Work Gets Done In Cubicles
Excerpt: "Can anyone work at work anymore? Cube designers and many managers maintain that open-office plans allow for the 'free flow of ideas.' But here's a sampler of what bosses would hear if they cracked their office door: an elegy to the end of a mortgage refinancing, the saga of someone's bunion and the ping of fingernails being clipped." (Wall Street Journal via SFGate.com)

Risky Business: When Mom and Pop Buy Health Insurance for Their Employees (PDF)
8 pages. Excerpt: "Surveys of employers from 1989 to 2003 reveal that more rapid premium increases are forcing small firms to impose higher cost sharing.... From 2000 to 2003, deductibles among small firms increased 100 percent in PPO plans when employees use in-network providers and 131 percent when they use out-of-network providers; among large firms, deductibles in PPO plans increased 33 percent and 44 percent, respectively." (The Commonwealth Fund)

Leapfrog Group Expanding Hospital Survey
Excerpt: "The Washington-based Leapfrog Group was formed in November 2000 by the Business Roundtable, a group of Fortune 500 top executives." (Business Insurance)

Employers & HIPAA: Understanding 'Group Health Plans'
Excerpt: "While HIPAA privacy compliance has focused on the health care industry -- including physicians, hospitals, insurance and managed care companies, and clearinghouses -- the implications of the privacy rule to businesses outside of the health care industry, as well as to health care companies in their capacities as sponsors of group health plans -- remain overshadowed, misunderstood, or ignored." (Report on Patient Privacy via AISHealth.com)

Physicians Report On Patient Encounters Involving Direct-To-Consumer Advertising
Excerpt: "We surveyed a national sample of 643 physicians on events associated with visits during which patients discussed an advertised drug. Physicians perceived improved communication and education but also thought that direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) led patients to seek unnecessary treatments." (Health Affairs)

Opinion: Hillary's Return To Healthcare
Excerpt: "We talked endlessly about Hillary's proposed government-run medical system a decade ago and decided against it for many reasons. Now this rerun of the same issues proceeds as if the question is whether the rest of us are 'ready' to talk about such things." (Thomas Sowell in the Washington Times)

Full Text: HIPAA Administrative Simplification Rules (PDF)
102 pages. The set includes the HIPAA general administrative, enforcement procedures, provider and employer identifier, transactions and code sets, security, and privacy rules issued to date. The set includes a Table of Contents to assist a reader in quickly finding the needed provisions within the Rules. (Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg)

Opinion: Toward Openness in Drug Purchases
Excerpt: "The veil of secrecy that shrouds the operations of the middleman companies that manage drug benefits for tens of millions of Americans was lifted a bit this week when the nation's largest manager of pharmacy benefits agreed to greater transparency." (New York Times; one-time registration required)

Tax Court Considers Whether Retirement Home Expenses Constitute Medical Care Under Code Sec. 213
Baker v. Comm'r (T.C. 2004). Excerpt: "EBIA Comment: Although this case doesn't directly apply to health FSAs, it reminds us that not all expenses that are deductible on a tax return are reimbursable. While the analysis of the pool, spa and exercise expenses will sound familiar to those who process health FSA claims, very different issues are raised by the monthly service fees." (Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA))

Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Forfeit of Stock Provision In Option Agreement Held Valid
Excerpt: "A provision in an employer's stock option agreement, that called for the recovery of company stock from the option grantee if a non-compete provision in the same agreement were found unenforceable, was valid, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans (CA-5)." (CCH News & Information Library)

Overview: Labor Department Issues FLSA Final Regulations (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "The revised federal regulations significantly change the tests utilized in determining whether an employee is entitled to overtime pay or exempt from the FLSA's overtime requirements. The rules were published in the April 23, 2004 Federal Register and will take effect 120 days thereafter, on August 21, 2004." (Gardner Carton & Douglas)

IBM Shareholders Vote to Expense Stock Options
Excerpt: " IBM Corp. shareholders voted Tuesday to require the company to treat stock options as a business expense, though the impact of the decision is muted because financial regulators are on the verge of imposing the same rule." (AP via Washington Post; one-time registration required)

Newly Posted Events

Defined Benefit 412i Boot Camp
Nationwide on July 29, 2004
presented by The 412(i) Company

Driving & Developing Effective Patient Compliance & Persistency Programs for Health Plans & Employers
in Illinois on July 26, 2004
presented by International Quality & Productivity Center (IQPC)

Employee Benefits Conference
in New York on May 18, 2004
presented by New York State Society of C PAs

FLSA: Impact on New Overtime Regulations
Nationwide on May 13, 2004
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Post a Help Wanted Ad

Employee Benefits Paralegal
for Chang, Ruthenberg & Long, P.C.
in CA

Plan Administrator / Relationship Manager
for Weaver Partners
in ANY STATE

Defined Contribution Administrator / Compliance
for MK Consulting, Inc.
in ANY STATE

Client Service Representative
for Decimal, Inc. (www.theonline401k.com),
in CA

Associate Attorney
for Shook Hardy & Bacon, LLP
in LA

Credit & Risk Director( For a commercial Property and Casualty Firm)
for Arwood Associate, Inc
in KS, MO

Enrollment Specialist
for MD Consulting & Admin firm
in MD

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