BenefitsLink Welfare Plans Newsletter May 25, 2005 Today's sponsor: Employee Benefits Institute of America (EBIA) (Click on company name or banner to learn more.) Explore the Seven Wonders of the Benefits Compliance World No HR or benefits professional's library would be complete without EBIA's compliance manuals. Save time and steer clear of compliance traps by joining thousands of professionals who rely on our manuals. "I know I can rely on your manuals, above and beyond any others, to be clear, concise, easy to understand, and accurate!" -Director of Flexible Benefits (Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor) Overview: Grace Period Offers Some Relief from 'Use It or Lose It' Flexible Spending Account Rule Excerpt: "Cafeteria plan sponsors are not required to provide for a grace period. However, if a sponsor wants to provide one, then the grace period must apply to all participants in the cafeteria plan. In addition, to use the grace period, an employer must amend its cafeteria plan document before the end of the plan year for which it wants to implement the provision. As part of this amendment, employers will need to consider modifying the plan's 'run-out' period ...." (SunGard Corbel) Assessment of the National Patient Safety Initiative -- Context and Baseline Evaluation Report 1 (PDF) 113 pages. Excerpt: "In September 2002, RAND contracted with the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to serve as the evaluation center for its national patient safety initiative. This report assesses the context and goals that were the foundation for the initiative, documents the baseline status of the activities being undertaken, and identifies priorities the researchers believe will have the strongest positive impact on the future of AHRQ's patient safety initiative." (RAND) Blue Cross and Heart Doctors Pair Up on Study of Cardio Practices and Outcomes Excerpt: "Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is expanding an effort that has proven to save lives and cut costs for cardiac patients. All 31 Michigan hospitals that perform heart surgery have agreed to share medical practices and outcomes with Blue Cross and other participating hospitals so they can learn about what's working elsewhere and duplicate those results." (Detroit Free Press) U.S. Health Official Says Standardized Electronic Medical Records Would Boost Quality & Cut Costs Excerpt: "Mike Leavitt looks forward to a day when all Americans can go to a hospital or doctor's office and not be handed a clipboard. The U.S. secretary of health and human services, speaking Monday at the Stanford University School of Medicine, sounded the call for standardized electronic health records. He said they would boost quality, reduce medical errors and cut health care costs nationwide." (The Mercury News; one-time registration required) Research Highlights: Pharmacy Benefits for Military Retirees Excerpt: "At a time when the federal government is shaping the pres.cription drug benefit that will be offered to elderly Medicare recipients, the Department of Defense (DoD) asked researchers at the RAND Center for Military Health Care Policy to assist it in assessing factors contributing to the rising costs of pres.cription medications for military retirees and their families and proposing measures that might curb those costs without sacrificing patient safety or the quality of care." (RAND) About Five Insurers Lower or Plan to Reduce Premiums for Health Savings Accounts Excerpt: At least five health insurers -- New York-based PerfectHealth Insurance, California-based PacifiCare Health Systems, Michigan-based American Community Mutual Insurance, Nebraska-based World Insurance and Assurant of New York -- have lowered or plan to lower premiums on health savings account products, Dow Jones/Wall Street Journal reports." (Kaiser Family Foundation) Health Care Coverage Options Database has an Employer-Based Health Insurance Coverage Section Excerpt: "[The database is] an on-line tool to help make American health care consumers aware of all of the coverage options available to them. [It] contains information about private health insurance coverage, as well as the many public and private programs available to Americans to help them obtain the medical care they need. Policymakers, the media and other ... parties can also use the Database as a means of comparing health care coverage options for Americans on a state-by-state basis." (National Association of Health Underwriters) Moving Health Care Up on U.S. Agenda is Focus of National Coalition on Health Care Excerpt: "Social Security or healthcare reform? A coalition of more than 150 major corporations, unions, healthcare organizations, religious groups, and pension providers representing more than 150 million Americans came together this week to tell Congress and the president that they're focusing on the wrong issue. 'The healthcare system is in crisis today. Social Security is not,' .... 'Healthcare is a far more serious, immediate, and destructive problem than Social Security.'" (The Christian Science Monitor via USA TODAY) Towers Perrin U.S. Legislative Tracking Charts — Health and Welfare -- Updated May 24, 2005 (PDF) 17 pages. Excerpt: "These charts summarize selected federal legislation that would affect employee benefit programs. The bills included on the charts are based on judgments regarding the prominence of the issue, the likelihood of enactment, and the influence of the sponsors." (Towers Perrin) Opinion: Three Positive Steps Toward Health Care Affordability for Small Business Excerpt: "It's no secret that the rising cost of health insurance is a pressing challenge for both small business owners and policymakers. Although everyone agrees that health insurance is becoming increasingly unaffordable, no one seems able to agree on what to do about it. Three proposals in Congress offer solutions, and the Chamber is aggressively pushing for each one of them." (uschamber.com Weekly via U.S. Chamber of Commerce) Disaster Ahead for Retiree Health Care! The Breathless World of the New Dismal Scientists (PDF) 7 pages. Excerpt: "[C]laims by [the] New Dismal Scientists (NDS) of a 'generational crisis' are almost entirely bogus. This brief criticizes the doomsday projections of the NDS, exploring why: the implicit moral/ethical foundation for such arguments is ad hoc and unconvincing; super-long-run projections are too sensitive to assumptions to be useful; and how, if the NDS' health care cost assumptions hold, the problem will not be generational." (The Century Foundation) Retiree Health Funding Plan Offered to Colleges under Program Created by Educational Consortium Excerpt: "Colleges and universities and their employees could tax-effectively prefund retiree health care expenses under a program set to begin in July. Under the plan, which backers say is the first of its kind, educational institutions nationwide and their staffs would contribute to special trusts known as Voluntary Employees' Beneficiary Assns. Contributions would be invested -- at the direction of employees -- in mutual funds managed by Fidelity Investments." (Business Insurance) Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General Overview: SEC and PCAOB Statements on Internal Control Reporting Requirements (PDF) 3 pages. Excerpt: "On May 16, 2005, the SEC and the PCAOB, in a coordinated effort, issued statements and guidance concerning the internal control reporting requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The release of these statements followed a roundtable discussion on implementation of these requirements hosted by the SEC and attended by the board members of the PCAOB." (Powell Goldstein LLP) Towers Perrin U.S. Legislative Tracking Charts — Human Resources -- Updated May 24, 2005 (PDF) 6 pages. Excerpt: "These charts summarize selected federal legislation that would affect employee benefit programs. The bills included on the charts are based on judgments regarding the prominence of the issue, the likelihood of enactment, and the influence of the sponsors." (Towers Perrin) Hewitt Federal Legislation Quick Guide Updated as of May 24, 2005 Excerpt: "Hewitt's Federal Legislation Quick Guide provides short updates on federal legislation that is currently under active consideration by Congress or has recently been enacted into law regarding health and welfare benefit plans, retirement plans, and human resources and employment law." (Hewitt Associates) 2005 Spencer Survey Of Benefits Managers Begins Collecting Data Excerpt: "Spencer Benefits Reports, Aspen Publishers, and CCH, Inc., have launched the 2005 Spencer Survey of Benefits Managers. This tenth biennial survey requests information concerning compensation, organization, and functional responsibilities of corporate employee benefits departments. All employers with employee benefits departments are encouraged to respond to the survey. All survey respondents who provide an e-mail address will receive a copy of the published survey at no charge." (Spencer Benefits Reports) Newly Posted Events Come Learn About ESOPs in Florida on June 22, 2004 presented by The ESOP Association, New South Chapter Form 5500s: Tips and Traps for Health & Welfare Plan Filings Nationwide on June 2, 2005 presented by Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA) Fundamentals of 401(k) Plans in New York on July 13, 2005 presented by SunGard Corbel Fundamentals of 401(k) Plans in California on July 14, 2005 presented by SunGard Corbel Fundamentals of 401(k) Plans in Massachusetts on July 20, 2005 presented by SunGard Corbel Fundamentals of Qualified Plans in Illinois on July 20, 2005 presented by SunGard Corbel Fundamentals of Qualified Plans in Georgia on July 27, 2005 presented by SunGard Corbel Pension Seminar in Ohio on June 23, 2005 presented by Employee Benefits Council of Northeast Ohio Plan Design Workshop - Exploring New Directions in Michigan on July 13, 2005 presented by SunGard Corbel Plan Design Workshop - Exploring New Directions in Kansas on July 13, 2005 presented by SunGard Corbel Plan Design Workshop - Exploring New Directions in Illinois on July 14, 2005 presented by SunGard Corbel Plan Design Workshop - Exploring New Directions in Georgia on July 14, 2005 presented by SunGard Corbel Plan Design Workshop - Exploring New Directions in Massachusetts on July 14, 2005 presented by SunGard Corbel Plan Design Workshop - Exploring New Directions in North Carolina on July 15, 2005 presented by SunGard Corbel Plan Design Workshop - Exploring New Directions in Minnesota on July 15, 2005 presented by SunGard Corbel Plan Design Workshop - Exploring New Directions in Pennsylvania on July 20, 2005 presented by SunGard Corbel Plan Design Workshop - Exploring New Directions in New York on July 21, 2005 presented by SunGard Corbel Newly Posted Press Releases ERIC Proposes Reforms For Pension Funding, PBGC, And Hybrid Pension Plans (ERIC (ERISA Industry Committee)) Ameriprise Financial Chosen As New Name For American Express Financial Advisors; Insurance and Asset Management Businesses to be Rebranded RiverSource (American Express Retirement Services) Overview: "Use It Or Lose it" Rule Modified (Bell, Boyd & Lloyd LLC) Introducing Employee Benefit Solution, An Objective Analysis Of The Financial Freedom Society (Financial Freedom Society Inc.) Nuvosoft's Rbenefits Brings Easy-to-Implement Web-Based Benefits Administration to Mid-Sized Organizations (Nuvosoft, Inc.) Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings Plan Administrator for Transamerica in CA Senior Compliance/Consultant for PR & Associates in FL 401(k) Daily Administrator for MBM Advisors Inc. in TX Human Resources Defined Benefit Consultants for The Rosen Group Inc. in PA Compliance Officer/Consultant 49742BR for American Express in MN Key Account Manager for ING U.S. Financial Services in DC Handy Links: View Today's Active Message Threads Search BenefitsLink Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article) Employee Benefits Library Copyright 2005 BenefitsLink.com, Inc.; except that you may reprint this newsletter in full (including this sentence) without obtaining our permission. 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