BenefitsLink Welfare Plans Newsletter August 2, 2005 Today's sponsor: The BenefitsLink Jobs Board (Click on company name or banner to learn more.) Where the best benefits employers find the best candidates Fill your employee benefits job openings fast by advertising on BenefitsLink. What better place to find qualified candidates? Your help wanted ad will be listed in the BenefitsLink Newsletter, will be seen by thousands of candidates who view our listings online, and will be emailed to over 2,800 job-seekers. Click here to see how easy it is to place an ad! Is 4 Greater than 9? ADEA and the EEOC and Retiree Health Plans Excerpt: "The AARP, the EEOC and interested retirees are waiting to hear from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania whether four is greater than nine or whether nine is greater than four. The district court previously enjoined the EEOC from publishing regulations that would explicitly permit employers to coordinate retiree health care benefits with Medicare eligibility. Those regulations were designed to overturn the Third Circuit's ruling in the Erie County case ...." (Michael H. Rosenthal via for your benefit blog) Senior-Care Industry Expanding with More In-Home Services Excerpt: "National franchising companies have emerged as the largest providers in a business once populated only by individuals. Home Instead is the biggest, with 600 franchises that employ 29,000 caregivers and serve 50,000 clients annually in 47 states and five foreign countries. The Omaha, Neb.-based business adds 50 franchises a year." (Bradenton Herald) California State Justices Say Businesses Must Give Spousal Privileges to Registered Couples Excerpt: "Businesses that provide discounts, special services or other privileges to married couples must extend the same rights and benefits to same-sex couples registered as state domestic partners, the California Supreme Court decided 6-0 on Monday." (Los Angeles Times; one-time registration required) Pres.cription Drug Prices Increased by 5.5% in First Half of 2005, New Research Indicates Excerpt: "From Jan. 1 to June 30, the prices of the top 100 brand-name pres.cription drugs increased an average of 5.53%, compared with 5.62% for the same period in 2004, DMD data indicate. The prices of the top 50 of those medications increased by an average of 5.11% from Jan. 1 to June 30, compared with 5% for the same period in 2004, and the prices of the bottom 50 increased by an average of 6.62%, compared with 6.32% in the same period in 2004, .... " (Kaiser Family Foundation) Helping Workers Pay College Costs for Their Children Excerpt: "Company-sponsored scholarships can help bridge higher education's affordability gap for employees' college-bound dependents." (HR Magazine) Employee Who Did Not 'Care For' His Wife Was Not Entitled To FMLA Leave, Ninth Circuit Rules Excerpt: "The termination of an employee did not violate the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) because a leave that the employee claimed he took to 'care for' his wife did not qualify as FMLA leave. This was the ruling of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Tellis v. Alaska Airlines, Inc. (No. 04-35137)." (Spencer Benefits Reports) Paying Terminating Employees for Unused Paid Time Off May Differ from State to State Excerpt: "Question: My company is making changes to our employee handbook. One of our owners has requested we change the paid-time-off (PTO) policy to NOT pay for any accrued PTO when an employee terminates. Our company is located in Atlanta, Ga., and Dallas, Texas. Can a company refuse to pay PTO to terminating employees? Answer: ...." (workindex.com) The Tough Task of Fixing Benefits for Unionized Public Employees in New Jersey Excerpt: "The [state of New Jersey] Benefits Review Task Force ... has a long way to go before deciding what to recommend in a report due in mid-November. Along the way, task force members will have to act as referees between union leaders who believe their members' benefits are untouchable, and business leaders and taxpayers who complain that pandering politicians cannot keep giving away Cadillac health benefits when most working folks had to trade down to a Chevy years ago." (North Jersey Media Group Inc.) London Patient Choice Project Evaluation: A Model of Patients' Choices of Hospital (PDF) 109 pages. Excerpt: "The London Patient Choice Project (LPCP) was established to offer choices to patients who were clinically eligible for treatment and had been waiting for treatment at an NHS London hospital beyond a target waiting time. This report covers the choice process and the trade-offs patients are willing to make in order to obtain earlier treatment. [The 10-page summary is at http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/2005/RAND_TR230.sum.pdf.]" (RAND Europe) Implementing Electronic Health Records May Be Challenging, Yet Ultimately Rewarding Excerpt: "Implementing electronic health records (HER) may be challenging, yet ultimately rewarding, according to two reports in the August issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine. A study evaluates the costs of a national system, and a perspective recounts the experience of implementing HER into an internal medicine practice." (Medscape Medical News) Colorado Hospitals Ailing from Decline of Private Health Insurance Coverage Excerpt: "As the number of patients covered by private insurance drops, Colorado hospitals are increasingly dependent on government dollars." (The Denver Post) CPOE Study Draws Strong Reaction from Medical and IT Communities Excerpt: "More than four months after it originally was published, a March 9 Journal of the American Medical Association study that analyzed a hospital's computerized order entry system is continuing to get strong reaction from the medical and health IT communities. The study, which linked the Eclipsys TDS electric ordering system with 22 types of medical errors, has elicited concerns that the findings, or rather the characterization of the findings, could slow CPOE adoption." (California HealthCare Foundation) URAC Standards Let Employers Judge Whether CDH Plans Provide Adequate Decision Making Support Excerpt: "What sets these plans apart is the level of responsibility they place on consumers to make good decisions about health care. In order for CDH plans to function well, consumers must have the tools and information they need to be effective decision makers. The goal of URAC's new Consumer Education and Support (CES) Accreditation is to make the CDH market mechanism more efficient by paving the way for consumers, and the employers who select CDH plans on their behalf, ...." (Employee Benefit News) Breaks in Can.ada Health System May Invite U.S. Solutions Excerpt: "Private health care interests throughout North America could get a boost from a recent Supreme Court of Can.ada ruling challenging the country's universal government-paid health care system." (Employee Benefit News) Commentary and Excerpts: Texas Jury Finds Humana HMO Liable in Wrongful Death Lawsuit Excerpt: "According to the article, a 'key piece of evidence in the three-week trial was Smelik's Humana member handbook, which said the insurer would identify cases of chronic disease and make treatment recommendations to the patient, family and doctor.'" (Attorney B. Janell Grenier via Benefitsblog.com) Study Shows that Electronic Medical Health Record Costs May Soar Excerpt: "President Bush's proposal to create a national network of electronic health records could cost more than $200 billion initially to build and operate, researchers said Monday. The health care industry itself, based on current estimates, will cover less than 20 percent of that amount. 'These findings suggest that policy initiatives are needed if we are to close this gap,' said a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine." (AP via The Washington Post; one-time registration required) Momentum Shifts Toward Consumer-Directed Plans with the Evolution of Managed Care Excerpt: "Looking at past enrollment shifts and at the evolution of managed care can shed light on how to compete in the new market for account-based consumer-directed care, now expected to become one of the predominant health plan models." (Managed Care Magazine) Part D Regs Rolled Out: Medicare-Eligibles Must Receive Notice Comparing Employer Rx Plan Excerpt: "With five months of prep time remaining until Medicare Part D benefits begin on Jan. 1, 2006, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services this summer has issued a flurry of guidance for employers designed to ease the rollout of the new federal drug benefit and lessen employee confusion." (Employee Benefit News) Change in Thinking for Pharmacy Benefits Seen in Consumer-Directed Health Plans Excerpt: "What's the difference between the pharmacy benefit in a consumer-directed health plan and a traditional health plan? Greater generic drug utilization is the overriding answer." (Managed Care Magazine) Mini-Meds -- For More and More Workers, Small Pay Means Small Plans Excerpt: "Some large health insurers are starting to offer limited-benefit plans (often called mini-meds) for an unexpectedly vibrant niche -- the working poor." (Managed Care Magazine) Efforts to Cover the Working Uninsured an Opportunity for Health Plans Excerpt: "Employers and state governments are getting together to design imaginative programs to cover low-pay workers." (Managed Care Magazine) Response to WSJ Editorial on Legislation Allowing Purchase of Health Insurance Across State Lines Excerpt: "A bill (HR 2355) that would allow U.S. residents to purchase health insurance in any state 'misses the major driver of geographic difference in health insurance premiums: variations in the practice style adopted by physicians,' Uwe Reinhardt, a professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University, writes in a letter to the editor in response to a July 25 Journal editorial (Reinhardt, Wall Street Journal, 8/2)." (Kaiser Family Foundation) Workers Swelling Rolls of Medicaid: Many Choose It Over Private Health Plans Excerpt: "The nation has so vastly extended taxpayer-funded Medicaid to the working poor this decade that it has produced the biggest expansion of a government entitlement since the Great Society was launched in the 1960s, a USA TODAY analysis has found." (USA TODAY) Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General Text of Rev. Rul. 2005-48: Recognition of Sec. 83 Income Despite 16(b) and Contractual Restrictions Guidance regarding which provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 delay taxation under section 83 of the Code and whether temporary contractual restrictions on the transfer of section 83 property cause rights in the property to be substantially nonvested. The IRS also announced that, except for cases arising under the jurisdiction of the First Circuit, the Service will not follow the decision in Robinson v. Comm'r., 805 F.2d 38 (1st Cir. 1986), reversing 82 T.C. 444 (1984). (Internal Revenue Service) Benefits-Speak in Spanish Boosts Morale, Cuts Costs, Increases Understanding Excerpt: "We've all seen workers' eyes glaze over upon hearing words like tax deferral, vesting and maximum contributions. Add in the difficulty of deciphering these options in another language - not to mention the logistics of enrolling in the plans - and it's easy to see how little of the benefits message might stick." (Employee Benefit News) The July 2005 Trucker Huss Benefits Report (PDF) 8 pages. The two main articles in this issue are: ERISA Considerations When a Plan Invests in Hedge Funds and Private Equity Funds; and, The Limits of Jebian -- Not Every Technical Breach Means De Novo Review. (Trucker Huss) Firms Struggle to Balance Employee Health and Retirement Benefit Costs with the Bottom Line Excerpt: "The Center for Political Accountability recently released survey results that reflect the dilemma. While many large companies support organizations that financially support the Bush administration's efforts for reform, they distance themselves from publicly supporting the controversial effort. Companies struggle to balance the costs of providing health and retirement benefits for employees as a good corporate citizen and the ability to stay in business." (Northeast PA Business Journal) Compensation Costs Up 3.2 Percent in Private Industry Over the Year Excerpt: "While increases in wages and salaries continued at a moderate pace, the sharp increases in benefit costs began to moderate. For private industry workers, wages and salaries rose 2.4 percent in the year ended June 2005; this was similar to the gain of 2.6-percent in June 2004. Benefit costs gained 4.9-percent for the period ended June 2005, slowing dramatically from an increase of 7.3-percent for the year ended June 2004." (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) Newly Posted Press Releases Ceridian Encourages Employers To Address The Needs And Differences Of All Generations In The Workplace (Ceridian) Department of Labor Intends to Expand Enforcement of Disclosure Requirements (Bell, Boyd & Lloyd LLC) North Carolina Office of State Personnel Announces Online Enrollment for State Employees Participating in NC Flex (North Carolina Office of State Personnel) Philadelphia Retirement Plan Expert R. David Danziger Forms New Law Firm (Law Offices of R. David Danziger) Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings Marketing/Sales/Enrollments for South Florida RIA, TPA and Record Keeping Firm in FL 401K Daily Administrator for American National Insurance Company in Operations Project Manager for Fidelity Investments in MA, NH Operations Delivery Leader for Fidelity Investments in MA, NH Consultant for Louis Kravitz & Associates in CA 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. Published by: BenefitsLink.com, Inc. https://benefitslink.com/about.html 1298 Minnesota Avenue, Suite H Winter Park FL 32789 (407) 644-4146 Fax: (407) 644-2151 Editor and Publisher: David Rhett Baker, J.D. 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