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| June 28, 2007 |
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Executive Summary of Comments Received by DOL on the Family and Medical Leave Act (PDF)
12 pages. Excerpt: "The Department is pleased to observe that, in the vast majority of cases, the FMLA is working as intended. . . . At the same time, a central defining theme in the comments involves an area that may not have been fully anticipated: the prevalence with which unscheduled intermittent FMLA leave would be taken in certain workplaces or work settings by individuals who have chronic health conditions." (U.S. Department of Labor)
Text of Full Report: Comments Received by DOL on the Family and Medical Leave Act
A terrific report, presented on a web page that includes many informative links to background and related information. Excerpt: "The Department asked the public to provide information about their experiences with the FMLA and to provide comments on the effectiveness of the FMLA regulations. More than 15,000 comments were submitted in response to the Department's request. The Report summarizes the issues raised in the comments received." (U.S. Department of Labor)
Overview: Reg Allowing Coordination of Employer-Provided Retiree Health Benefits with Medicare
Excerpt: "After a number of years of uncertainty, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recently upheld a proposed Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) regulation that would allow employers to coordinate employer-provided retiree health benefits with Medicare, without concern that the practice impermissibly discriminates on the basis of age in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)." (Bond, Schoeneck & King, PLLC)
Overview: Commenters Clash Over FMLA Intermittent Leave Rules
Excerpt: "Employers say some workers exploit the federal Family and Medical Leave Act regulations to adjust their schedules in ways that are unfair to employers and to co-workers." (The National Underwriter Company; free registration or paid subscription required)
Google Renowned for Employee Perks
Excerpt: "When the Google culture comes to Council Bluffs, it will include some of the things that have put the company on various 'best places to work' lists. 'Plenty of food, plenty of places to take a nap,' Paul Froutan, Google's director of operations, said in the Bluffs last week." (Omaha World-Herald)
Health Plan Law Blog Adds Due Diligence Page
Excerpt: "Due diligence checklists and articles are collected on the new Due Diligence Page. The page currently contains [a checklist] on selecting services providers, the DOL Fact Sheet on Selecting Service Providers, an article by Scott MacEwen on choosing a health plan consultant, a checklist of ten warning signs, and several links to sites with further resources." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)
Opinion: Growing Adoption of Health Management Not Evidence-Based
Excerpt: "While 'worksite wellness' programs have been around for decades, major investments in employee health management (EHM) are relatively new. They have been made primarily as a 'last-ditch' effort to control employers' health benefit costs, and involve a mix of insurer, supplier, and self-operated programs." (World Health Care blog)
AHIP Makes Personal Health Records Technical Documents Available to the Public
Excerpt: "AHIP, and its members, in partnership with the BlueCross and Blue Shield Association have worked together to identify the core information to include in personal health records (PHRs), and have developed and pilot tested standards that enable consumers to transfer PHR data when they change coverage. This ensures that PHRs will be portable from health insurer to health insurer as consumers have requested." (America's Health Insurance Plans)
Doctors Split on Big-Box Clinics: Debate Rages Over Convenience, Cost and Quality Concerns
Excerpt: "Calls by the American Medical Association for a federal investigation into walk-in health clinics in 'big-box' stores like Wal-Mart and Target have spurred a debate that could shape the way many Americans seek health care in years to come." (ABC News)
HMOs Propose Highest Rate Increases in Four Years, According to Hewitt Analysis
Excerpt: "An analysis from Hewitt Associates . . . indicates that initial HMO premium rates (1) will increase by approximately 14.1 percent in 2008 -- the highest rate increase in four years." (Hewitt Associates)
Mercer Health & Benefits Signs Agreement with Thomson Medstat to Launch Mercer HealthOnline(TM)
Excerpt: "Mercer Health & Benefits LLC has entered into an agreement with Thomson Medstat to develop a health care data warehouse with a comprehensive suite of analytic tools that will enable Mercer to evaluate the collective health care claims experience across all of their clients. Mercer's database will be one of the largest repositories of health data among private-sector consulting firms." (BusinessWire)
Health Cost-Sharing Could Cost More Overall, According to Study
Excerpt: "Employers that use increased cost-sharing with employees as a health care cost-containment strategy could end up losing more than they save in lost productivity and increased absenteeism, a three-year study by the Integrated Benefits Institute has found." (Business Insurance)
Spike in Kids' Health Issues Foretells Problems
Excerpt: "The number of U.S. children with chronic health problems such as obesity has soared in the past four decades, foreshadowing increases in adult disability and public health-care spending, researchers said . . . ." (Reuters via MSNBC.com)
Opinion: Corporations Are Waking Up; Are Health Care Organizations Still Asleep?
Excerpt: "The corporate world, and even federal and state governments have awakened already to the value, indeed the necessity of managing health in order to reduce the costs of sickness. Perhaps it is time that sickness care providers do the same -- as employers, themselves, who face the same necessity for controlling their costs, and as providers who are supposed to be in the health, as well as the sickness business." (World Health Care blog)
Overview: CMS Proposes Changes to Due Date for Applying for Medicare Part D Retiree Drug Subsidy
Excerpt: "The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on May 25, 2007 issued proposed regulations that would change the application deadline for employers seeking the 28 percent retiree drug subsidy (RDS). The current '90 day before the beginning of the plan year' deadline would be replaced by a standard permitting the agency to establish an 'end-of-month' deadline that CMS says 'would be administratively simpler for both plan sponsors and CMS to track.'" (Deloitte via BenefitsLink.com)
In Massachusetts, Test for a Pioneering Health Plan
Excerpt: "One of the most ambitious healthcare initiatives by a US state is entering a make-or-break implementation phase -- just in time to become a model of success or failure for presidential candidates." (The Christian Science Monitor)
Overview: Poll Finds Most Massachusetts Residents Support New Health Reform Law
Excerpt: "As a July 1 deadline to purchase health care coverage in Massachusetts approaches, a poll released on Wednesday finds that a majority of the state's residents support the law, including the individual mandate, the Boston Globe reports." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
Commentary: The Choice on Health Care
Excerpt: "This election cycle's health policy debate has proven depressing. Leading Republican and Democratic candidates and the thinkers behind them appear to be in agreement on two issues: American health care is in crisis and the way to fix it is with more taxes, more regulations and more government care." (The Wall Street Journal Online)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Equity-based Compensation: Employee Stock Options Become Transferable
Excerpt: "[R]ecent developments suggest that it is possible to make nonqualified stock options transferable, at least for public companies, and that there may be good reasons to do so." (Faegre & Benson LLP)
Changing Strategies in HR Technology and Outsourcing - 2007 HR Technology Trends Survey
Excerpt: "Watson Wyatt's 2007 HR Technology Trends Survey finds that companies are turning to technology to give employees access to pertinent information and tools. From portals to software solutions to call centers, HR technologies are providing a bridge to the information that employees need to understand their changing workplace." (Watson Wyatt Worldwide)
Newly Posted Events
Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program (VFCP) - Workshop
in Hawaii on July 9, 2007
presented by U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)
Newly Posted Press Releases
Report on FMLA Request for Information Issued by U.S. Department of Labor
U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)
SHRM Urges Swift Action to Restore Fairness to Family and Medical Leave Act
Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)
National Coalition to Protect Family Leave Calls for Greater Clarity and Fairness in Leave Law
National Coalition to Protect Family Leave
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
(Post a Job | View All Jobs)
Second Vice President Defined Contribution Administration
for New York Life Retirement Plans Services
in MA
Benefits Administrator
for Daiichi Sankyo, Inc.
in NJ
ERISA Attorney
for Medium-sized Regional New York Law Firm
in NY
DailyAccess Corp., Manager of Daily Operations
for DailyAccess Corp., Mobile, AL
in AL
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
- Employee Benefits Library
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