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November 15, 2007

Here are the Web's best new links about compliance and cost aspects of plan operation, design and policy.


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(a) New Guidance Documents

(None today.)

(b) News

Blues to Stop Paying for 'Never Events'
Excerpt: "Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans will no longer pay for serious errors and hospital-acquired conditions called 'never events,' a senior executive said at the annual National Business Coalition on Health conference in Scottsdale, Arizona." (Workforce Management; free registration required)

(c) Summaries of Guidance; Filed Comments

(None today.)

(d) Trends, Surveys, Research

Employees Recognize Effects of Stress, Believe Employers Overlook Connection to Productivity
Excerpt: "From Spencer's Benefits Reports: Employers do not address mental health matters in the workplace, and many employees do not even understand their current mental health benefits, according to a survey released by Meritain Health and the Partnership for Workplace Mental Health." (Wolters Kluwer Financial Services)

Employee Handbooks: An Important Tool to Avoid Employer Liability
Excerpt: "Before distributing an employee handbook or amendments to an existing handbook, they should be carefully reviewed both by management, to insure they accurately reflect the employer's policies, and by legal counsel, to insure that it complies with all applicable laws and regulations." (Manufacturing Matters via Bond, Schoeneck & King, PLLC)

Some Plans Are Voluntarily Providing Health Insurance for Domestic Partners
Excerpt: "Some health insurers, including Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Colorado, are starting to offer coverage voluntarily for domestic partners in small groups, declaring it to be 'revenue neutral' and well-received among employers and brokers alike. Yet such coverage, while increasingly popular among large employers, remains scarce in the small-group market except in a handful of states -- including California and Vermont, and soon to include Maryland -- that mandate insurers to offer it." (Health Plan Week via AISHealth.com)

Some Health Plans Unlikely to Cover Any Patient Medication Costs If FDA Moves Some Meds Behind Counter
Excerpt: "Although none have made a final decision, some health insurers say they likely will not cover any patient medication costs should the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proceed with a proposal to move some medications to behind-the-counter (BTC) from prescription status." (Health Plan Week via AISHealth.com)

Insurers Design Pay-for-Performance Measures to Halt the Spread of MRSA Infection
Excerpt: "The potentially fatal infection Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is far more common than previously thought, according to a new study and recent news reports. In an effort to boost prevention and detection, a few insurers -- including Highmark Inc. and Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey -- are incorporating MRSA-related measures into their hospital pay-for-performance (P4P) programs to incentivize hospitals to institute prevention efforts." (Health Plan Week via AISHealth.com)

Fewer Employers Than Anticipated Are Likely to Give Up Federal Retiree Drug Subsidy in 2008
Excerpt: "Contrary to earlier expectations, few employers are likely to give up the federal retiree drug subsidy (RDS) in 2008 to move workers into stand-alone Prescription Drug Plans (PDPs) or Medicare Advantage plans with drug coverage (MA-PDs), consultants say." (Medicare Part D Compliance News via AISHealth.com)

Humana's New Consumer-Directed Product Limits Employer Risk -- Caps Annual Rate Increases for Three Years
Excerpt: "Small businesses reluctant to try a CDH plan could find some comfort in Humana's new No Worry product. The insurer says the new program eases employers into a CDH product over three years and caps annual rate increases during that period. One employer client that spoke with ICDC has used the money it saved in lower premiums to fund employee-owned HSAs." (INSIDE CONSUMER-DIRECTED CARE via AISHealth.com)

UAW Ratifies Ford Contract -- Including a VEBA
Excerpt: "The new labor contracts have been called transformational, with the union agreeing to allow the automakers to hire new workers at a lower wage and with lesser benefits and agreeing to establish a retiree health-care trust, known as a VEBA, that frees the automakers of their retiree health-care obligations by 2010." (Detroit Free Press)

Health Care Offerings Good, but Cost Hurts Fast-Growing Businesses
Excerpt: "According to the most recent PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Private Company Services' Trendsetter Barometer, 57% of fast-growth private businesses claim to have suffered a negative impact from increased health care costs over the past 12 months." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

(e) Policy, Opinion, Advocacy

Opinion: The AMA and Single Payer Policies -- AMA Reference Committee Meeting Highlights
Excerpt: "It is amazing how close the AMA is to supporting the single payer model. It's too bad that they don't yet realize it." (Physicians for a National Health Program)

A High Performance Health System for the United States: An Ambitious Agenda for the Next President
Excerpt: "The Commission believes the U.S. must pursue a strategy of covering the uninsured while simultaneously improving quality and efficiency. It recommends five strategies: 1) extending comprehensive, affordable, and seamless insurance coverage to all; 2) aligning incentives to reward high-quality, efficient care; 3) organizing the health system to achieve accountable, coordinated care; 4) investing in public reporting, evidence-based medicine, and the infrastructure necessary to deliver the best care; and 5) exploring creation of a national entity that set aims for health system performance and priorities for improvement, monitors performance, and recommend practices and policies." (The Commonwealth Fund)

'New Republic' Releases Special Issue on Health Care
Excerpt: "As part of a New Republic special issue on health care, Jonathan Cohn examined whether universal health care 'would lead to both less innovation and less access to the innovation that already exists.' According to Cohn, in a universal health system, the government 'would seek to limit spending by forcing down payments to doctors and pharma.ceutical companies, while scrutinizing treatments for cost-effectiveness.'" (Kaiser Family Foundation)

Health Care Reform by the Numbers - Factoring in the Argument from Statistics
Excerpt: "An article appearing in the Wall Street Journal yesterday gives context to the frequently cited U.S. health care spending statistics. Consider . . . two widely published observations . . . . Should these points provide impetus for a universal government-run health care system? Would this solution enhance national competitiveness? No, says John Graham, Director of Care Studies at the Pacific Research Institute in the WSJ article, 'The Health Cost Myth' (November 13, 2007)." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)

Opinion: Universal Health Care Would Be a Boon to the Free Market
Excerpt: "Americans were taken in by health insurance industry foils Harry and Louise the first time Clinton offered this country decent health care reform, but they won't be fooled again. If Giuliani wants to make this election a referendum on America's health care system, he's going to flame out faster than a hospital can dump an uninsured patient." (Salt Lake Tribune via Physicians for a National Health Program)


Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Leading Edge Solutions for Leveraging an Aging Workforce (PDF)
32 pages. Excerpt: "Following an introduction to the overriding concerns related to the changing workforce, each section includes a short case study of what an organization has done in this area. These cases are used as the starting point to identify lessons learned and insights from other companies that have tried programs in these areas. The last section draws overall conclusions and recommendations for action." (MetLife Inc.)

Milliman's Monthly Benefit News and Developments, November 2007 (PDF)
2 pages. The newsletter provides a summary of the previous month's legislative, regulatory, and judicial information on employee benefits. (Milliman)

Stock and Option Proportions in Executive Compensation
Excerpt: "There is controversy about the relative merits of stock and options in executive compensation in terms of their efficiency in providing incentives. Some observers contend that stock is the more efficient mechanism for providing the desired incentives, while others reach the opposite conclusion. There is currently no consensus on this point in the literature. This paper proposes a simple model to address this issue. We conclude that there is an important role for both stock and options in the optimal contract. The model indicates that firms with higher volatility should use more options in compensating their executives." (Social Science Research Network)


Newly Posted Events

Annual Legislative Update:Wait Watchers v. the Proposed Cafeteria Plan Regs and the Final Buzz on 403(b) Plans
in Illinois on December 6, 2007
presented by WEB - Chicago West

Hospitals and Convenient Care: The Financial, Legal and Marketplace Landscape
in California on December 6, 2007
presented by Healthcare Web Summit


Newly Posted Press Releases

"Savingsman" PSA Captures National Emmy Award
Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI)

NAVCP Member Medical Advisor Roundtable Consensus Paper Explores Challenge Of Education Consumers On The Value Of Vision Care Plans
National Association of Vision Care Plans (NAVCP)


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Employee Benefits Associate Washington Office
for Morgan, Lewis and Bockius LLP
in DC

Employee Benefit Attorney With at Least 2 Years Experience
for Chang, Ruthenberg & Long PC
in CA

Employee Benefit Attorney With at Least 5 Years Experience
for Chang, Ruthenberg & Long PC
in CA

Employee Benefit Attorney With ESOP Experience
for Chang, Ruthenberg & Long PC
in CA

Plan Document Specialist
for Kravitz - Louis Kravitz & Associates
in ANY STATE, CA

OmniPlus Users
for Casco Bay Benefits Group
in ANY STATE

Regional Compliance Manager
for Transamerica Insurance and Investment Group
in CA

Product and Marketing Manager, TIIG International
for Transamerica Insurance and Investment Group
in CA

Benefits Product Manager - Bradenton - 989119
for Gevity
in FL

Plan Review and Enrollment/Communications Specialist
for Pension Specialists, Inc.
in CA

Defined Contribution Plan Administrator
for Alliance Benefit Group of Michigan, Inc.
in MI

Health and Welfare Analyst
for Affiliated Computer Services - Benefits Administration
in NJ

Data Project Administrator
for Vanguard
in PA

Retirement Compliance Testing Administrator
for Vanguard
in PA




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