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February 7, 2012 Get Retirement News  |  Advertise  |  Unsubscribe  |  Past Issues  |  Search

Employee Benefits Jobs

Trust Operations Specialist
for Verisight, Inc in CA

Senior Consultant, Account Management
for Milliman in TX

Participant Services Specialist
for Summit Retirement Plan Services/Tegrit Group in OH

Benefits Administrator
for Summit Retirement Plan Services/Tegrit Group in OH

Retirement Plan Consultant
for Sentinel Benefits & Financial Group in NY

Retirement Plan Consultant
for Fiduciary Partners Retirement Group, Inc. in FL

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Webcasts and Conferences

"Practical Guide to Plan Fee Disclosures" - A 3-part Web Seminar
Nationwide on February 28, 2012 presented by SunGard Relius

Creative 401(k) Testing Techniques Webcast
Nationwide on February 14, 2012 presented by American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries (ASPPA)

Finally Final 408(b)(2) Regulations Webcast
Nationwide on February 22, 2012 presented by American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries (ASPPA)

Form W-2 and Employer-Sponsored Health Coverage: New Guidance Addresses Important Compliance Aspects
Nationwide on February 2, 2012 presented by Thomson Reuters / EBIA

Getting to the Right Target
in California on February 16, 2012 presented by Western Pension & Benefits Conference - Orange County Chapter


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First HIPAA Enforcement Action Against a Business Associate (and the Plot Thickens with Transparency Demands)
"On Jan. 19, 2012, in the wake of the theft of an unencrypted laptop computer containing approximately 23,500 patients' records, the Minnesota attorney general brought the first formal enforcement action against a business associate, Accretive Health, Inc., for an alleged violation under [HIPAA], using her authority under the [HITECH] Act. Additionally, the attorney general appears deeply unsettled by the amount of information that Accretive Health collected about patients without the patients' knowledge, alleging that this lack of transparency represents deceptive and fraudulent practices under Minnesota law." (Davis Wright Tremaine LLP)


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Employers and the Exchanges under the Small Business Health Options Program: Examining the Potential and the Pitfalls
"To attract employers, the exchanges must be able to keep costs affordable and limit the burden posed by the insurance process; perform administrative functions; manage enrollment periods; and, perhaps most important, protect against 'adverse selection,' which would lead to a disproportionate number of sicker individuals in the exchanges." (The Commonwealth Fund)

The Income Divide in Health Care: How the Affordable Care Act Will Help Restore Fairness to the U.S. Health System
"[The survey] of U.S. Adults finds nearly three of five adults in families earning less than 133 percent of the federal poverty level were uninsured for a time in 2011; two of five were uninsured for one or more years." (The Commonwealth Fund)

Health Care Innovation in the Context of Rising Health Care Costs
"AHIP's President and CEO Karen Ignagni gave [this] presentation on health care costs and innovation to the 9th Annual Healthcare Conference at Harvard Business School on [February 4, 2012]." (America's Health Insurance Plans)

Aging Workforce Values Vision Benefit, Doesn't Use It Fully
"[According to results from the annual Employee Perceptions of Vision Benefits survey] Baby Boomers (ages 45 to 64) were only slightly more likely than younger employees to enroll in their vision benefit (79 percent vs. 75 percent)." (Society for Human Resource Management)

Less than Half of Employers Ready to Distribute Health Care Reform Summary of Benefits & Coverage Materials
"Key findings show that while 81% of employers plan to update their SPDs for plan design and Affordable Care Act (ACA) changes this year, they continue to wrestle with cost containment and resource strain for the implementation and review process required to execute SPD changes." (HighRoads)

Using the Whole-Family Approach for Multiple Generations of Employee Families to Encourage Healthy Lifestyles
"Some companies are encouraging multiple generations of employee families — from grandparents to grandchildren — to embrace healthy lifestyles. While most programs target employees' children, they are more of a strategic business decision than a warm and fuzzy benefit." (Human Resource Executive Online)

[Opinion]
A Discussion on Health Care Costs, Payers and Policy
Uwe Reinhardt writes: "A second major factor accounting for high health spending per capita in the United States is the significantly higher prices Americans pay for virtually all health care services and products. My thesis on this issue . . . is that these much higher prices are the product of a deliberate strategy, hashed out in our political bazaars between the supply side of health care and state and federal legislators, always to keep the payment side of our health system fragmented and relatively weak vis à vis the supply side of health care." (Physicians for a National Health Program)

Benefits in General; Executive Compensation

Golden Parachutes Appear to Be Losing Their Luster
"A new report suggests that corporate boards of directors are becoming increasingly wary of so-called 'golden parachute,' that is, change in control severance agreements." (Workforce)

ISS Issues FAQs on 2012 U.S. Voting Policies
"A new set of [FAQs] from Institutional Shareholder Services . . . clarifies its 2012 proxy-voting guidelines on pay-for-performance assessments, say-on-pay responsiveness and equity plans. The FAQs supplement ISS's white paper explaining the proxy adviser's quantitative and qualitative approach to identifying pay-for-performance disconnects. The updated guidelines apply for shareholder meetings on or after Feb. 1." (Mercer)

Benefits Best Practices from the Principal 10 Best Companies, 2011 (PDF)
"The Principal 10 Best Companies for Employee Financial Security is a best practices guide that uses real-world examples to illustrate how middle-market employers can maintain benefits, attract and retain employees, manage costs and much more." (Principal Financial Services, Inc.)

IRS's Updated Version of Taxable Fringe Benefit Guide
"This publication offers helpful insight into the IRS's views regarding the taxation, withholding, and reporting requirements for many fringe benefits. And unlike many other IRS summaries, it includes citations to statutes, regulations, cases, and guidance that make it useful as a gateway reference." (Thomson Reuters/EBIA)

Press Releases



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