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Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter October 31, 2019 |
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Webcasts, Conferences Employee Releases in ERISA Disputes: Minimizing Claims With Effective Release Provisions
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Discussions |
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This Newsletter:
BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter:
Message Boards Digest:
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[Guidance Overview]
HHS Rescinds HIPAA Health Plan Identifier (HPID) Rules "Following issuance of its final regulations, HHS will deactivate each HPID and OEID record in the 'Health Plan and Other Entity Enumeration System' (HPOES) (that is, the system for assigning and managing identifiers) on behalf of adopting entities.... The entities will not need to carry out deactivation themselves."
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[Sponsored]
Recognizing and Addressing COBRA
Dec. 10 webinar will cover the legislative rationale that underlies COBRA continuation coverage as well as the nuts and bolts of compliance. BenefitsLink discount. |
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LTD Claim Denial Subject to Stricter Standard of Review Due to Untimely Decision "The Seventh Circuit explained that the statutory deadline imposes a 'hard stop,' and that 'in no event' may the deadline be extended beyond a specified number of days. Although the Seventh Circuit noted that the substantial compliance doctrine may apply to other aspects of claims processing, it does not apply to missed deadlines because 'substantial compliance with a deadline requiring strict compliance is a contradiction in terms.' " [Fessenden v. Reliance Standard Life Ins. Co., No. 18-1346 (7th Cir. Jun. 25, 2019)]
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Westchester County's Safe Time Leave Has Arrived "The Westchester County Safe Time Leave Law [took effect on] October 30, 2019. Starting on January 28, 2020, employers must begin providing eligible new hires with a copy of the law and written notice, which is intended to explain how the law applies to them. Employers have until January 28, 2020 to provide a copy of the law and written notice to eligible current employees."
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Study Finds Dramatic Increase in Antidepressant Use by Individuals with Employer-Sponsored Insurance "Antidepressant use increased 45 percent from 2009 to 2017 among individuals with employer-sponsored health insurance and a mood disorder diagnosis ... [A]mong people diagnosed with a mood disorder, antidepressant days supplied per person increased from 148 (almost five months) in 2009 to 215 (about seven months) in 2017, a 45 percent increase."
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Social Determinants of Health: Using Consumer Insights to Move from Why to How (PDF) "Social determinants of health (SDoH), or the non-medical factors that impact one's ultimate health, are at the center of a host of policies and initiatives coming out of state and local governments, health systems and health plans, and even the commercial sector."
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[Sponsored]
Reach the right candidate for your company's job opening!
Put your job ad in front of our 24,000+ newsletter readers and on our web site -- the employee benefits community's job board for over 20 years. |
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Lawmakers Introduce Bipartisan Measure to Expand Medicare Coverage for Telehealth "The proposed legislation ... provides new authority for [HHS] to waive telehealth restrictions when necessary and to remove geographic and originating site restrictions for services like mental health and emergency medical care. The bill also improves the process of adding telehealth to approved services lists and adds rural health clinics and federally-qualified health centers to the list of approved telehealth sites."
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[Opinion]
A Major Threat to Our Economy: Health Care Spending "[R]ising health insurance premiums caused earnings to decline between 1999 and 2015 for workers in the bottom 40 percentiles of earnings.... In virtually every other sector of the economy, innovation gives us more for our money ... Applying those same forces to health spending would put downward pressure on prices while preserving quality."
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Press Releases |
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Florida United Methodist Foundation is Certified for Fiduciary Excellence
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Most Popular Items in the Previous Issue |
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California's New FSA Claims Submission Deadline Notice Requirement
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Notifying California Employees of the Deadline for Using Flexible Spending Account Funds
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David Rhett Baker, J.D., Editor and Publisher
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BenefitsLink Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter, ISSN no. 1536-9595. Copyright 2019 BenefitsLink.com, Inc. All materials contained in this newsletter are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of BenefitsLink.com, Inc., or in the case of third party materials, the owner of those materials. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notices from copies of the content.
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