Medical Benefits articles from April 2004

Medical Benefits archives from April 2004

New reality. New choices. Ninth annual survey report 2004.(Workplace Health & Benefits)
April 30, 2004... National Business Group on Health and Watson Wyatt, March 18, 2004 "The rate of health care benefit cost increases slowed from a median 13% increase in 2003 to 12% in 2004. Costs increasing at this magnitude would double in a mere six...

Survey confirms growing interest in captive insurers.(Workplace Health & Benefits)
April 30, 2004... Towers Perrin, Monitor, March 2004 "While large employers have built-in advantages when it comes to using captives, some companies in the United States and elsewhere that are not giant conglomerates are exploring the idea. In the future,...

Depression in the workplace.(Workplace Health & Benefits)
April 30, 2004... University of Michigan Depression Center, March 22, 2004 "Although corporate America believes it is effectively addressing depression in the workplace, only 41% of employees feel they can acknowledge their illness and still get ahead in...

Lost-worktime injuries and illnesses: characteristics and resulting time away from work, 2002.(Workplace Health & Benefits)
April 30, 2004... US Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 25, 2004 "A total of 1.4 million injuries and illnesses in private industry required recuperation away from work beyond the day of the incident. There were over 1,000,000 cases of injuries and...

Are medical guidelines effective tools? It depends on the goal.(Health Care Costs)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2004... Integrated Benefits Institute, February 2004 "An effective disease management program has the potential to reduce both the medical and lost-time costs for an employer. Incorrect medical treatment may produce medical results that are...

The disability and health care connection: how strong is the link?(Health Care Costs)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2004... CIGNA, March 15, 2004 "Can a tighter linkage between disability and health care programs help address the rising overall costs and loss of productivity that companies are experiencing in their benefits programs? The answer is a...

Increasing obesity rates and disability trends.(Health Care Costs)
April 30, 2004... Roland Sturm et al., Health Affairs, March/April, 2004 "Among Americans ages 50-69, the prevalence of severe obesity increased six percentage points between 1985 and 2000. Severely obese older people are more than twice as likely as...

100 top hospitals: performance improvement leaders.(Health Care Industry)
April 30, 2004... Solucient, March 15, 2004 Editor's note: Solucient, a health care information provider based in Chicago, Ill., has been ranking the 100 Top Hospitals since 1993. This year, for the first time, they recognize hospital CEOs and senior...

Catholic group could not prove exemption from birth control coverage.(Legal Pulse)(Women's Contraceptive Equity Act tested in California)
April 30, 2004... In California, the Women's Contraceptive Equity Act (WCEA) was put into place to eliminate gender discrimination in health care benefits and to improve access to prescription contraceptives. The Act does not require employers to provide...

Private letter ruling allows tax deduction for cosmetic surgery.(Legal Pulse)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2004... Cosmetic surgery is usually treated as elective. This means it is usually not covered by a medical benefits plan and is not treated as a tax-deductible medical expense by the IRS. However, one taxpayer convinced the IRS to allow a tax...

HHS gives seal of approval to medicare drug discount cards.(Legal Pulse)
April 30, 2004... The US Department of Health and Human Services has approved 28 private sponsors to provide seniors and people with disabilities savings on their prescription drugs. All Medicare beneficiaries, except those who already receive outpatient drugs...

Learning from malpractice claims about negligent, adverse events in primary care in the United States.(Health Care Industry)
April 30, 2004... Robert L. Phillips, Jr., MD, et al., Quality and Safety in Health Care, April 2004 "Malpractice claims can help identify where primary health care in the United States is prone to go awry. With limitations, reports of these claims could...

Six million people have bought prescription drugs online.(Health Care Industry)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2004... Wall Street Journal Online/Harris Interactive HealthCare Poll, March 23, 2004 With prescription drugs available online and being sold aggressively through e-mail advertising, most of the six million US adults who have purchased them...

Nation's health at risk.(Health Care Policy)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2004... National Association of Community Health Centers, March 23, 2004 Thirty-six million Americans do not have access to basic health care. Texas was the state with the highest medically unserved population in the United States, followed by...

The affordability crisis in US health care: findings from the Commonwealth fund biennial health insurance survey.(Health Care Policy)
April 30, 2004... Sara R. Collins, et al., The Commonwealth Fund, March 2004 "Among the insured and the uninsured alike, there is concern that health care security in the United States is eroding. People are experiencing reductions in insurance coverage...

MB stat.(Brief Article)
April 30, 2004... Actual Causes of Death, United States, 2000, as a Percentage of All Deaths Actual causes of death are defined as lifestyle and behavioral factors such as smoking and physical inactivity that contribute to this nation's leading...

Reference desk.
April 30, 2004... Understanding Medicare The series from Blue Cross Blue Shield on understanding changes to Medicare continues with updates on Medigap coverage, existing low-income drug coverage, access to generic drugs, and health savings accounts. ...

National health care trend survey: eleventh survey, first half 2004.(Health Care Costs)
April 15, 2004... "Most trend factors changed slightly since [our] prior survey. All medical factors decreased from the prior survey with the exception of health maintenance organizations (HMOs), which stayed the same. Medical trend factors have dropped...

Health care costs humbling even the biggest buyers.(Health Care Costs)
April 15, 2004... "It wasn't very long ago that the 1.2 million members of the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) enjoyed a profusion of choices among health maintenance organizations (HMOs). As recently as 1997, the huge pension fund...

Lack of prescription coverage among the under 65: a symptom of underinsurance.(Health Care Costs)
April 15, 2004... "In 2001, 9% of the nonelderly adult population--an estimated 14 million people--were insured but lacked prescription drug coverage, while 15% of this population lacked health insurance altogether. While 76% of nonelderly adults were insured...

Almost a third of Americans say paying for drugs is a problem in their families.(Health Care Costs)(Brief Article)
April 15, 2004... "Most Americans either take prescription drugs or someone in their family does. Of those, 33% said their families have trouble paying at times. For people having trouble paying their medicine bills, three-fourths say the solution often is to...

Captives gain favor as benefits funding tool.(Workplace Health & Benefits)(insurance companies providing better services)
April 15, 2004... "A captive is an insurance company formed by a corporation to essentially self-fund insurance risk associated with benefit plans. The captive allows the company to assume risk that it believes it can manage more cost-effectively than by...

The positive impact of consumerism on health care decisions.(Workplace Health & Benefits)
April 15, 2004... "Preliminary results of a study of nearly 14,000 members of Aetna HealthFund shows that the consumer-directed aspects of the plan appear to be encouraging more active engagement in health care decision-making. Notably, medical costs for...

Vast majority of employees work while sick.(Workplace Health & Benefits)(Brief Article)
April 15, 2004... "Some 77% of employees report going to work while sick. When asked whether they worked while sick, employees responded [as follows]: * 33%: Yes, because my workload makes it too difficult to take off. * 26%: Yes, because it feels...

Private health insurance: employers and individuals are vulnerable to bogus or unauthorized entities selling coverage.(Health Care Industry)
April 15, 2004... "Health insurance premiums have increased at double-digit rates over the past few years. While searching for affordable options, some employers and individuals have purchased coverage from certain entities that are not authorized by state...

Employee receives election notice, but no one is home.(Legal Pulse)(Western Auto Supply Co.)(Brief Article)
April 15, 2004... A few days after resigning his job, a young man learned that he was suffering from an acute leukemia relapse. His family took him directly to a special hospital several states away, and remained there with him until his death a few months...

Employee left off benefits, gets no COBRA.(Legal Pulse)(Arena U.S. Healthcare, Inc.)(Brief Article)
April 15, 2004... A man applied for his employer's medical benefit plan, sending all the appropriate paperwork to the benefits administrator. However, for some reason, the information was never entered into the system and he was not put on the benefits plan....

CMS will match state costs for disease management programs.(Legal Pulse)(Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services)(Brief Article)
April 15, 2004... The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services urged states to adopt programs to help those with chronic illnesses better manage their diseases. In a February letter to state Medicaid officials, the agency announced it would match state costs...

HIPAA-compliant Medicare claims will have priority in payments.(Legal Pulse)(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)(Brief Article)
April 15, 2004... Effective July 1, 2004, Medicare is modifying its Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) contingency plan. The modification continues to allow submission of noncompliant electronic claims. However, the payment of...

Six Sigma enters the health care mainstream.(Health Care Industry)(Brief Article)(Reprint)
April 15, 2004... "The Institute of Medicine (IOM) report on medical errors challenges health care providers to improve current process, and argues that the industry must take a fundamental look at the way it provides care across the continuum, acknowledging...

Financial pressures spur physician entrepreneurialism.(Health Care Industry)(Reprint)
April 15, 2004... "Physicians and medical groups have long sought revenue beyond that gained from providing traditional professional services. For decades they have participated in pharmaceutical trials and invested in specialty care facilities as established...

Calories count: report of the working group on obesity.(Health Care Policy)
April 15, 2004... "The problem of obesity has no single cause. Rather, it is the result of numerous factors acting together over time. Similarly, there will be no single solution; obesity will be brought under control only as a result of numerous coordinated,...

National healthcare disparities report.(Health Care Policy)
April 15, 2004... Editor's Note: An edited version of this report was released in December 2003. Allegations were made that the edited version downplayed serious issues. Along with the release of this version, Carolyn Clancy, AHRQ director, released a letter...

MB stat.
April 15, 2004... Percentage of Americans Who Feel That Their Employee Benefits Package Covers the Needs of Themselves and Their Families, 2003 [GRAPHICS OMITTED] Percentage of Americans Who Feel That the Benefits Communications They Receive From...

Healthcare @Work: fourth edition summary.(Reference Desk)
April 15, 2004... The workforce shortage in the healthcare field continues. The challenges have been identified and finding both long-term and short-term solutions to the problem is a top priority for all healthcare leaders. A variety of healthcare...

Consumer choice health care: reports from the field.(Reference Desk)
April 15, 2004... The consumer choice health care movement is reaching its stride as the new products mature and reach further into the mainstream market. Early results are very encouraging. The vendors presenting at a February 2004 Galen's briefing all showed...

Testimony of Consumers Union on consumer-driven health care.(Reference Desk)(Brief Article)
April 15, 2004... So-called "consumer-driven" health care plans, which have defining features of high-deductible coverage and (possibly) tax-advantaged employer contributions to health reimbursement or savings accounts, may create serious problems for the US...