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A free monthly newsletter for plan sponsors and employee benefits 
professionals published by The Benefit Services Group, Inc.

Watson Wyatt Health Care Expert Sees Employees as Key to Controlling Benefit Costs
EXCERPT: "Empowering employees to take charge of their health care decisions is a critical step in controlling escalating benefits costs and creating a market-driven healthcare system, according to Joseph Martingale, Watson Wyatt's national leader for health care strategy."
Full Article...
7/2/02—Watson Wyatt Worldwide

California Law Restricts Disclosure of Social Security Numbers
EXCERPT: "The law, which affects any company doing businesses in California, is at the vanguard of legislation to stop identity theft and could affect business practices nationally as well as the development of laws in other states and federal laws."
Full Article...
7/1/02—Computerworld magazine

IRS, Treasury Decree Some Consumer-driven Plans Non-taxable 
EXCERPT: "Officials at the U.S. Treasury Dept. and the IRS today issued guidance that appears to clear the way for more employers to purchase and offer consumer-driven health plans."
Full Article...
6/26/02—Employee Benefit News Adviser

HMO Costs Expected to Rise as Much as Other Plans, Aon Says 
EXCERPT: "Employers will continue to suffer major health plan cost increases in 2003, an Aon survey of major health care providers confirmed this week. In what's become a common finding, HMOs are not immune from the trend. In fact, costs are predicted to increase slightly more for HMOs than for PPO and POS plans."
Full Article...
6/26/02—Employee Benefit News Adviser

Workers Rank Top 10 Benefits
A list of the top benefits according to the United States @ Work Survey of 1,800 employees by Aon Consulting. 
Full Article...
5/23/02—Benefitnews.com Connect (free registration required)

The Employee Benefits World in 2020 is Focus of New Eastbridge Strategy Paper
EXCERPT: "There will be dramatic changes in the employee benefits industry over the next 20 years. The conjunction of shifts in consumer attitudes, employer pressures, technology, and distributor needs will force a restructuring of the industry. Few of the traditional components of the industry will remain the same."
Full Article...
7/5/02—Eastbridge Consulting Group, Inc.

What Must an Employer Sponsoring a Self-funded Health Plan do to Comply With HIPAA's Privacy Rules? 
EXCERPT: "ANSWER: This issue is confusing for many employers, perhaps because employers are not directly regulated by HIPAA's privacy rules. The rules apply to "covered entities," a term that is defined to mean health plans (including insurers), health care clearinghouses, and most health care providers. However, the privacy rules also govern the flow of protected health information (PHI) from a covered entity to an employer that is the plan sponsor."
Full Article...
6/27/02—EBIA Weekly

The Cost Benefit of Worksite Wellness 

EXCERPT "Today, more than 81% of America’s businesses with 50 or more employees have some form of health promotion program the most popular being exercise, stop-smoking classes, back care programs, and stress management. Most employers offer wellness programs simply because they think the benefit is worth the cost. Yet business leaders continue to ask themselves how to control huge annual increases in health insurance premiums and health care costs. 

For many companies, medical costs can consume half of corporate profits or more. Some employers look to cost sharing, cost shifting, managed care plans, risk rating, and cash-based rebates or incentives. But these methods merely shift costs. Only worksite health promotion stands out as the long-term answer for keeping employees well in the first place.

Worksite wellness is health care reform that works. Results from America’s finest companies, summarized, are reason enough to think about an investment in your most important asset--your employees and the impact this investment can have on your bottom line.

Providence Everett Medical Center, a member of the Wellness Councils of America, in Everett, Washington, saved an estimated 3 million or a cost-benefit ratio of 1 to 3.8 over 9 years of an outcomes-based employee health benefit program called the Wellness Challenge®.  By offering financial incentives ($250 - $325) to employees who meet specific organizational and employee health initiatives the program continues to meet cost containment expectations in the area of healthcare use, sick time, injuries, while improving health habits and self-care practices. During the first 4 years of the program there was a 28% average reduction in healthcare utilization compared to nine other Providence hospitals that were used as a control group."

Full article including additional results from specific companies...
From: The Wellness Councils of America (WELCOA) 

By providing links to other sites, The Benefit Services Group, Inc. does not guarantee, approve or endorse the information or products available at these sites, nor does a link indicate any association with or endorsement by the linked site to The Benefit Services Group, Inc.

The preceding is not intended to be and is not offered as legal advice. We are prohibited from the practice of law. Compliance is the responsibility of the employer or Plan sponsor and affected employees, who should seek their own legal counsel regarding questions about information presented in this newsletter.

PlanAhead Direct is a monthly newsletter provided free of charge to select BSG® client representatives and associates. View and search back issues at www.bsg.com/news/index.htm. 

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