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

Over-the-Counter Drugs To Be Covered by Health Care Flexible Spending Accounts
EXCERPT: "The Treasury Department and the IRS announced over-the-counter drugs can be paid for with pre-tax dollars through health care flexible spending accounts. Treasury and IRS issued guidance clarifying that reimbursements for nonprescription drugs by an employer health plan are excluded from income. Thus, reimbursements by health flexible spending arrangements (FSAs) and other employer health plans for the cost of over-the-counter drugs available without prescription are not subject to tax if properly substantiated by the employee."
Full Article
September 3, 2003—Internal Revenue Service

Employer Health Benefits: 2003 Summary of Findings
EXCERPT: "Employer-sponsored health benefits reach nearly three out of every five Americans. To provide current information about the nature of employer-provided health benefits, The Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust conduct an annual national survey of employers of all sizes. This year's survey reports that despite another year of double-digit premium growth, employers continue to offer health benefits to their workers at the same rate as last year, with few reducing benefits."
Full Article
September 9, 2003—The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation

Consumer Choice Health Plans Popular with Workers, Businesses
EXCERPT: "Even though most Americans are happy with their current employer-sponsored health insurance, nearly half said they would consider switching to a new consumer choice health plan if given a chance. More than half of the businesses asked said they either currently give their employees that chance, or intend to offer it to them sometime in the next five years."
Full Article
September 9, 2003—Health Insurance Association of America 

Employers Embrace Disease Management to Control Costs, Improve Quality
EXCERPT: "Lacking other tools to control costs, more employers are turning to disease management programs in hopes of slowing double-digit health insurance premium increases. Disease management programs typically focus on patients with chronic conditions, such as asthma or diabetes, where practitioners' adherence to evidence-based treatment guidelines and patient self-care and compliance are important to managing the conditions."
Full Article
October 8, 2003—Center for Studying Health System Change 

Milliman USA recently developed a "hospital performance report" system that can provide commercial group health care purchasers and hospitals quality, fee-related, and efficiency measures for their specific metropolitan area.

Using this "hospital performance report" system, Milliman created the Milwaukee Area Hospital Performance Report for Milwaukee area employers and health care providers.

Information contained in the report, along with Milliman's underlying actuarial and clinical tools and methodologies, can be used to:

• Support performance comparisons of individual hospitals and hospital systems
• Evaluate your own claims experience and provider networks and develop proactive contracting strategies,
• Compare the performance of hospitals in your area to the performance of hospitals in other areas (e.g. Milwaukee),
• Support consumer choice initiatives, and
• Gain a better understanding of how reimbursement from government programs affects hospital fees in the commercial market.

For more information on the report and to request a copy, visit the Milliman Web site.

To read news articles about the hospital report, see: Area hospital fees vary little, study finds by Joe Manning of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; and Going prices by Jason Gertzen of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

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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Copyright 2003 The Benefit Services Group, Inc. BSG® is a registered trademark of The Benefit Services Group, Inc.

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