Webinar Download - Wellness: Effective Benefit Design, Incentive and Communications Strategies

March 2, 2007 - Precept

An effective wellness strategy can improve the health status of employees, reduce medical costs, and create a culture of good health that attracts and retains employees. This presentation will make the business case for wellness, including the costs and impact of unhealthy employees, and demonstrate how implementing health improvement programs can decrease these costs and change behaviors. You’ll also learn about effective benefit design, communication and incentive strategies needed to motivate employees to make lifestyle changes.

Communication CMS Issues New Guidance and Model Notices for Medicare Part D Creditable Coverage Disclosure

February, 2007 - National Association of Insurance Commissioners

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued updated guidance on the disclosure of creditable coverage to Medicare Part D eligible individuals. Creditable coverage notices can now be provided electronically under the new guidance, following the electronic disclosure requirements. CMS also issued new model notices that must be used after February 15, 2007. The guidance and model notices, in English and Spanish, are available on the CMS Web site.

Note to clients: If BSG^® has prepared your Part D notices previously, please be aware we are sending you revised ones to use.

Insure U - Insurance Information in Spanish/English for Employers and Participants

March, 2007 - National Association of Insurance Commissioners

Employers with many Spanish-speaking workers may want to take note of a new resource on benefits and insurance topics. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners recently launched a new Spanish/English Web site. Insure U is organized according to life stage to help consumers get information about insurance and understand their evolving needs. The portal is available in Spanish and English

Harvard Study Endorses Value-Based Insurance Design

March, 2007 - Managed Care Magazine

"Insurers that charge higher copayments for less-useful treatments could improve care and save money, says a new study by Michael E. Chernew, PhD, a professor of health care policy at Harvard University. Chernew and colleagues propose an approach in which copayment rates are based on the value of clinical services (benefits and costs) — not just costs. Dubbed value-based insurance design (VBID), the approach still uses a form of cost sharing, but a clinically sensitive perspective is explicitly adopted to mitigate the adverse health consequences of high out-of-pocket spending."