Tag: benefits

Make Accountability a Normal Part of Your Business Success Plan

By Lee Ellis What’s the one thing that can make or break your chance to move ahead and achieve your personal professional goals? When I tell you, you’re not going to like it. It’s too time-consuming. Too intrusive. Too–dare I say it?—moralistic.

Feds Crack Down on Mandatory Flu Shot Policies

With flu season upon us, employers may be tempted to require that employees receive a flu shot. After all, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that the flu costs employers about $10 billion each year in healthcare costs. And receiving the shot can drastically reduce an individual’s risk of contracting the flu, […]

No HIPAA Exception for Cybersecurity Information Sharing, HHS Warns

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act’s (HIPAA’s) privacy rule does not exempt the sharing of information on cyber threat indicators, so HIPAA-covered entities and their business associates may not share protected health information (PHI) for this purpose unless HIPAA otherwise allows it, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) warned recently.

COBRA

Court Recasts ERISA/Tax Claim Under PHSA, Allowing COBRA Notice Case to Proceed

By Gwen Cofield Governmental employers and the benefit plans they sponsor are generally exempt from the Employee Retirement Income Security Act’s (ERISA) Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) provisions but are still required to offer COBRA coverage to qualified beneficiaries under the Public Health Service Act (PHSA).

OCR to Take Closer Look at Smaller HIPAA Breaches

Most Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) enforcement has focused on the larger breaches of protected health information (PHI). But the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has not forgotten those incidents that fall below the “major” threshold of 500 individuals.