Archive for the ‘Health Care Reform’ Category

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is aiming to release its long-awaited (and consolidated) Final Rule on the HIPAA privacy and security rules by the end of 2011, it was announced by Susan McAndrew, deputy director in the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR). The revamped regulations for the privacy and security rules [...]

The law that President Obama signed this month to eliminate 1099 reporting under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) also eliminated the "Free Choice Voucher" component of the health care act. Free Choice Vouchers were to be made available to employees who earned less than 400 percent of the poverty line and whose [...]

Congress has passed and President Obama has signed legislation to repeal a much-loathed provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) that would have required the issuance of an IRS form 1099 for every expenditure of $600 or more. The mandate would have kicked in on Jan. 1, 2012, but HR4 amended PPACA [...]

The Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Treasury keep extending the compliance deadline of a provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) affecting non-grandfathered health insurance plans. PPACA originally set the deadline for Jan. 1, 2011, but before that date even rolled around, it was extended to July 1, 2011. [...]

The Employee Benefit Security Administration (EBSA) will hold public hearings on April 6 to discuss the automatic enrollment provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). PPACA inserts a provision in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requiring businesses with 200 or more employees to automatically enroll all employees into a health plan, [...]

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), despite a health industry outcry, has forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a proposed rule allowing patients to request information about the disclosure of their protected health information (PHI). An OMB review can take anywhere from one to 90 days to complete. After that, [...]

On Super Sunday, Feb. 6, 2011, the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) marked its two-year anniversary, having been signed into law on the same day in 2009 by President Obama. To mark the moment, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sibelius noted that since CHIPRA's signing, more than 42 million children had [...]

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has granted Affordable Care Act (ACA) waivers to 500 more entities, most of which are offering so-called mini-med plans with limited health care coverage, to tide them over until the state-run health insurance exchanges kick in starting in 2014. The 500 new waivers are in addition to [...]

Released on Nov. 9, 2010, final regulations for the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) take effect today, Jan. 10, 2011, after a 60-day implementation period. GINA prohibits employers from–in most cases–obtaining genetic information about any employee or family member of the employee, but it does provide certain safe harbor protections if the information is obtained [...]

Commencing Jan. 1, 2011, a provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was set to prohibit companies from offering more expensive health insurance plans to top executives, armed with a fine of $100 per day for each such highly insured executive. Previously, this requirement had applied only to self-insured plans, but come [...]