Employer Strategies

Health care is a highly regulated industry, but medical imaging isn't as regulated as one might expect. Most of the regulations center around breast imaging, which was recognized nearly two decades ago as an area that needed to be standardized and regulated at the federal level.

Electronic prescriptions among U.S. office-based prescribers increased 71% to 326 million in 2010, compared with 190 million the previous year, according to an annual progress report from e-prescribing network vendor Surescripts.

American Westbrook Insurance Services, LLC, a subsidiary of Hendricks Holding Company, Inc., has acquired substantially all of the assets of The American Worker Plans, Inc., expanding the services available through its benefit wholesale division.

GreenWood International Insurance Services, Inc., a Massachusetts based managing general underwriter, announced they have been acquired by Pan-American Life Insurance Group, a leading provider of life and health insurance in Latin America and the U.S. Hispanic market.

Most states likely will run their own medical insurance marketplaces or partner with neighbors to help expand coverage under the federal health overhaul, U.S. Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said on Wednesday.

The annual Milliman Medical Index (MMI) contains some grim tidings for health insurers and others concerned by the rising cost of health care, as for the fourth straight year, costs rose by at least 7%.

AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company has introduced a structured investment option for its EQUI-VEST® series of variable deferred annuities available to employer-sponsored retirement savings plans.

The future of the investment advisory industry depends on reducing the cost of doing business, said Mark Casady, Chairman and CEO of LPL Financial, in the opening keynote at the Money Management Institute’s 2011 annual convention, held last week in Boston.

Employers seem to be especially challenged by the duty to accommodate religious beliefs, and the EEOC appears to be particularly interested in pursuing enforcement of the accommodation requirement.

Ternian Insurance Group has introduced HealthBasic, a limited medical plan for small employers with as few as five lives. The plan features different levels of coverage for different classes of employees: a mid-level plan for owners and two affordable limited medical plans for salaried and hourly employees.