Banco Popular de Puerto Rico

We're glad it's over, but EBN's staff truly enjoyed bringing you coverage of the Supreme Court PPACA hearings from our own D.C. backyard, right alongside the national network media. In case you missed anything, here’s a brief wrap-up/rundown of our news and analysis.

Comparing one group’s health claims to another’s is touted as one way to zero in on cost-saving opportunities. The problem, guest blogger Linda K. Riddell notes, is that benchmarking can hide more cost-cutting opportunities than it shows.

The Chamber of Commerce Hiring Our Heroes program reminds employers to take some time to (re)focus their attention on the issue of veteran unemployment, something that — unlike the eventual outcome of this week’s Supreme Court hearings — HR/benefits pros actually have a significant amount of influence over.

According to a new survey from Workplace Options, 92% of young workers say that offering access to the latest technology makes employers more attractive than their competition, and 16% indicated that, regardless of compensation, they would quit their job if they did not have access to the latest tech gear.

Knowing a person’s annual salary tells you more about his health than you may realize. And unlike much other health-related data, salary information is readily available to employers and not considered “sensitive.”

If an employee at your company — regardless of whether you sell derivatives or donuts — thinks that true leadership is lacking and that sincere customer/client service isn’t its first priority, you’ve got big problems with culture and employee communication.

The Department of Health and Human Services announced Tuesday that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee agreed to pay the agency $1.5 million to settle a potential HIPAA violation — the first resulting from a breach under the HITECH Act’s breach notification rule. So, obviously you’ve heard about this a million times already on CNN and other news outlets, right? Yeah, didn’t think so.

Spending time and energy on wellness generally is cast as a long-term strategy with long term results. But not every group has long term health issues. And most groups would be better served by focusing on short-term problems.

According to research, HR professionals who rated college students’ employability based only on the students’ Facebook pages were able to draw fairly accurate conclusions about the students' future job performance.

The Employee Benefit Research Institute finds that in 2009, people with long-term care coverage had a median total household spending of $47,392, compared to those without LTC insurance, who spent $32,048. In individual categories, the differences are particularly large in health, entertainment and other spending. Perhaps LTC buyers think, “Hey, I’ve done a good job saving/preparing for long-term care expenses; why not take that extra vacation?”