Health and wellness

Called the ‘Swiss Army knife’ of its kind, a vendor management system from Sonic Boom aims to streamline wellness incentive administration.

Eighty-three percent of 800 large and mid-size American employers — representing more than 7 million workers — now use some form of incentive to get employees more aware of their health status, Aon Hewitt polls show.

This week marks the third anniversary of President Barack Obama signing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. As benefits professionals look toward the law’s full implementation next year, here is a quick look at important dates for PPACA past and future.

40% of employers anticipate that their company’s wellness budget will increase in the near future, a recent OptumHealth shows — and many are finding quick, easy ways to incorporate healthy living into the work day.

Diabetes medications are multibillion-dollar drugs and the percentage of Americans diagnosed with the disease continues to grow, but there is evidence that major pharmaceuticals are causing pre-cancerous changes.

Targeting specific demographics will be critical to 2013 open enrollment communications, says Univers’ Dani McCauley. McCauley tells EBN that employers will face a challenging landscape this year communicating health care reform and other benefits changes.

An analysis of seven previous studies showed the beverages appeared to disturb the heart’s natural rhythm, which over time may lead to an irregular heartbeat or death and raise blood pressure.

Communicating ahead of open enrollment is both a broader and a more specific challenge in a post-health care reform world. One expert at Univers talks about how she is prepping her clients and tips for how employers should plan.

New legislation was issued last night in the Senate that would remove broker compensation from the MLR calculation.

A rising number of injuries linked to robotic surgery has been reported to Massachusetts health officials, spurring the state to call for better oversight on training and more disclosure to patients on potential risks.

About 2% of American school children were diagnosed with autism disorders in 2011 and 2012, a 72 percent increase from the previous five years, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Caffeine levels should be reduced in energy drinks because of health risks, particularly to children, doctors wrote the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Funding for Alzheimer’s has lagged behind other medical issues, advocates say, and the disease is now the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States. Without breakthroughs, the number of those affected aged 65 and older will double by 2050.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg called for legislation to make New York the first U.S. city to require stores to conceal tobacco products, a week after a court struck down his ban on the sale of large sugary beverages.

A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction on PPACA’s contraception requirement, saying an employer’s First Amendment rights could be irreparably harmed if the mandate was enforced while a lawsuit was pending.

Despite the progress made through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on health care access, there are challenges to come from health reform, said Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wisc.) Thursday at the AHIP National Policy Forum in Washington.

Governors who refuse to expand their Medicaid programs for the poor may cost employers in their states as much as $1.3 billion in federal fines, according to a new study.

Most brokers who plan to stay in the industry in 2014 are learning to embrace the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. But as two health policy minds from opposite sides of the political spectrum discussed Wednesday at America’s Health Insurance Plans conference in Washington, unknown effects of PPACA and rising costs of health care should still be on the minds of carriers and brokers alike.

The MLR regulations under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act are misguided, according to AHIP attendees. An engaged crowd at Wednesday’s America’s Health Insurance Plans conference in Washington listened to a panel dissect this issue from what the speakers said were unfounded claims of carrier profitability by the government, to the restrictions placed on innovation as a result of high ratio requirements.

The number of employers offering a sponsored retirement plan slightly increased in 2012 from four years prior, while matches and employer contributions remained near constant, according to a survey released today by WorldatWork and the American Benefits Institute.