Happy National Employee Benefits Day

David Ermer–Uncategorized–

I thought that Hallmark created all of the new holidays, but it turns out that the International Foundation of Employee Benefits Plan has created National Employee Benefits Day which is celebrated today. The focus of the 2010 NEBD is promoting wellness in the workforce. And, as we know, OPM shares that goal.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has created a web service called the CMS Dashboard which “offers statistical views of the Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) data as it relates to claims payment and volume as collected by CMS. The data contained in this beta version is current as of March, 2010, for inpatient discharges from January, 2006, to December, 2009.”
America’s Health Insurance Plans has released a publicly available tool “for health care companies to assess their organizations’ approaches to ensuring that communication with patients promotes consumer engagement, and to advance their health literacy programs.” According to AHIP’s press release,  

Developed by Emory University researcher and highly respected health literacy expert Dr. Julie Gazmararian, the tool addresses the work of all departments and professionals in health plans that touch consumers via the written word, the spoken word, or the world-wide web.  It includes five sections that assess printed information for members, web navigation, member services/verbal communication, forms, and nurse call lines.  It evaluates policies, procedures, and training of professionals in clear health communication.