Expert Compliance Insights & Tips for Businesses

January 17, 2016

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Slips, Trips, Falls Rule Withdrawn

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has withdrawn its Walking Working Surfaces and Personal Fall Protection Systems rule, commonly referred to as "slips, trips and falls," from review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). It's not clear what the reason for the withdrawal is, but OSHA appears committed to finalizing the rule, which was first proposed in 1990 and the...

January 14, 2016

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Obamacare Open Enrollment Shows Slight Uptick in January

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) yesterday reported 74,000 new sign-ups on HealthCare.gov from Jan. 3 to Jan. 9, bringing total federal Obamacare enrollments to 8.7 million for the 38 states covered by the online exchange. With another 2.7 million people having signed up on the state exchanges thus far, total enrollment for 2016 stands at about 11.4 million, with open enrollme...

January 13, 2016

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Insurers Cry Foul Over Alleged Obamacare Special Enrollment Abuse

Health insurers are bombarding Obamacare administrators with complaints that people are waiting to get sick before buying health insurance and then dropping it once they are cured. They want the rules and verification system for special enrollment period (SEP) sign-ups to be clarified and tightened. “Many individuals have no incentive to enroll in coverage during open enrollment, but can wait ...

January 12, 2016

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HealthCare.gov Adds Transgender Explanation Page

The federal Obamacare marketplace, HealthCare.gov, today launched a transgender page, offering both application assistance and health-care rights explanations. On the application front, it advises transgender persons to use the names that appear on their Social Security card to avoid triggering "inconsistencies" or "data matching issues" error messages that prevent completion of their sign-up....

January 12, 2016

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EEOC Issues New 'Digest of EEO Law'

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on Monday announced publication of the latest edition of its federal sector Digest of Equal Employment Opportunity Law, which is available online. The digest now includes hyperlinks so that stakeholders can easily access the full decisions which have been summarized. This quarterly publication, prepared by EEOC's Office of Federal Operations ...

January 11, 2016

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Medicaid Enrollment Eclipses the Marketplaces in Total Numbers

Through October 2015, the Obamacare provision that allows states to enroll anyone earning less than 138 percent of the federal poverty level into Medicare has netted 13.5 million new enrollees, eclipsing marketplace sign-ups -- both state and federal -- by a couple of million people. (The 13.5 million number also include enrollees into the Children's Health Insurance Program, or CHIP.) The pr...

January 11, 2016

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HHS Releases Guidance on Individuals' Right to Medical Information

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and its Office for Civil Rights (OCR) this past week published guidance on individuals' right to their protected health information (PHI) under the Privacy Rule provision of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The guidance was issued in response to complaints the agencies have received over the years about consumer ...

January 7, 2016

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OSHA, FAA Ink Accord on Protecting Airline Workers from Retaliation

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding that allows the agencies to share information regarding the anti-retaliation provision under the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century (AIR21). The act prohibits air carriers and air carrier contractors and subcont...

January 7, 2016

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Mining Deaths in 2015 Reach Record Low

Preliminary data released by the U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration indicate that 28 miners died in 2015 in work-related accidents at the nation's mines, down from 45 in 2014. The figure represents the lowest number of mining deaths ever recorded and the first year that mining deaths dropped below 30. Eleven of the 28 deaths occurred in coal mines — three in Penns...

January 5, 2016

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HIPAA Modified to Allow Data to Be Sent to the FBI for Background Checks

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and its Office for Civil Rights (OCR) today issued a final rule to allow HIPAA-protected mental health data to be shared with the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) run by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and used to screen gun purchasers. Under the Gun Control Act of 1968, a provision called the "mental health pr...

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