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2011 Medical Insurance Renewal
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I have begun to receive inquiries about the 2011 renewal on the association's group medical plan. We are presently in negotiations with the carrier and our consultants and should have it wrapped up by the end of this month.
Any and all changes to the plans, rates, etc. will be included in your practice's December premium bill which you should receive around the middle of November.
Please be sure to send over any changes to deductible plans, office probation periods for new hires, etc. to the SCDA office by year's end to be effective January 1st. If there are no changes to be made for the 2011 year, no paperwork is needed.
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Upgrades to BlueCross' Website
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BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina has taken feedback from members to update and improve their website. They have combined all the functionality of My Insurance ManagerSM and My Health Toolkit® into one easy to use website, the new My Health Toolkit. In it, you'll find all the information and tools you need to manage your health care benefits, including:
- Viewing of claims
- Find a doctor or other provider
- Take their personal health assessments
- Search for wellness information
- See account information for flexible spending accounts, health reimbursement accounts, health incentive accounts and health savings accounts
- See real-time benefits information like out-of-pocket and paid deductible amounts
- Request a new member ID card
- Compare drug costs
- Compare hospital quality
Take a look to find the information you need to manage your health and your benefits! Visit www.southcarolinablues.com, click on "Members" and log in to "My Health Toolkit." If you already have an account, you can use your current username and password to log in. If you don't have an account, you can register anytime and watch a brief video on all the great features the new toolkit provides.
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PCI Compliance - Practice Card Processing
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PCI compliance is something you've heard a lot about in the recent past. Probably the most important aspect of PCI compliance that you need to understand is that it is required of all merchants that accept, process, transmit or store payment cards.
The SCDA Member Benefit vendor, TransFirst Heath Services, has worked terminal upgrades and other projects with many of you over the past few years and it's very likely (if you are presently processing with TransFirst) that you are in fact compliant already. The requirement for CERTIFICATION is now the next formal step that must be made. TransFirst has designed a plan that received approval from Visa/MasterCard for the validation of their merchants and you will begin receiving information in regards to it this month.
There will be a quarterly fee involved, but it is very competitive with the market place and you can even reduce it by almost 50% by completing a questionnaire for TransFirst.
Again, you will soon receive this information in this month's processing statement from TransFirst, so be sure to keep an eye out for it and feel free to contact your TransFirst representative at 1-800-577-8573 in the meantime with any questions.
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HITECH / Healthcare Reform Seminar
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The first seminar on the HITECH Act and National Healthcare Reform was held a couple of weeks back and it was a wealth of information. I thought Mr. Reed Wilson did an excellent job discussing the new regulations and potential pitfalls under the HITECH Act and how they can affect your practice. Mr. Don Hardin also did well with the daunting task of discussing the complexities that are involved with national healthcare reform.
Due to the overwhelming interest in this seminar, we've added a second seminar on these topics to be held on Friday, November 12th. There are only 75 seats left, so if you have interest in attending, be sure to register soon. Click here to learn more about this seminar and to obtain a registration form.
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As always, contact me at 1-800-327-2598, ext. 103 with any questions or visit us at www.scda.org
Sincerely,
Mark K. Brown
SCDA Member Benefits Group Manager |
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