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The health insurance exchanges or marketplace opened last week but not without problems and drama making headlines.  During the first week, computer glitches due to overwhelming numbers visiting the exchanges seems to be the popular consensus as to why "millions" could not connect.  I made several attempts last week to create an account and each time was met with a new problem; security questions did not populate, I received an inaccurate error message regarding my security answers, and also completed the steps to set up my account just to be met with another error message.  But I kept trying.  This week, I was able to complete setting up an account, got into the sight and begin browsing around, so progress is being made. 

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Top Stories: Lodging & Gaming
Too Many Casinos: Looks Like We've Reached Gambling Saturation
Americans are gambling more lately. From 2011 to 2012, U.S. casino gaming revenues rose 4.8% and hit $37.3 billion, just under the record high of $37.5 billion reached in 2007. And yet even as states push forward with plans to open more casinos around the country, there are indications that gambling revenues are leveling off-that we're reaching a saturation point, with too many casinos, in too close proximity, for everybody to win.
(Business Time)  Read the complete article
New Or Coming Soon To Hotels: The Latest Trends
Along with friendly and personalized service, what often sets a hotel apart are the amenities offered to guests. What travelers find when they open the door to their room changes from time to time, and nowadays you're more likely to see definite signs of the hospitality industry's efforts to provide more of what travelers want and stop wasting money on the frills nobody will miss.
(North Jersey.com)  Read the complete article
Top Stories: Healthcare
BLS Federal Jobs Data For September Casualty Of Shutdown
The federal government's jobs report last month left many eager to find out if the next report would again show weak gains or even losses in hospital employment in spite of durable growth in the healthcare sector at large. 
(Modern Healthcare)  Read the complete article
Healthcare Hospitality: Hospitals Use Amenities To Dazzle Patients
"There is an increasing pressure from a business perspective on health care systems and hospitals to be competitive," said Chad Aduddell, president of St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center in Little Rock. "And so more and more ... hospitals are looking at other industries, other service industries, and trying to replicate some of the things that those hospitality industries have done."
(Arkansas Business)  Read the complete article
Health Care's Unrivaled Job Gains And Where It Matters Most
Rochester, McAllen and dozens of other metropolitan areas, as well as a few states, rely on health care as one of the primary sources for new jobs and stable careers. Meanwhile, looking at the U.S. as a whole, the stable health care sector has become an increasingly larger force in the labor market. 
(Forbes)  Read the complete article
Outsourcing is Exploding in Healthcare - Will the Trend Last?
Now, more than ever, hospitals and health systems are concerned about their bottom lines. The federal sequester took a 2 percent bite out of Medicare reimbursements, and healthcare reform and other forces have led to lower inpatient volumes for many provider organizations. While several hospitals have turned to layoffs to address their cost concerns, still more are turning to another cost-saving solution: outsourcing. 
(Becker's Hospital Review)  Read the complete article
Top Stories: Human Resources
HR Leaders Beginning To Abolish The Annual Employee Performance Review
Employees and managers alike dread the annual employee performance review, and in response, forward-thinking HR leaders are radically remodeling the process. But they're not aiming to lessen anxiety by de-emphasizing performance appraisals, or abolishing them altogether. They're pushing for more reviews, more often.
(Search Financial Applications)  Read the complete article
Chris Hardie: Employee Or Independent Contractor?
The IRS is keenly interested in this topic because there is revenue attached; a significant source of revenue. According to a Government Accountability Office study called "Employee Misclassification," the last time the IRS took a comprehensive look at misclassification was in 1984, when it estimated nationally about 15 percent of employers misclassified 3.4 million employees as independent contractors.  
(Lacrosse Tribune)  Read the complete article
Notable Benefits Under New Health Care Law
Under the law, health insurers must cover 10 essential benefits. This could make health plans more costly but also more comprehensive.
(Times Dispatch)  Read the complete article
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