Federal officials plan to start calling insurers’ ‘business associates’ in September

BY ALLISON BELL

Federal health data cops are setting up a compliance lottery you might prefer to skip.

Earlier this month, the health data cops — officials at the Office for Civil Rights, an arm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — started a major wave of audits of hospitals, group health plans, insurers and other entities directly covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act privacy and data security rules.

Officials from the Office for Civil Rights are asking for big batches of information from the HIPAA-covered entities. One item on the auditors’ document-demand list is contact information for the covered entities’ business associates.

For an insurer, the list of business associates could include insurance agents and brokers.

For a group health plan, the list could include agents, brokers and benefit plan administrators and consultants.

Federal officials want to use the business associate lists to choose targets for a wave of business-associate HIPAA audits.

Federal officials conducted a smaller, relatively casual round of audits of covered entities in 2012, to look for ways to help covered entities and business associates understand and comply with HIPAA rules.

An official who’s supposed to keep tabs on HHS, the HHS inspector general, blasted officials the Office for Civil Rights for going too easy on the covered entities. Observers are expecting the current “Phase 2” round of audits to be tougher.

During a recent Phase 2 audit webinar, officials from the Office for Civil Rights said audits could lead to legal action.

“OCR could decide to open a separate compliance review in a circumstance where significant threats to the privacy and security of [protected health information] are revealed through the audit,” officials say in a webinar slidedeck.

Here’s a look at some of the new details officials from the Office for Civil Rights revealed at the webinar, based on the slidedeck and a collection of written answers to webinar participants’ questions:

1. A desk audit has nothing to do with the condition of your desk.

When Office for Civil Rights officials conduct a desk audit, they ask the targeted entity to answer questions and send it many documents.

The officials conducting the Phase 2 audits sent requests for documents to 167 covered entities July 11.

The auditors will look to see how each audited entity is complying with either the HIPAA security standards, or the HIPAA privacy and data breach requirements, but not both, according to the slidedeck.

If officials conduct a desk audit of a group health plan’s compliance with the privacy rules, for example, the auditors will look to see whether the entity has a privacy practices notice that includes all of the required elements. Auditors will also to see whether the entity posts the notice on its website in the right way.

In many cases, auditors will ask entities for screen shots of their computer screens. Officials took up several webinar slides showing the webinar attendees what the screen shots should look like.

2.  Investigators could talk to a few dozen business associates.

At the webinar, Office for Civil Rights officials said they will conduct a total of 200 to 250 desk audits.

Subtracting 167 from those figures suggests that the federal officials could end up conducting desk audits of 33 to 83 business associates.

Officials plan to begin the business associate desk audits in late September.

During the webinar, a representative from an insurer noted that the insurer has business associate agreements with tens of thousands of insurance agents. Federal officials said the insurer should send it all available contact information for as many of the agents as possible.

Federal officials hinted that they could audit some business associates even if those associates have no connection with a covered entity being audited. Officials said the business associate selection pool will be “largely drawn” from the lists provided by the covered entities being audited. The wording implies that some associate names in the selection pool could come in from other sources.

Some of the covered entities and business associates could get extra attention from the Office for Civil Rights.

“Comprehensive onsite audits of both [covered entities] and [business associates] will begin in early 2017,” according to the webinar slidedeck.

3. The covered entities getting audited do not have to say anything about that to their business associates.

The covered entities audited were supposed to send the requested documents, including business associate lists, to the auditors by July 22.

One webinar attendee asked if a covered entity being audited should notify its business associates.

Officials told the attendee: “This is not a required element of the audit program.”

LinkedIn is a great resource for learning and discussing new ideas. Like many of my colleagues, I have been trying my best to penetrate the “Woman’s Market” as the statistics concerning this group show that they are underserved and need our help. I have not had much success. I have tried many ideas. I have worked with Female Advisors and tried to help them penetrate this market. Again, with mixed results. On LinkedIn I found a great discussion hosted by Annette Bau. Below is her take on the best way to Attract Female Clients. Enjoy

Attracting affluent female clients is critical to sustaining and increasing market share. Women control $20 trillion in U.S. wealth and are expected to control more than $40 trillion by 2020. Although most advisers understand the importance of attracting and retaining affluent female clients, up to 98% of women leave their adviser when they become widows.

In order to get and retain a share of this market, advisers need an executable plan. Here are five steps.

Step 1: Assess clients.

Create a spread sheet to assess clients in various categories. These may include likeability, net worth or niche to name a few. Next, create additional categories such as charities, groups, churches and organizations that they support and to which they belong, what they read or watch on TV and any other important information. Using the spreadsheet, look for commonalities that they have with other clients and opportunities to maximize exposure to people like them.

Affluent women are generally friends with other affluent women, and it is very likely that the groups to which affluent female clients belong will have other similar members.

 Step 2: Advisers should determine with which type of affluent women they are most compatible.

Determine the best fit, whether it is traditional women such as homemakers, or business owners or executives. Some women fit into more than one category.

 Step 3: Seek out the appropriate target group.

Affluent women may be found at business functions; charity events; groups that cater to hobbies such as golfing, wine tasting or hiking; church events; groups that play bridge; or school events for their children or grandchildren.

 Step 4: Attract the ideal clients.

To build market share and attract affluent women, advisers need to find out what they want.

A great strategy is to create a questionnaire that provides insight on what the ideal client wants and how the firm can best deliver it. Make a commitment to meet each week with affluent women who fit the ideal client profile to complete the questionnaire.

 Step 5: Retain Them

The key to retaining affluent women for life is to create a community. Those who have done a good job of identifying the ideal female client will find that they can retain their clients and get more referrals to those with similar wants and needs.

That is right. Four words. Experts say that just four words can change your practice and help you gain the trust and confidence of your clients. Those four words…

“What do you think?”

By asking one question – “what do you think?” – you let people know that you value their input, respect their opinion and have an open mind toward solving problems. Clients know that you are knowledgable, but asking for their input helps form a valuable bond that leads to a more satisfying relationship.

What do you think?

Guest Article by Alana Kohl

Love him or hate him, Donald Trump does know how to do one thing very well: live in people’s minds rent-free. Politics aside, the ability to get people talking about you and remembering your messages is an aspiration for just about any businessperson. And doing it without a “ginormous” advertising budget can be as much an art as it is a science.

So, what lessons can you learn from “The Donald’s” bid for the White House that you can apply to your business in 2016? Here are a few key takeaways.

1. Know what your competitors are doing (and make their oversights your digital assets):

Come on, this is business. In this day and age, you need to familiarize yourself with all the tools available to you. If you fail to purchase your own name or your company name’s URL, and you want to run for president (or even run a successful business) you’re already starting with the chips stacked against you.

What would your prospective clients think if they went to your URL or your company’s URL and it redirected to your biggest competitor? That you’re not serious about your business? That you don’t have a good team behind you? That the details get past you? No matter what it is, it’s not good. But hey, your competitor looks sharp.

If you haven’t already, I encourage you to see what I’m referring to by visiting JebBush.com.

While purchasing your competitors’ URL isn’t everyone’s style, you do want to claim, maintain and monetize your own digital assets. This goes for your URLs (your name, your business name and even a signature service-related URL), which can all redirect back to your site. If you don’t think your prospective clients are doing an Internet search before agreeing to a meeting with you, think again.

2. Master the art of making the biggest impact with the least amount of money.

If you want people to remember you, then you have to be unique. You have to say something different, powerful and impactful to them. Hearing or seeing something new is refreshing, exciting and memorable.

Then, with those powerful messages in tow, you have to go where their attention is: You don’t want to be background noise while your prospect carries on with their life. (Advertising can often become that background noise.) You want to be on the forefront, sharing ideas and concepts that matter to your prospect and doing that in places where their attention is captive.

How do you stand apart in a sea of competitors? Many people throw more money at advertising in an effort to reach a wider audience, with the hope that their ideal prospects would remember what they had to say.

The problem with this approach is that it simply does not stand out. This approach could fall under being complacent, and if your messages could be said by any other advisor, or if they mostly apply to their business as well, then throwing more money at advertising those messages isn’t doing a lot for you. Thus, building your own brand recognition and equity becomes a slow, grueling and expensive process.

Until very recently, The Donald had not bought any airtime, such as commercials, yet he was always on the news. Your prospects tune into news sources for content of interest to them, and pass by the advertisements on their way there. If you’re not going where they are already, then you’re always going to be chasing them.

3. If you stick to your messages, your messages will stick.

Good, bad or indifferent, if you have a platform to spread your word, stick to your story and your story will stick. Of course, be sure what you’re saying is what you want people to remember.

Off-the-cuff comments have a way of backfiring, especially if people are listening. I recommend that you identify three to five key messages that — given the opportunity to speak to your ideal prospect or the media — are the very things you want them to remember.

We live in a sound bite society and listeners will only take away a few key points from a conversation. Determine what are your most powerful messages and how they can help people, why they should remember you and what’s in it for your prospects when they do.

Then, stick to those messages in conversations, the media, at your client events, in your written collateral… There is power in repetition. If you stick to your messages, your messages will stick.

Now, of course, for these strategies to be effective you’re going to have to show up and engage with those beautiful, wonderful, fantastic people you call prospects. With these three tips in mind, you’ll be on your way to “Trump” your marketing in 2016. It will be “yuge.”

The “Long-Term Care Insurance: An Industry in Transition” piece takes an objective look at the factors that have created challenges for the LTC industry. It also provides an overview of what has been learned and how these insights have influenced the design of the new and innovative John Hancock Performance LTC product.  Hancock has provided this PowerPoint presentation to share this message with firms and producers who are interested in learning more about the coverage that we believe will re-energize the industry.

If you need quotes or have questions. Feel free to call us at ISN – 800-338-1892 x 1

When planning for the future, a big concern many clients have is helping their children pay for college. The cost of attending college, including tuition and fees, as well as room and board, has increased at a rate that exceeds the rate of inflation.¹

Understandably, many parents would like to keep their children from starting out life deep in debt. CollegeBoard reports that about 60% of students who earned bachelor’s degrees in 2012-13 graduated with debt, borrowing an average of $27,300. Some economists believe that the next financial crisis will be triggered by outstanding student loan debt, which amounts to more than $1.3 trillion.²

Even considering the cost, college can still be a worthwhile investment. According to a report from the San Francisco Federal Reserve, college graduates earn an average of more than $800,000 over their lifetimes compared to high school graduates.³ Even so, many parents might be concerned about the amount of debt it takes to earn that degree. This is where life insurance added to their financial strategy might be able to help your clients help their children.

How Life Insurance Could Help with College Planning

The primary reason to purchase life insurance is for the death benefit protection. Another advantage with life insurance is its potential to build tax-deferred cash value, which, can also be used to help pay for college. Most families need life insurance anyway, and a policy that can help your clients fund college education, on top of providing financial protection in the event of an untimely death, can be an added benefit. Should the child not go to college, the cash value can be used for other needs.

A life policy has no restrictions on how families can use the money, and any interest earned with a life policy, while not guaranteed, is not directly affected by market volatility. Those are two great benefits that make this product a consideration for supplemental college funding purposes.

Structured properly, a policy can play a role in helping your clients fund their children’s college educations. Integrating a life policy, which has the versatility to address more than one need, might help clients achieve their long-term financial goals.

A life insurance policy can be a powerful part of a family’s portfolio when planning for their children’s college education. It can be used in conjunction with other college planning tools, like 529s and Coverdell ESAs, and may help clients reduce the amount of student loan debt their children face as they enter the workplace.

Those of you who have been to our training sessions know that we base our fundamental sales concepts on asking questions. Thomas Freese and his book “Question Based Selling” is the core of our program. We focus on using questions to understand the clients needs and to better find solutions. But there is much more to the training. Much more.

If you have a chance to learn from the master- would you take it? If Clayton Kershaw wanted to teach you how to throw a curve ball would you listen to him? If Steph Curry was giving a clinic on shooting the 3- ball would you go? Well, Thomas Freese is at that level. Here is his latest article and a promo for his next training session. If you want to go contact my office and lets see if your production can qualify you for a tuition reimbursement or subsidy.

Strategic Questions Are Still King…

By: Thomas A. Freese

At the core of every sale, sellers must understand what customers need, and the extent to an opportunity is mutually beneficial. That’s why “discovery” and “qualification” will continue to be staples in every sales process.

The challenge is, just because a salesperson wants to ask questions, doesn’t mean potential buyers are open and willing to share with a salesperson they don’t yet know and trust.

Therein lies the rub. At every company, some salespeople are more effective than others, even though they’re all selling the same products and services to a similar target audience. Why do you suppose there’s such a wide variation in sales results, when they’re all simply trying to probe for needs and qualify the opportunity?

It’s because asking questions is only part of the formula for being successful in sales moving forward. While it’s true that questions do help the salesperson to better understand the customer’s needs and qualify opportunities, well-placed strategic questions can accomplish so much more.

Have you ever wondered why some salespeople are ‘killing it’ while others are struggling to keep their heads above water? One reason for this is because in addition to needs development and qualification, asking questions strategically is one of the best ways to accomplish a host of other important sales objectives, including:

▪    Making lead generation a self-fulfilling prophecy.

▪    Gaining more credibility and conveying greater value.

▪    Piquing the customer’s interest so they will “want to” engage.

▪    Differentiating yourself from the rest of the ‘noise’ in the marketplace.

▪    Increasing the customer’s sense of urgency to move forward.

▪    Shortening the sales cycle and protecting your company’s margin.

▪    Navigating to the right people within target accounts.

▪    Broadening the scope of the opportunity to close bigger deals.

▪    Securing commitments to take the next step in the sales process.

Trouble is, everyone talks about the importance of asking good questions, yet salespeople are often left to their own devices to figure out what questions to ask and how best to ask them.

While it’s true that some questions are more valuable and significantly more effective than others, it turns out that in addition to “what” questions you ask, “how” you ask them can make or break your opportunity to succeed.

Fortunately, human nature is very predictable. By identifying the triggers that cause potential buyers to “want to” engage in a discussion about their needs and your corresponding value, a savvy salesperson can significantly increase their sales effectiveness along with their bottom line results.

Might it be time to upgrade your questioning strategy?

How Financial Advisors Can Create An Effective Online Presence & Marketing Campaign

by Jen Seeger – Posted May 7, 2016 on LinkedIn