Wednesday, February 16, 2011
I am thinling of some online conferance
At Accel IT Academy, we have a lot of problems to solve. I am thinking of having some online conferance section to our existing site - accel.asia - I am not sure if I could set this up easily. This Conference call idea might save some of the problems that we are currently facing. Its not as good as a face to face session - but much better than traveling all ove Kerala or even over India. It will save us the time and cost.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Will Accel Management Listen?
Business can be promoted by a technique called tradeshow giveaways. Give people a free gift - This method has been used all over the world throughout our known history. This is a great marketing strategy. I had blogged about this topic before - but no one in Accel seems to listen to me. They talk about brand building all the time, well this is a direct approach to that. Whatever gift you are giving out will have a logo of Accel and these gifts can be bought in bulk, reducing the costs.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
International Background Checks
This is an article written by Steve Valentino, courtesy Ezine@rticles.
Many countries have a freedom of information law. These laws give individuals the right to use their records, as well as police, court and prison records. From country to country, the kind of information that is retained and available varies greatly. They refer to the screening of foreign nationalists in order to safeguard and protect the nation’s interests. International background checks are conducted for a number of reasons. They may range from international employment opportunities to educational facilities.
Reputed background check agencies are able to provide employment and education verifications in practically every country in the world. Since international background checks may require the knowledge of many languages such agencies have a multi-lingual staff, and when necessary they utilize an outside translation service to facilitate verifications. Conducting an international background check involves a number of challenges. Obtaining international verifications becomes difficult because of the apparent time and language barriers. However, the largest obstacle is reaching an operator to connect a call to remote areas. In spite of these obstacles it is experienced that with a lot of determination, it is possible to get through to most areas. The time involved in getting through to remote areas must be contemplated upon when estimating turnaround time. Another obstacle relates to acquiring telephone listings for businesses and educational institutions. It is very helpful when the applicants themselves provide as much data as possible. Different laws relating to privacy prevalent in various countries can also make data less accessible.
Many companies offer international employee background checks that are obtained through ‘classified sources’. ‘Classified sources’ can be co-workers, neighbors, friends, or family members. Employee background checks, as we know them in the United States, are usually not available in other countries. Most countries do not offer the same level of accessibility to court records as the US. Often criminal conviction information is available only to government officials and the individual themselves. Each country has its own regulation, procedures and customs making each a distinctive situation.
Conducting an international background check can prove to be a lengthy and tiresome process. However, increasing globalization and cooperation amongst countries have made the process of relatively easy.
Background Checks provides detailed information on Background Checks, Criminal Background Checks, Employment Background Checks, Online Background Checks and more. Background Checks is affiliated with Criminal Background Search.
Many countries have a freedom of information law. These laws give individuals the right to use their records, as well as police, court and prison records. From country to country, the kind of information that is retained and available varies greatly. They refer to the screening of foreign nationalists in order to safeguard and protect the nation’s interests. International background checks are conducted for a number of reasons. They may range from international employment opportunities to educational facilities.
Reputed background check agencies are able to provide employment and education verifications in practically every country in the world. Since international background checks may require the knowledge of many languages such agencies have a multi-lingual staff, and when necessary they utilize an outside translation service to facilitate verifications. Conducting an
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Health Insurance
Top things to know
1. Insurance costs a lot but having none costs more - There are sensible ways to save money on insurance, but skipping coverage isn’t one of them. Medical bills from even a minor car accident can deplete your savings - a major illness can push you into bankruptcy.
2. If your employer offers insurance, grab it - Group coverage, particularly when it’s employer-subsidized, is almost always a better deal than anything you can get on your own, even if you’re young and healthy. If you’re NOT young and healthy, it’s definitely a better deal.
3. Comparing plans is tough but necessary - Unfortunately, there is no such thing as standard coverage. Benefits and costs vary widely from plan to plan. If you have choices, you’ll have to examine each one closely to find the best deal.
4. The lowest premium isn’t always the cheapest plan - What your insurance covers is just as important as, and sometimes more important than, what you pay up front. Ultimately, the cheapest plan is the one with the best price for the benefits you’re most likely to use.
5. Even good coverage can have big loopholes - You can count on your health insurance to cover you for a hospital stay. Most policies cover doctor visits, but benefits for mental health, prescription drugs and dental care are strictly optional.
6. You’ll pay more for freedom - Plans with the most comprehensive coverage at the lowest out-of-pocket cost require you to use a specified network of hospitals, doctors, labs, and other providers. The more flexibility you demand, the more you’ll pay, in either premiums or co-payments.
7. You can check out networks before signing up - A growing number of public and private sources compile information on the track records of individual doctors, hospitals, and health plans.
8. You can keep your insurance if you lose your job - State and federal regulations protect you from losing your health coverage in the event you lose your job. Unfortunately, they offer little protection from high premium costs.
9. Working couples have more to think about - If you and your spouse both get health insurance at work, you must sort out whether it makes more sense to have two policies or for one of you to cover the other. If you have kids, you need to decide who’s going to cover them.
10. Tax breaks can help - Ordinarily medical expenses, including insurance premiums, are not tax deductible until they exceed 7.5 percent of your income. However, if you’re self-employed or your employer offers a flexible spending account, you can get a tax break without meeting the threshold.
The basic flavors : There are two types of plans, each of which has far-reaching consequences. There are two basic types of insurance: indemnity plans and managed care.
Indemnity insurance — also called “fee-for-service” - generally gives you greater freedom and flexibility than managed care. However, you’ll pay more out of pocket for the health care you get. With indemnity coverage, you can choose any doctor, hospital, laboratory, or other medical provider.
As long as your insurance contract includes the service performed, insurance will cover it, though it won’t pay the entire charge. You’ll have to satisfy an annual deductible - generally a few hundred dollars - before insurance even kicks in.
Then, you’ll owe a portion of each bill, called a co-payment, normally 20 percent. If the provider you choose charges unusually high fees, your share may be considerably higher. That’s because your insurer will base its 80 percent share on the “usual and customary” fee for the service in your area, not on the actual bill.
As a rule, indemnity insurance covers only illness or accidents; it doesn’t pay for preventive care such as flu shots or birth control. Depending on your policy, it may or may not pay for prescription drugs or psychotherapy.
In its pure form, managed care flips indemnity coverage 180 degrees. With a health maintenance organization (HMO), deductibles are often smaller than with other plans and sometimes there are none. Co-payments are fixed and low, and preventive care, drugs, and mental health treatment are usually covered.
However, you can choose only among doctors, hospitals, and other providers who have contracts with your HMO, and you can receive only medical services authorized by the plan. If you use non-authorized providers or receive nonauthorized care, your HMO will not pay any portion of the bills.
Because many people are uncomfortable with these restrictions, managed care has evolved to include hybrid plans that blend HMOs with some of the features of indemnity coverage.
With a point-of-service plan (POS), for instance, you can keep your costs low by using a network of doctors and hospitals that have contracts with your insurer. However, if you choose, you can go outside the network, but you’ll pay a deductible and higher co-payments.
Competitive marketing has produced other permutations, such as the “open access” HMO that allows you to see a network specialist without a referral. The only way to know for certain what your options and costs are is to carefully read the descriptive materials and question anything that’s not clear.
For general help in understanding health insurance, check the federal Agency for Health Care Policy and Research. Your state insurance department may also offer online help. Check this guide from the Food and Drug Administration to find your state health agency’s Web site. Web sites like Insure.com can help you to understand different types of health insurance.
Once you grasp the basics, you’re ready to make informed choices. The next section tells you how to find the coverage that best suits your needs.
Which plan is right for you?
Choose the plan that gives you the services you’re most likely to need at the lowest out-of-pocket cost.
If you get coverage through your job, your employer picks your insurance and you may or may not have very many choices. If you buy your own, you’re in charge, but your choices are limited by the plans available to individual purchasers, as well as by how much you can afford to spend.
Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as standard coverage. Details vary enormously from one plan to another. The best value is not necessarily the plan with the cheapest premium or the one with the most benefits. It’s the plan that covers the health services you want and need for the lowest out-of-pocket expense . In essence, differences among plans come down to three intertwined elements: benefits, costs, and restrictions.
Benefits: Every insurance plan will cover you for doctor and hospital bills, with various limits, discussed below under “costs.” Virtually everything else, including prescription drugs, glasses, psychotherapy and preventive care, such as immunizations and screenings, may or may not be covered, depending on the specific plan.
To figure out how well a plan suits your needs, first make a list of the health services you and your family normally use. For each plan, note the amount of coverage for each of those services - for instance, “100 percent,” “80 percent,” “not covered.” Once you’ve got a handle on how fully each plan covers your health needs, you can evaluate cost differences.
Costs: If you don’t use many medical services, your primary cost for indemnity coverage will be the premium. If you do use a lot of services, it will be hard to gauge your actual costs, since you must factor in the deductible, co-payments, and any excess charges or uncovered services.
In contrast, cost is easy to gauge with a true HMO - a managed-care plan with no out-of-network option. Once you’ve paid your premium, nearly everything will be covered and you’ll be liable only for small co-payments.
Estimating the cost of a managed-care plan with an out-of-network option is tricky, because your ultimate cost depends on whether you actually go out-of-network. If cost considerations make you lean toward a managed-care plan, read its literature thoroughly to decide whether you can live with the restrictions it imposes.
Restrictions: Generally speaking, a managed-care plan will limit your choice of providers and require you to get pre-approval for services. If your beloved pediatrician shuns HMOs or you have a difficult health problem, you may decide that you can’t abide limits like these.
Keep in mind, however, that indemnity insurance also comes with limitations in the form of deductibles, co-payments and uncovered services. These financial roadblocks can inhibit freedom of choice as much as any managed-care bureaucracy.
Another worry about restrictions is that many consumers equate freedom of choice with medical quality. They’re not entirely wrong. If you receive poor treatment in a managed-care plan, it’s hard to vote with your feet.
However, they’re not completely right, either. The quality of medical care varies considerably both in and out of managed care. In fact, the best managed-care plans offer quality advantages you won’t get outside managed care, such as outreach for preventive services, heath-risk screening, and coordination of care.
Know your provider
Whether you choose indemnity insurance or managed care, it’s wise to check up on your providers in advance. One way is via state insurance department Web sites. Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island, for instance, post lists of local doctors who have been disciplined for poor patient care or, in some cases, criminal conduct. New York and New Jersey rate local hospitals and doctors on how well they care for cardiac patients. Florida, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Texas, and Utah rate local managed-care plans.
Nationally, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Organizations is the major rating group for hospitals, the National Committee for Quality Assurance rates managed-care plans, and thehealthpages.com lists surveys and other data on selected health plans and health services.
If the insurance plan you prefer seems unaffordable, check the money-saving strategies in the next section to see if there’s a way to reduce your costs. Be sure to use our navigator to compare plans that you’re considering.
Money-saving strategies
It’s hard if you’re young, harder if you’re old or infirm.
If you are young and healthy, saving on health-insurance premiums is tough enough. Older people not in the best of health will have great difficulty getting an affordable plan.
If you’re buying your own insurance, you’ve got to shop around for the best price. As long as you’re healthy and under 50, insurers want your business. To avoid attracting applicants they don’t want, though, many keep a low profile, so you’ll have to seek them out by phoning agents, checking with your state insurance department, or going online. For instance, Insure.com maintains a national online database of carriers you can search for policies that might be available to you.
Older people or those with health problems will have a tougher time finding insurance. Government protections offer some help but insurers are not always quick to advise you of your options, so you may have to take the initiative to get the coverage to which you’re entitled.
Make the most of spousal coverage - Working couples with insurance from two employers may be able to get more or pay less than one-income couples. Depending on the premiums and benefits of each available plan, the best deal may be separate coverage for each, double coverage for both, or forgoing one spouse’s coverage in favor of the other’s. If you have kids, you’ll need to compare your options for family coverage. Be warned: The calculations can be mind-boggling and, even with double coverage, a couple can’t collect more than 100 percent on the same claim.
Use available tax-breaks - If you’re self-employed, you may be able to deduct 100 percent of your insurance premium from your gross income. If your employer offers a flexible spending account, sign up. You can pay your co-payments as well as expenses not covered by insurance with money that’s not subject to income tax or Social Security taxes.
Take prudent risks - If you are generally healthy and use few medical services, you can cut premium costs substantially by buying “catastrophic” coverage. This is an indemnity policy with a very high deductible, perhaps as much as $2,500. Assuming this much financial risk can slash your premium by 50 percent or more, depending on your age. Don’t try to trim your premium by reducing coverage on the other end, though. Make sure your insurance has a high maximum payout, at least $100,000, preferably $500,000. Also take care to understand the definition of “catastrophic.”
Look for a subsidy - If your income is very low, if you’re permanently disabled or if your medical expenses are extremely high, you may qualify for federal or state-subsidized insurance, such as Medicare or Medicaid (check your state Medicaid office). Regardless of your ability to pay, you may be qualified to receive free primary care through public health clinics. To find a site near you, check the Bureau of Primary Healthcare Web site.
If you lose your job or have health problems, federal and state laws give you certain rights to health insurance.
Your legal rights
Even if you lose your job, you’re still entitled to insurance.
If you work for a company with 20 or more employees and you lose your job, a federal law called COBRA (for Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act) requires your ex-employer to let you stay on the group policy for at least 18 months, at your own expense. If you have generous coverage paid mostly by your employer, the full premium (plus 2 percent for administrative costs) could be quite a shock. Still, it’s wise to hang on to your old coverage until you’re covered at a new job or find more affordable insurance elsewhere.
The Health Insurance Portability and Affordability Act (HIPAA) goes COBRA one better. It says that as long as you’ve been covered under a group policy within the previous 63 days, no insurer can turn you down for coverage, even if you’re seriously ill. Unfortunately, HIPAA doesn’t regulate premium costs so there’s no guarantee that you can afford the insurance to which you’re legally entitled.
As the number of uninsured continues to rise, states have become increasingly active in helping individuals get insurance, though price continues to be a problem. Some 30 states have so-called “high-risk pools,” which guarantee insurance to applicants whose health histories make them undesirable to insurers.
Some states have other ways of making coverage more accessible. New York, for instance, requires insurers to use a modified “community rating” when pricing coverage, so they can’t charge disproportionately high premiums to applicants in poor health. For a state-by-state analysis of your rights to health insurance, check Georgetown University’s Institute for Health Care Research and Policy.
usual and customary
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Background check
The following is a quote from a wikipedia article which I found to be very intresting.
A background check or background investigation is the process of looking up official and commercial records about a person. It was often done when someone applies for a job but mostly for those that requires high security or position of trust like a school, hospital, bank, airport, in law enforcement, etc. It is traditionally done by the police but is now most often purchased as a service from a private business. Information usually includes the following: past employment, credit worthiness, and criminal history. These checks are important because they allow better informed and less-subjective evaluations to be made about a person. However, they also pose risks including improper and illegal discrimination, identity theft, and violation of privacy.
Pre-employment screening in UK
Pre employment screening is used to verify the accuracy of an applicant’s claims as well as to discover any possible criminal history, workers compensation claims, or employer sanctions.
The problem screening tries to counter
A number of annual reports, including BDO Hayward’s Fraudtrack 4, and CIFAS’s (the UK’s fraud prevention service) ‘The Enemy Within’ have showed a rising level of major discrepancies and embellishments on CVs over previous years.Such business fraud cost UK businesses 1.4 bn in 2005.
Almost half (48%) of organizations with fewer than 100 staff experienced problems with vetted employees.
39% of UK organizations have experienced a situation where their vetting procedures have allowed an employee to be hired who was later found to have lied or misrepresented themselves in their application.
However, recent research by Powerchex shows a reverse in the trend. They found that in the 2006/7 period CV discrepancies had fallen by 31% to 13%.
The Market
Larger companies are more likely to outsource than their smaller counterparts – the average staff size of the companies who outsource is 3,313 compared to 2,162 for those who carry out in-house checks.
Financial services firms had the highest proportion of respondents who outsource the service, with over a quarter (26%) doing so, compared to an overall average of 16% who outsource vetting to a third party provider.
The construction and property industry showed the lowest level of outsourcing, with 89% of such firms in the sample carrying out checks in-house. there for making the overall average 16%. This can increase over the years.
Types of Checks
* Employment References
* Education Verification - School grades, degree and any professional qualifications obtained
* Character Reference Check
* Gaps in employment history
* Identity and Address Verification - whether the applicant is who he or she claims to be. Generally includes verification of the candidate’s present and previous addresses. Can include a money laundering, identity and terrorist check and one to verify the validity of passports (UK and international).
* Whether an applicant holds a directorship
* Credit History (UK/International) - bankruptcies
* Criminal History Report (UK/International)
Regulation
The Financial Services Authority states in their Training & Competence guidance that regulated firms should have:
* Adequacy of procedures for taking into account knowledge and skills of potential recruits for the role
* Adequacy of procedures for obtaining sufficient information about previous activities and training
* Adequacy of procedures for ensuring that individuals have passed appropriate exams or have appropriate exemptions
* Adequacy of procedures for assessing competence of individuals for sales roles
The Financial Services Authority’s statutory objectives:
1. Protecting consumers
2. Maintaining market confidence
3. Promoting public awareness
4. Reducing financial crime
Pre-employment screening in the US
Laws
Due to the sensitivity of the information contained in consumer reports and certain records, there are a variety of important laws regulating the dissemination and legal use of this information. Most notably, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) regulates the use of consumer reports (which it defines as information collected and reported by third party agencies) as it pertains to adverse decisions, notification to the consumer, and destruction and safekeeping of records. If a consumer report is used as a factor in an adverse hiring decision, the consumer must be presented with a “Pre-adverse action disclosure”, a copy of the FCRA summary of rights, and a “notification of adverse action letter”. Consumers are entitled to know the source of any information used against them including a credit reporting company.
Types of Checks
There are a variety of types of investigative searches that can be used by potential employers. Many commercial sites will offer specific searches to employers for a fee. Services like these will actually perform the checks, supply the company with adverse action letters, and ensure compliance throughout the process. It is important to be selective about which pre-employment screening agency you use. A legitimate company will be happy to explain the process to you.
Many employers choose to search the most common records such as criminal records, driving records, and education verification. Other searches such as sex offender registry, credential verification, reference checks, credit reports and Patriot Act searches are becoming increasingly common. Employers should consider the position in question when determining which types of searches to include, and should always use the same searches for every applicant being considered for one position.
Reasons
They are frequently conducted to confirm information found on an employment application or resume/curriculum vitae. They may also be conducted as a way to further differentiate potential employees and pick the one the employer feels is best suited for the position. In the United States, the Brady Bill requires criminal checks for those wishing to purchase handguns from licensed firearms dealers. Restricted firearms (like machine guns), suppressors, explosives or large quantities of precursor chemicals, and concealed weapons permits also require criminal checks. Checks are also required for those working in positions with special security concerns, such as trucking, ports of entry, and airline transportation. Other laws exist to prevent those who do not pass a criminal check from working in careers involving the elderly, disabled, or children.
Possible Information Included
The amount of information included on a check depends to a large degree on the sensitivity of the reason for which it is conducted—e.g., somebody seeking employment at a minimum wage job would be subject to far fewer requirements than somebody applying to work for the FBI.
*Criminal and incarceration records
*Birth certificate, citizenship, or legal status in the country
*Litigation records - Employers may want to identify potential employees who routinely file discrimination lawsuits. It has also been alleged that in the U.S., employers that do work for the government do not like to hire whistleblowers who have a history of filing qui tam suits.
*Driving and vehicle records - Employers in the transportation sector seek drivers with clean driving records–i.e., those without a history of accidents or traffic tickets.
*Drug tests - are used for a variety of reasons–corporate ethics, measuring potential employee performance, and keeping workers’ compensation premiums down.
*Education records - These are used primarily to see if the potential employee had graduated from high school (or a GED) and in fact received a college degree, graduate degree, or some other accredited university degree. There are reports of SAT scores being requested by employers as well.
*Employment records - These usually range from simple verbal confirmations of past employment and timeframe to deeper, such as discussions about performance, activities and accomplishments, and relations with others.
*Financial information - Credit scores, liens, civil judgments, or bankruptcy may be included in the report.
*Licensing records - A government authority that has some oversight over professional conduct of its licensees will also maintain records regarding the licensee, such as personal information, education, complaints, investigations, and disciplinary actions.
Medical, Mental, and Physiological evaluation and records
Military records - Although not as common today as it was in the past fifty years, employers frequently requested the specifics of one’s military discharge.
Social Security Number - (or equivalent outside the US) - A fraudulent SSN may be indicative of identity theft, insufficient citizenship, or concealment of a “past life”.
Polygraph test - Also known as a psychophysiological detection of deception (PDD) examination.
Other interpersonal interviews - Employers will usually wish to speak with potential employees’ references to gauge employability. More intensive checks can involve interviews with anybody that knew or previously knew the applicant–such as teachers, friends, coworkers, and family members.
Controversies
Drug tests and credit checks for employment are highly controversial practices. According to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a project of the Utility Consumers’ Action Network (UCAN): “While some people are not concerned about background investigations, others are uncomfortable with the idea of investigators poking around in their personal histories. In-depth checks could unearth information that is irrelevant, taken out of context, or just plain wrong. A further concern is that the report might include information that is illegal to use for hiring purposes or which comes from questionable sources.”
In May 2002, allegedly improper post-hire checks conducted by Northwest Airlines were the subject of a civil lawsuit between Northwest and 10,000 of their mechanics.
In the case of an arrest that did not lead to a conviction, employment checks can continue including the arrest record for up to seven years, per 605 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act:
Except as authorized under subsection (b) of this section, no consumer reporting agency may make any consumer report containing . . . Civil suits, civil judgments, and records of arrest that from date of entry, antedate the report by more than seven years or until the governing statute of limitations has expired, whichever is the longer period.
Subsection (b) provides for an exception if the report is in connection with “the employment of any individual at an annual salary which equals, or which may reasonably be expected to equal $75,000, or more”
Some proposals for decreasing potential harm to innocent applicants include:
* Furnishing the applicant with a copy of the report before it is given to the employer, so that any inaccuracies can be addressed beforehand; and
* Allowing only conviction (not arrest) records to be reported.
In New Zealand, criminal checks have been affected by the Clean Slate Act 2004, which allows individuals to legally conceal “less serious” convictions from their records provided they had been conviction-free for at least seven years.
In Michigan, the system of criminal checks has been criticized in a recent case where a shooting suspect was able to pass an FBI check to purchase a shotgun although he had failed the check for a state handgun permit. According to the spokesman of the local police department,
… you could have a clear criminal history but still have contacts with law enforcement that would not rise to the level of an arrest or conviction [that can be used] to deny a permit whether or not those involved arrests that might show up on a criminal history.
The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence has criticized the federal policy, which denies constitutional rights based on a criminal check only if the subject has been accused of a crime.