NEW YORK—Make it your business to learn why employee benefits costs are headed for an increase by going to this month’s E-edition of Business Essentials on VisionMonday.com. Face the painful financial facts in BE’s From the Top feature, Employer Medical Costs May Jump 20 Percent in Two Years.

The numbers don’t lie: according to a survey by auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers Health Research Institute, employer medical care costs will increase by 9.9 percent in 2008 and a 9.6 percent bump in medical coverage costs for businesses is expected for in 2009. Read why those increases should worry employers, who have seen the growth rate of medical coverage costs slow down in recent years and see how these increases may affect your bottom line as employers modify or eliminate some benefits, including vision care.

In his monthly It’s Your Business column, Editor Hedley Lawson, Jr. addresses a compelling challenge for contemporary ECPs—the need to understand and advance a business using electronic technologies in “Keeping Up With the Digital Age.”

Stay in the know with Business Essentials, with monthly updates on day-to-day management issues for optical ECPs and retailers. Every issue of Business Essentials features Rules & Regulations, Resource Corner and Ask the Experts.

To get a copy of Business Essentials delivered to your inbox every month, go to VisionMonday.com, select the Business Essentials button and go to the Subscribe to Business Essentials option in the newsletter. Current and past issues of the newsletter are also available on VisionMonday.com.