Pension Administrator - DC
T R Paul Inc.
in CT

Sales Consultant
PlanTech, LLP
in AL, FL, GA, MS

Compliance Analyst
The Newport Group
in FL, NC

Senior Client Manager
Pension Advisors
in OH

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Helping Beneficiaries Understand Their Options: Retirement Accounts and IRAs
May 12, 2015 WEBCAST
(National Tax-Deferred Savings Association [NTSA])

The Broad Impacts of Protected Health Information: Addressing the Demands of Customers and Regulators
May 28, 2015 WEBCAST
(PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP)

Davidson v. Henkel — What's Going On With Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plans and FICA
June 1, 2015 WEBCAST
(Worldwide Employee Benefits Network [WEB])

New HIPAA Rules - Meeting Requirements for New Patient Rights and New Restrictions on Disclosures
June 2, 2015 WEBCAST
(MentorHealth)

401(k) Plan Workshop 2015 - Kansas City
June 9, 2015 in KS
(SunGard Relius)

Form 5500 Workshop 2015 - Kansas City
June 10, 2015 in KS
(SunGard Relius)

View All Webcasts and Conferences

[Guidance Overview]

Wellness Program Check-Up: EEOC Finally Issues Proposed Rules
"This article traces the tortured history of the enforcement of the ADA against wellness programs and concludes with a discussion of the new EEOC Proposed Rule which provides employers and benefits practitioners with some highly anticipated guidance on how wellness programs might be structured to escape EEOC scrutiny." (Ice Miller LLP)  

[Advert.]

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Co-sponsored by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, the CEBS designation gives you the knowledge and confidence to succeed in today's business environment. Learn More!

[Guidance Overview]

Expatriate Health Coverage Exemption Enacted in Omnibus Spending Bill (PDF)
"Expatriate health plans are exempt from most of the ACA insurance market reforms. Expatriate health plans are exempt from the transitional reinsurance fee and the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) fee. After 2015, expatriate health plans are exempt from the health insurer fee (with special transition rules applying in 2014 and 2015). Employer-sponsored coverage for expatriates generally is exempt from the 40% high-cost plan excise tax in Code section 4980I, except for coverage provided to certain expatriates who are 'assigned' to work in the U.S." (Groom Law Group)  

CMS New Issuer Webinar Series: 834 Maintenance & Cancellation/Termination Transactions, April 30, 2015
71 presentation slides. Topics: [1] Provide FF-SHOP issuers with updates and announcements; [2] Provide an overview of 834 maintenance transactions; [3] Review maintenance scenarios; [4] Review 834 cancellation and termination transactions. (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS], U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS])  

The Unfunded ACA Risk Corridor May Make the U.S. Insurance Market Less Stable, Not More
"[The authors] expect the ACA risk-corridor pool to be significantly underfunded for 2014 if its funding is limited only to insurers' risk corridor payments. [This] risk-corridor study found that the aggregate risk-corridor payables recorded by U.S. insurers for 2014 are less than 10% of the aggregate risk-corridor receivables booked by insurers for the same year. Uncertainty of payment due to underfunding can cause volatility in the market for all participants." (Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC)  

Reinsurance Contributions Collections on Target for 2015
"As of March 31, 2015, [HHS] has collected approximately $8.7 billion in reinsurance contributions for the 2014 benefit year.... CCIIO noted that because the collection of the reinsurance contributions fell below estimates for benefit year 2014, the first $10 billion collected would be allocated strictly as reinsurance payments to issuers of non-grandfathered reinsurance-eligible individual market plans. Subsequent collection amounts over the $10 billion would be allocated to U.S. Treasury general funds and administrative expenses." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)  

This Small, Wonky Obamacare Program Saved $384 Million Over 2 Years
"Medicare's independent actuary has certified that an Obamacare program has saved money -- $384 million over the past two years, to be exact. And the Obama administration is now eying how to make this program bigger -- and, ideally, generate even more savings.... The big question, however, is whether America's health-care system is ready. We don't know if the savings reflect the fact Obamacare has found a better way to deliver medicine -- or if they show us that a handful of go-getter, entrepreneurial hospitals were able to innovate in ways other systems can't replicate.... The Pioneer Accountable Care Organization, or Pioneer ACO, rewards hospitals that deliver high-quality care at lower-than-expected costs -- and punishes high spenders." (Vox)  

The Financial Advantages of Provider-Sponsored Health Plans
"Although shared savings, bundled payments, and shared risk are meaningful steps in the right direction, the most comprehensive solution is the provider-sponsored health plan (PSHP).... With a PSHP, a provider network -- often led by a hospital system -- assumes 100 percent of the financial risk for insuring the patient population. Some organizations make a gradual transition by starting with a hospital-sponsored employee health plan before insuring larger, more diverse patient populations.... PSHPs have the advantage of being anchored by a mission that does not apply to traditional insurers: to become more fully integrated into the communities they serve by providing medical care via high-quality, affordable health insurance." (George Lynn, for the Healthcare Financial Management Association [HFMA])  

Contrary to Goals, Emergency Room Visits Rise Under Obamacare
"Three-quarters of emergency physicians say they've seen ER patient visits surge since Obamacare took effect ... In addition to the nation's long-standing shortage of primary care doctors -- projected by the federal government to exceed 20,000 doctors by 2020 -- some physicians won't accept Medicaid because of its low reimbursement rates. That leaves many patients who can't find a primary care doctor to turn to the ER -- 56% of doctors in the ACEP poll reported increases in Medicaid patients." (USA TODAY)  

Insurance Covers Four in Five Visits to CVS and Walgreen Clinics
"Insurance companies see retailers providing higher quality and lower cost services beyond treatment for routine maladies like pink eye or minor scrapes and bruises to wellness and primary care services like routine physicals.... A [recent] study ... said the cost of care at a retail clinic can be about $110 for commercially insured customers though co-payments can be less while similar care at a doctor's office is $166." (Forbes)  

Pharmacy Faces Heavy Fines Under Latest OCR Resolution Agreement
"Cornell Prescription Pharmacy ..., a single location, compounding pharmacy located in Denver, Colorado, has agreed to settle potential HIPAA violations, in OCR's latest Resolution Agreement. In this Agreement, Cornell will pay a resolution amount of $125,000. That's quite a hefty price tag for a small covered entity like Cornell. But, it reminds all covered entities and business associates that HIPAA applies to, and affects, organizations equally." (Clearwater Compliance)  

[Opinion]

Protecting Small Business from the Effects of Obamacare: Opportunities After King v. Burwell
"Amendments that would specifically help small businesses include: [1] Complete elimination of the employer mandate nationwide. [2] Restoring insurance regulation to the states by eliminating [the power of HHS] to define 'Essential Health Benefits' and other Obamacare regulations.... [3] The most important regulation to eliminate is the age band of 3:1.... A more accurate age band would be about 5:1. This artificially increases the premiums of young people, making it more expensive to hire them." (National Center for Policy Analysis Health Policy Blog)  

[Opinion]

Turning the Benefits Service Business Upside Down
"Many benefits brokers live by the idea that face-to-face onsite service is the only way to provide quality service. Certainly that is one of the advantages a local broker has, being local. But times change. Web conferencing and even high definition web conferencing is now readily available to even a small business. Consumer behavior has changed too." (Joe Markland)  

Church Plans: Litigation Update (PDF)
"In contrast to retirement plan cases where participants have argued against the church plan exemption to obtain ERISA protections, participants in welfare benefit plans have argued for the applicability of the church plan exemption so they could litigate their state -- law based claims in state court.... Ignoring the battle that rages on in the courts, the IRS continues to confirm the church plan status of church-related tax exempt entities operating with a church-controlled administrator.... Officials from the PBGC continue to state that they will defer to IRS private letter rulings on a plan's eligibility for the church plan exemption unless (and until) contrary court decisions emerge." (Buck Consultants at Xerox)  

Executive Pay Resurfaces: The SEC Proposes New Pay-for-Performance Rules (PDF)
"[A]pplying the same metric to all companies imposes a 'one-size-fits-all' standard of calculating a company's performance that may not fairly present the link between performance and compensation for all companies.... [C]ompanies who may already use performance share programs but do not use [total shareholder return (TSR)] as a metric may be swayed to change their metrics to include TSR for ease of disclosure." (Squire Patton Boggs)  

TRA Regional Sales Consultant Tricia Morandini Named Volunteer of the Year at Matrix Human Services Awards Ceremony in Detroit, MI
The Retirement Advantage [TRA]

Benefitfocus Announces Reseller Agreement with SAP
Benefitfocus

PCORI Awards $14 Million to Determine Best Aspirin Dose to Protect Patients with Heart Disease
Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute

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