Relationship Manager - Large Market
John Hancock Retirement Plan Services
in CA

Employee Benefits Associate
Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
in IL, NY, PA

Mid-Level Employee Benefits Associate
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
in DC, NY, PA

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PBGC Issues Final “Reportable Event” Regulations
September 30, 2015 WEBCAST
(Groom Law Group)

ACA Reporting Made Easy & Fun - Meet the 1095-C
October 2, 2015 WEBCAST
(Littler Mendelson)

The Dirty Dozen: Correcting Common Compliance Errors
October 2, 2015 WEBCAST
(SunGard Relius)

Safe Harbor 401(k) Plans - A Three-Part Program
October 5, 2015 WEBCAST
(SunGard Relius)

4th Annual Telehealth and Remote Patient Monitoring Summit
January 27, 2016 in GA
(World Congress)

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[Guidance Overview]

ACA Information Returns (AIR) Working Group: Common Questions and Issues and Tax Year 2015 Indicator Standardization (PDF)
16 presentation slides. Topics include: [1] ACA Information Returns Transmission Checklist; [2] Tax Year 2015 Indicator Standardization; [3] Aggregated ALE Group Reporting of Form 1094. (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])  

[Advert.]

Now is a great time to join Worldwide Employee Benefits Network (WEB)

WEB members represent more than 25 professions and 30 areas of expertise within the pension and benefits industry-including administrators, consultants, attorneys, accountants, investment managers, communications experts and benefits managers. Join today.

[Guidance Overview]

IRS Releases Final 2015 ACA Reporting Forms and Instructions
"[1] Revisions to form instructions using multiemployer arrangement interim guidance ... [2] Reporting on offers of COBRA ... [3] Total employee count for ALE member... [4] Applicable large employer (ALE) definition... [5] Reporting health reimbursement arrangements (HRA) as minimum essential coverage (MEC)." (ADP)  

[Guidance Overview]

CMS Announces Part D Enhanced Medication Therapy Management Model
"The Part D Enhanced Medication Therapy Management (Enhanced MTM) model will assess whether providing selected Medicare Prescription Drug Plans (PDPs) with additional incentives and flexibilities to design and implement innovative programs will better achieve the overall goals for MTM programs, including: improving compliance with medication protocols, including high-cost drugs, ensuring that beneficiaries get the medications they need, and they are used properly; reducing medication-related problems, such as duplicative or harmful prescription drugs, or suboptimal treatments; increasing patients' knowledge of their medications to better achieve their or their prescribers' goals of therapy; and improving communication among prescribers, pharmacists, caregivers and patients." (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS], U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS])  

Can an Employee Decline FMLA Leave Simply by Checking a Box on a Form?
"[A recent federal district court] decision ... gives us good insight into what we need to include in our leave request forms to insulate us from an FMLA interference claim: [1] As a general rule, employers should use a general leave of absence request form, allowing employees to specify any of the reasons for their need for leave. [2] If you ask an employee to affirmatively indicate whether they are requesting FMLA leave -- by checking a box or specifically stating so -- it is imperative that you provide enough information about what the FMLA is." [Amstutz v. Liberty Ctr. Bd. of Ed., No. 13CV2385 (N.D. Ohio Sept. 9, 2015)] (FMLA Insights)  

Federal Exchange Notices to Employers Set to Start in 2016
"These Exchanges will phase in the employer notice program by first sending notices to employers with employees who received advanced payment of premium tax credits for at least one month in 2016 and for whom the employee provided a complete employer mailing address. CMS intends to evaluate the program phase-in for 2016 and then determine the best means of expanding and improving the process in subsequent years." (Thomson Reuters / EBIA)  

[Advert.]

American Conference Institute's Employee Benefit Plans Conference

Our faculty of leading in-house counsel & top law firms will break down the latest concerns impacting employee benefit plans & illustrate the steps you can take to remain compliant. Join us on November 17-18, 2015 in New York, NY.

Court Enjoins Enforcement of HHS Regulation Requiring Individuals Purchasing Fixed Indemnity Policies to Have Minimum Essential Coverage
"Excepted benefit status is crucial for fixed indemnity policies because they are not designed to comply with health care reform, and insurers want to be able to sell those policies to individuals who have no other coverage. HHS, by contrast, is concerned that individuals may purchase fixed indemnity coverage in lieu of major medical, mistakenly thinking that this coverage satisfies the individual mandate or provides equivalent protection to major medical coverage.... Given these competing interests, we probably have not seen the last of this issue." [Central United Life, Inc. v. Burwell, No. 14-1954 (D.D.C. Sept. 11, 2015)] (Thomson Reuters / EBIA)  

Startups Use Tech and Data to Challenge the Health Insurance Industry Status Quo
"[T]he individual market created by the Affordable Care Act and the rise of consumerism have spawned a slew of startup companies trying to elbow their way into the health insurance space. Some function as online brokers, using data to help consumers choose the right plan. Another tries to compete head-to-head with the industry's biggest names, offering an alternative to a young and tech-savvy crowd. Still others blur the lines between provider and payer, seeking to turn healthcare's business model on its head." (FierceHealthPayer)  

New York State Orders Health Republic Co-Op to End New Business
"[C]urrent individual coverage should continue through Dec. 31 for 108,000 people, most of whom signed up through New York's health exchange.... [E]xisting small group plans also remained in effect, covering an additional 101,500 people. Most of those policies were bought outside the exchange established under the [ACA]. The agencies said they would evaluate how to proceed with those policies based on Health Republic's continuing financial results." (The New York Times; subscription may be required)  

Republican-Controlled States Bolstered Their Health Insurance Rate Review Programs Using Incentives from the ACA
"[Of] states that did not meet CMS's criteria when the ACA was enacted, most made changes to meet those criteria ... However, Republican-controlled states were less likely than non-Republican-controlled states to increase their anticipated loss ratio requirements to align with the federal retrospective medical loss ratio requirement, expand Medicaid, and establish state-based exchanges ... [F]ederal incentives for states to strengthen their health insurance rate review programs were more effective than the incentives for states to adopt other insurance-related policy goals of the ACA." (SAGE Inquiry)  

Access to Specific Provisions of Employer-Provided Benefits: New Estimates
"[This] article describes the prevalence with which people working for private employers in the United States are given the opportunity to enroll in health and retirement plans with various provisions -- the extent to which they have access to those provisions.... The analysis that follows explores this dynamic by presenting participation and takeup rates for plan provisions alongside the access rates." (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS])  

Health Status of Older U.S. Workers and Nonworkers, National Health Interview Survey, 1997-2011
"Many U.S. workers are increasingly delaying retirement from work, which [we theorized] may be leading to an increase in chronic disease at the workplace.... [But we found that employed older adults] had better health outcomes than unemployed older adults.... A strong association exists between employment and health status in older adults beyond what can be explained by socioeconomic factors (e.g., education, income) or health behaviors (e.g., smoking)." (Preventing Chronic Disease, via Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)  

Pension Rights Center Response to Central States Teamsters Pension Fund Letter
Pension Rights Center

DOL Secures Judgment to Distribute More Than $310K to Participants in G&H Technology Inc. 401(k) Plan in Camarillo, California
Employee Benefits Security Administration [EBSA], U.S. Department of Labor

LOMA Secure Retirement Institute Launches New Course in FSRI Designation
LIMRA LOMA Secure Retirement Institute

Pensionmark Expands to Washington, D.C.
Pensionmark

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