Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter

January 9, 2017

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Employee Benefits Jobs


Webcasts and Conferences

Looking Ahead to 2017: What to Expect for Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation with a Trump Administration?
January 19, 2017 in GA
Worldwide Employee Benefits Network [WEB] - Atlanta Chapter

Reports from the Front Line: Success Stories and 2017 Challenges for Benefit Professionals
January 26, 2017 in IL
Worldwide Employee Benefits Network [WEB] - Chicago West Chapter

Specialty Drugs: Strategies You Should Know
January 26, 2017 in OH
Worldwide Employee Benefits Network [WEB] - Cleveland Chapter

Public Sector Benefits Institute
February 20, 2017 in FL
International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans [IFEBP]

Advanced Trustees and Administrators Institute
February 20, 2017 in FL
International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans [IFEBP]

Setting Up Risk Management Protocols, Defined Benefits Plans vs. Defined Contribution Plans
February 23, 2017 WEBCAST
PRMIA

Wellness Program Compliance Challenges: Rules Under ERISA, HIPAA, ADA, GINA, and the ACA Require New Attention to Design and Administration
February 28, 2017 WEBCAST
HRWebAdvisor

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[Guidance Overview]

IRS Issues Updated ACA Guidance and Extends Deadline for Providing 1095-C Forms to Employees
"[The] updated FAQs answer specific questions about reporting for employees who decline the employer's offer of coverage, who are in a 'limited assessment period,' and those who must be treated as full-time under the 'look-back' measurement method. The update also incorporates recent IRS guidance on calculating the employee's required contribution for purposes of the affordability test, provides new information for employers with self-insured plans, and gives additional guidance on reporting offers of COBRA or retiree coverage."
Hanson Bridgett LLP

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[Guidance Overview]

New York State Paid Family Leave Benefits Law to Go Into Effect January 1, 2018
"Upon full implementation, New York employers will be required to provide all full-time and part-time employees who have been working for the employer for at least 6 months, up to 12 weeks of paid leave from work per year.... The law provides job protection guarantees for all employees taking leave. Employees are also entitled to the continuation of their health care benefits during the leave period."
Herrick, Feinstein LLP

Banking on Paid Time Off
"A growing number of employers are switching to PTO banks, making it an increasingly popular approach to administering paid leave.... [A poll] found strong growth in PTO banks -- from 38 percent of employers in 2010 to 63 percent in 2015. At the same time, there are emerging trends that could put a cap on the growth of PTO banks, including state and local laws governing sick leave."
Society for Human Resource Management [SHRM]

Managing Intermittent and Reduced Schedule Leave
" 'Intermittent leave' is FMLA leave taken in separate blocks of time due to a single qualifying reason.... A 'reduced leave schedule' is a leave schedule that reduces an employee's usual number of working hours per workweek, or hours per workday.... The FMLA regulations set forth a number of circumstances under which an employee would be entitled to take intermittent or reduced schedule leave."
HR Daily Advisor

Text of Comment Letters Submitted to DOL on ACA FAQs Part 34
These letters were submitted in response to DOL's request for comments on coverage and cost-sharing for specific medical management techniques in connection with tobacco cessation interventions, and disclosures with respect to mental health and substance abuse benefits. Deadline for submission of comment letters was Jan. 3, 2017.
Employee Benefits Security Administration [EBSA], U.S. Department of Labor [DOL]

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How to Measure Your Wellness Success: It's Different Than You Think
"[I]ncreasing engagement and participation in a program, for the most part, doesn't drive positive health outcomes at all.... For successful lifestyle modification, these are actions that build mindfulness and awareness, and focus on changing the underlying behaviors that predict health outcomes over time. Engagement in meaningful actions with that help individuals improve their diet and increase their physical activity level will be predictive of success."
Grooms Benefit Solutions

New Broker Rules Might Help Employers
"In recent years, many employers sought to control costs by turning to companies that promote individual medical plans to certain employees, like... Those eligible for COBRA [or] Part-time workers not eligible for the employer's group plan.... Now, new regulations bar insurers from discouraging sicker people from enrolling through the practice of altering broker commissions for mid-year enrollments."
bswift

First HIPAA Enforcement Action for Lack of Timely Breach Notification Settles for $475,000
"OCR's investigation revealed that Presence Health failed to notify, without unreasonable delay and within 60 days of discovering the breach, each of the 836 individuals affected by the breach, prominent media outlets (as required for breaches affecting 500 or more individuals), and OCR."
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS]

House Committee Releases Charts Detailing Effects of Obamacare
"[T]he Energy and Commerce Committee released eight infographics as part of a chart pack giving an Obamacare reality check. Together, the materials tell the truth about Obamacare, one where fewer plan options exist in counties across the country, and costs continue to rise each year, leaving vulnerable patients looking for help with nowhere to turn."
Energy and Commerce Committee, U.S. House of Representatives

Benefits in General

[Guidance Overview]

New ERISA Disability Rules Look to Level Playing Field for All
"Besides requiring an explanation for disagreement with treating doctor opinions, the regulations speak to situations where the Social Security Administration issues an award of disability benefits while the benefit plan reaches a contrary determination. Although no deference to a favorable Social Security determination is required, the regulations obligate benefit plans to provide "a more detailed justification [for reaching a different conclusion] ... in a case where the SSA definitions were functionally equivalent to those under the plan."
DeBofsky & Associates, P.C.

Text of Comment Letters to DOL on Proposed Revision of Form 5500 and Schedules
These letters were submitted in response to DOL's request for comments on proposed revisions to Form 5500 and its schedules, and to proposed changes to the regulations pertaining to them. Deadline for submission of comment letters was Dec. 5, 2016.
Employee Benefits Security Administration [EBSA], U.S. Department of Labor [DOL]

Executive Compensation and Nonqualified Plans

Top Priorities of New Administration for Executive Compensation Issues
"The initial blueprint for Republican Dodd-Frank Reform efforts is the Financial CHOICE Act, passed by the House Financial Services Committee in the fall of 2016, which is not a full repeal but a comprehensive revision of the massive financial reform law. Expect further efforts to pass the Corporate Governance Reform and Transparency Act, which would create a separate SEC-centered regulatory regime over proxy advisory firms, which includes an annual reporting requirement and conflict of interest disclosures."
HR Policy Association

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David Rhett Baker, J.D., Editor and Publisher
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BenefitsLink Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter, ISSN no. 1536-9595. Copyright 2017 BenefitsLink.com, Inc. All materials contained in this newsletter are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of BenefitsLink.com, Inc., or in the case of third party materials, the owner of those materials. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notices from copies of the content.

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