HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Audit Program
Phase 1 of the HIPPA audits are complete and Phase 2 will begin shortly. The U.S. Departmetn of Helath & Human Services gives some background on Phase 1:
Background on the OCR Pilot Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Audit Program
Phase1: The use of health information technology continues to expand in health care. Although these new technologies provide many opportunities and benefits for consumers, they also pose new risks to consumer privacy. Because of these increased risks, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) include national standards for the privacy of protected health information, the security of electronic protected health information, and breach notification to consumers. HITECH also requires HHS to perform periodic audits of covered entity and business associate compliance with the HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules. HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) enforces these rules, and in 2011, OCR established a pilot audit program to assess the controls and processes covered entities have implemented to comply with them. Through this program, OCR developed a protocol, or set of instructions, it then used to measure the efforts of 115 covered entities. As part of OCR’s continued commitment to protect health information, the office instituted a formal evaluation of the effectiveness of the pilot audit program.
Learn more about the Pilot Audit Program.
Learn more about the Audit Evaluation Program.
Learn more about the Audit Program Protocol.
See the Original Article from the U.S. Departmetn of Health and Human Services Here.
Proposed regulations clarify TIN responsibilities, create new questions
Ryan Moulder gives a little clarity on the new TIN regulations in the article below.
On Aug. 2, 2016 the IRS published in the Federal Register proposed regulations which among other things attempt to clarify the confusion regarding Taxpayer Identification Number solicitations. This is the government’s third attempt to clarify the TIN issue since the creation of IRC section 6055. The first attempt was made in the preamble to the final regulations for section 6055. In an attempt to bring greater clarity and to gather further comments on the issue, the government issued Notice 2015-68. Notice 2015-68 states an employer will not be subject to the penalties for the failure to report a TIN if the entity follows the regulations set forth at section 301.6724-1(e) with the additional modifications:
- The initial solicitation is made at an individual’s first enrollment or, if already enrolled on September 17, 2015, the next open enrollment;
- The second solicitation is made at a reasonable time thereafter, and
- The third solicitation is made by December 31 of the year following the initial solicitation.
The Notice is not a model for clarity and this issue has only been exasperated by the number of AIRTN500 error messages employers received when submitting the Form 1095-C. With that as a backdrop, the government is once again trying to clarify an employer’s solicitation obligation through proposed regulations. The proposed regulations only apply to the Form 1095-B and to Part III of the Form 1095-C (the Part that is used for employers that sponsor a self-insured plan). The proposed regulations do not affect Parts I or II of the Form 1095-C. This article focuses on the proposed regulations as they relate to Part III of the Form 1095-C. However, most of the concerns discussed in this article could be applied to the Form 1095-B.
As a refresher to what we have written about in previous publications, an employer submitting a Form 1095-C is subject to the penalty provisions of section 6721 and section 6722 for failure to timely file a correct information return or failure to timely furnish a correct statement to the individual. The penalties under both section 6721 and section 6722 may be waived if the failure to timely file (or furnish) a correct information return (or statement) was due to reasonable cause and not due to willful neglect. An employer may meet this standard by showing it acted in a responsible manner and that the failure was the result of events beyond the employer’s control or there were mitigating factors. An employer in danger of violating section 6721 and section 6722 as the result of a missing TIN or an incorrect TIN can follow the procedures laid out in specific sections of the regulations to fulfill the standard discussed in the preceding sentences.
The proposed regulations did a good job distinguishing between missing TINs (discussed at section 301.6724-1(e)) and incorrect TINs (discussed at section 301.6724-1(f)). Treasury and the IRS agreed with commenters that some modifications needed to be made to the solicitation process for missing TINs. However, the proposed regulations leave unchanged the regulations set out for incorrect TINs.
One of the problems commenters complained about with regard to missing TINs is it did not adequately define the term “opened” which was relevant to determine when the initial solicitation needed to be made to satisfy the regulations. An initial solicitation for a missing TIN must be made at the time an account is “opened.” Prior to the existence of the Form 1095-C, missing TIN solicitations were typically performed for financial accounts. These accounts are generally considered “opened” on the first day the account is available for use by the owner. However, this understanding of the term “opened” does not translate well to health coverage.
To rectify this problem, the proposed regulations provide that for the purposes of the Form 1095-C an account is considered “opened” on the date the filer receives a substantially complete application for new coverage or to add an individual to existing coverage. The proposed regulations indicate the initial solicitation for a missing TIN can be satisfied by requesting the enrolling individual’s TIN as part of the application process.
If the initial solicitation for a missing TIN does not produce a TIN, the first annual solicitation under the proposed regulations must be made no later than 75 days after the date on which the account was “opened” or, if the coverage is retroactive, no later than 75 days after the determination of retroactive coverage is made. The second annual solicitation for a missing TIN remains unchanged from the current regulations and must be made by December 31 of the year following the year the account is opened. It is important to note an employer may continue to rely on the rules discussed in Notice 2015-68 or may follow the proposed regulations until the final regulations are published.
Additional relief is provided by the proposed regulations for a missing TIN. For any individual enrolled in coverage on any day before July 29, 2016, the account will considered to be opened on July 29, 2016. An employer will have satisfied its initial solicitation obligation with respect to an individual who is already enrolled so long as the employer requested the enrolled individual’s TIN as part of the application process for coverage or in any other appropriate fashion before July 29, 2016.
Consistent with Notice 2015-68, the first annual solicitation would need to be made within a reasonable time after July 29, 2016 if the initial solicitation did not produce a TIN. An employer who performs the first annual solicitation within 75 days (before Oct. 11, 2016) will be treated as having made the first annual solicitation within a reasonable time. In this situation, if the first two solicitations (the initial solicitation and the first annual solicitation) do not produce a TIN, the second annual solicitation would need to be made by December 31, 2017.
The proposed regulations do not change the solicitation process for incorrect TINs. Therefore, for an incorrect TIN, the first annual solicitation must be made on or before December 31 of the year in which the employer was notified of the incorrect TIN unless the employer was notified of the incorrect TIN in December in which case the employer’s solicitation must be made by January 31 of the following year (see section 301.6724-1(f)(1)(ii)). Similarly, the rules for the second annual solicitation for an incorrect TIN remain unchanged. Therefore, if the employer is notified in any following year after the first annual solicitation that an employee’s (or other dependents’) TIN is incorrect, a second annual solicitation must be made on or before December 31 of the year in which the employer was notified of the incorrect TIN unless the employer was notified of the incorrect TIN in December in which case the employer’s solicitation must be made by January 31 of the following year (see section 301.6724-1(f)(1)(iii)).
The current regulations state that an employer may be notified of an incorrect TIN by the IRS or by a penalty notice issued by the IRS under section 6721 (see section 301.6724-1(f)(1)(ii)). Employers are being notified of an incorrect TIN on Part III of the Form 1095-C with an AIRTN500 error message. We were under the assumption that this would trigger the TIN solicitation obligation. However, footnote 2 of the proposed regulations appears to call this into question. Footnote 2 states:
A filer of the information return required under section 1.6055-1 may receive an error message from the IRS indicating that a TIN and name provided on the return do not match IRS records. An error message is neither a Notice 972CG, Notice of Proposed Civil Penalty, nor a requirement that the filer must solicit a TIN in response to the error message.
This footnote could be interpreted several ways. One possible reading would result in an employer having no solicitation obligation despite the fact an employee’s Form 1095-C triggered an AIRTN500 error message. Alternatively, this footnote could be read to mean an employer who received an AIRTN500 error message would not in all cases be required to make a solicitation. This would be the case if the employer had already fulfilled an initial solicitation as well as two additional annual solicitations at a prior time
However, we think the instructions to the Form 1095-C require an employer receiving an AIRTN500 error message to make some sort of effort to identify a correct TIN for a covered individual. Among other items, an employer is responsible for filing a corrected Form 1095-C if there was an error in the TIN in Part I or Part III related to covered individuals. The source of the error identification may be an IRS error message when submitting the Form 1095-C. The AIRTN500 error message is telling an employer there is an error in a TIN in either Part I or Part III of the Form 1095-C.
However, and to murky the water even further, the instructions for the Form 1094-C/1095-C state “Regulations section 301.6724-1 (relating to information return penalties) does not require you to file corrected returns for missing or incorrect TINs if you meet the reasonable cause criteria.” The confusion with this statement begins with the statement appearing to be at odds with the Form 1094-C/1095-C instructions requirement that a corrected return be filed for an incorrect TIN in Part I or Part III. However, this could conceivably be reconciled with the current regulations. The current regulations require an employer to include the updated TIN with any information return that has an original due date which is after the date that the employer receives the updated TIN (see section 301.6724-1(f)(1)(iv)). Therefore, these statements could be reconciled by viewing the current regulations standard of only updating forms after the correct TIN has been received (as stated in section 301.6724-1(f)(1)(iv)) as trumping the Form 1094-C/1095-C instructions need to correct a return for an incorrect TIN in Part I or Part III.
What is more difficult to reconcile is footnote 2 and the statement in the Form 1094-C/1095-C instructions. As discussed above, footnote 2 could be read to mean no solicitation effort is needed in the event of an AINTN500 error message. Seemingly to the contrary, the Form 1094-C/1095-C instructions state an employer does not need to file a corrected return for a missing or incorrect TIN if the employer meets the reasonable cause criteria of section 301.6724-1. This is inconsistent because, to meet the reasonable cause criteria of section 301.6724-1, an employer must follow the solicitation procedures for missing and incorrect TINs discussed in section 301.6724-1(e) and section 301.6724-1(f) respectively.
One possible reading of all of these statements would give employers two potential paths. If the footnote 2 path is followed, no formal solicitation would need to be made. However, if the footnote 2 path is followed and an informal solicitation produces a correct TIN, the employer would need to file a corrected Form 1095-C and typically would need to furnish the employee a corrected statement. This path is unsatisfying to a conservative legal mind. Alternatively, the second path would not require a corrected return but the formal solicitation procedures discussed in section 301.6724-1 would need to be followed. The uncomfortable aspect of this option is no corrected return would be filed after the employer is made aware that either a TIN in Part I or Part III of the Form 1095-C is incorrect. Again, this path is unsatisfying to a conservative legal mind.
Given the uncertainty created by footnote 2 and the statement in the Form 1094-C/1095-C instructions, we still view the formal solicitation as the best practice if an informal inquiry does not solve the TIN issue. Additionally, we view filing a corrected return as the safest practice. It is important to note that correcting errors is a requirement to use the good faith efforts standard to file accurate and complete information returns in 2015. Therefore, an employer must at least make some sort of effort to figure out what is causing the AIRTN500 error message.
Ideally, the IRS would release a simple overriding statement. The statement would begin “In the event one of your Form 1095-Cs triggers an AIRTN500 error message…” This would be followed by a simple statement or two as to what type of solicitation needs to be performed and whether a corrected Form 1095-C needs to be completed. We urge the IRS to take such action as the AIRTN500 error message was received for millions, if not tens of millions, of Form 1095-Cs.
We understand that the AIRTN500 error message has been the source of immense frustration for many employers. The proposed regulations appear to be another small step in the right direction towards an amicable solution. However, footnote 2 and the Form 1094-C/1095-C instructions cast uncertainty as to when the formal solicitation procedures need to be followed. Employers need to continue to monitor the government’s guidance on this important issue. And, until we get official word from the IRS, we view the formal solicitation procedures along with a corrected return when the solicitation is successful as the safest way to ensure compliance.
See the original article posted on EmployeeBenefitAdvisor.com on August 11, 2016 Here.
Source:
Moulder, R. (2016, August 11). Proposed regulations clarify TIN responsibilities, create new questions. Retrieved from https://www.employeebenefitadviser.com/opinion/proposed-regulations-clarify-tin-responsibilities-create-new-questions
How companies keep employee perks hot during the summer
Giving extra perks in the summertime can help increase productivity and help cut costs. Kathleen Koster gives some insight for extra summertime perks for employees in the article below from BenefitNews.com
Summer means fun in the sun for employees and their families, and more and more employers are providing additional flex time and summer scheduling to allow workers to enjoy the warm weather and spend their work hours recharged and refreshed.
From flex time to company softball leagues to early dismissals for good surf days, employers are rewarding employees with summer benefits and perks that fit their company culture.
According to the SHRM Employee Benefits Survey, 17% of employers offer seasonal scheduling. Employers may offer Fridays off or close early on those days, which not only gives employees a reward, it saves money on air conditioning and electricity.
Further, employers now offer employees an annual company outing, such as a picnic, up from 55% in 2012 to 64% in 2016.
Social gatherings give employees the opportunity to get to know one another outside of the job, which can lead to better working relationships. According to the SHRM report, almost one-third (30%) of employers offered discount ticket services, and 23% offered company purchased tickets to events such as cultural proceedings, sporting events or theme parks.
Another traditional example is allowing seasonal casual dress, offered by 27% of employers.
These are all solid, fun ideas for summer rewards, but EBN also spoke with an employer who goes far beyond these traditional summer perks. Patagonia offers company bikes, volleyball courts and on-site yoga for workers at their Ventura campus. Their reception desk posts daily surf reports and they even make companywide announcements on especially days when waves are prime for surfers.
“Whether it’s playing volleyball or going down to the beach, we encourage people to take a moment of time to reconnect and enjoy summer,” says Shannon Ellis, Patagonia’s HR director.
See also: 20 crazy benefits offered by employers
The company is known for its athletic lifestyle and environmentally-friendly products, which carries into their company culture.
“In terms of traditional stuff [like office picnics], I’d say we’re very untraditional in that regard in that we try to capitalize on events that deliver more connection back to the community and tie in with the company mission,” explains Ellis.
And that mission — “to build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis” — clearly extends to its employee benefits.
For example, teams participate in volunteer efforts at local grassroots and environmental groups. Ellis says a group in the Ventura office recently volunteered at a marine mammal rescue center. These group initiatives are “a great way to connect with the local community and also for team building,” she says.
What’s more, employees can take two months off work to volunteer at an environmental non-profit and still receive their full salary. All employees are eligible to apply for and participate in these environmental internships and many do, especially in the summertime when, according to anecdotal data from Ellis, utilization is at its highest.
Ellis says they rarely have staffing shortages. “In the summertime it’s very easy to adapt and schedule accordingly with things like vacation,” she says.
This year, Patagonia plans to send approximately 170 of its employees into the field through its Environmental Internship Program. Since its inception in 1993, Patagonia has supported nearly 2,000 employees with fully paid protected leave while they work for environmental organizations around the world.
For longer leave (such as maternity, paternity or adoption), Patagonia often has employees from different segments of the organization sub in so they gain new experiences and a deeper understanding of the full company’s interworking, as well as their own career goals.
Rewards on a dime
No matter what the organization’s size or budget, HR managers can find ways to engage and reward employees in the summertime.
“There are lots of unique perks in the high tech companies and financial services. But I think any organizations regardless of size or revenue can come up with something,” says Lenny Sanicola, benefits practice leader for WorldatWork.
This could mean hosting an ice cream social in the office or bringing a snow cone truck to the parking lot. “Look for ways to keep people motivated and productive,” he says.
Flexibility is a great example. The time issue is critical for working parents during the summer when their kids are out of school. The spring and summer is a great time to encourage employees to reach out to the EAP for camp or childcare referrals.
“Even if company doesn’t [offer flexible or compressed work schedules] during the year, it can be an attractive benefit for summer,” says Sanicola. “Or if they do, make it go further in the summer.”
Sanicola also suggests offering “Bring Your Kid to Work” days in the summer. This could be a single day or employers could offer it once a month, depending on the size of the workforce.
Patagonia offers on-site childcare for their Ventura campus employees. But their benefits philosophy extends to all their employees, no matter their location, be it at Ventura corporate headquarters, their distribution center in Nevada or any of their retail stores across the country. So while they can’t offer on-site care to store employees, they have a reimbursement program in place.
And just because the summer ends, doesn't mean company perks have to cool off.
“We see larger utilization [in child care benefits and environmental internships] during the summer, but our philosophy spans the entire year,” says Patagonia’s Ellis. “We really try to replicate summer to year round.”
See the Original Article Here.
Source:
Koster, K. (2016, August 2). How companies keep employee perks hot during the summer [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/news/how-companies-keep-employee-perks-hot-during-the-summer
What Employers Can Learn From Millennials
Great read by Christina Folz on generational communication.
It's a tale as old as time: Middle-aged and older adults kvetch about the next generation and speculate on what this world is coming to. Business author and consultant Jamie Notter recently shared a reference to young adults' lack of respect for elders and poor work ethic—from the ancient Roman philosopher Cicero.
"Every 20 years, a new generation comes into the work world as adults, and we all freak out about it," says Notter, who co-wrote the book When Millennials Take Over (Idea Press, 2015). As the largest living generation, Millennials (those younger than 35) have perhaps borne more than their fair share of scorn.
"We are really mad about how many trophies they got," says Notter, who is a member of Generation X and founding partner of WorkXO LLC. "We're constantly saying they don't get it, they don't know how to work in the real world." In truth, however, they likely understand more about the future of business than others, given that they are shaping it. "They have a lot to teach us," Notter maintains. "We need to shift conversation away from complaining and more toward being curious."
For their book, Notter and co-author Maddie Grant researched organizations that had alignment with the Millennial approach to business. These companies tend to be:
Digital. This is about more than technology. It's a philosophy based on the concept that software must work for the user—by being customizable and constantly updated. "We need to bring that mindset into leadership and business," Notter says. The American Society for Surgery of the Hand, a Chicago-based organization with about 20 employees, shaped its whole enterprise around the needs of employees rather than management—by letting people wear what they want to work, for example—and the organization has experienced off-the-charts engagement as a result.
Clear. "It's not just transparency for transparency's sake," Notter says. "It's about making things visible in order to improve the quality of decisions that get made." Menlo Innovations, a technology firm in Ann Arbor, Mich., pairs two software designers at a single workstation; one comments on the code as the other is writing it, and each pair's tasks are posted on a wall so they know what is expected at all times. "They charge more than competitors and still have people lining up," Notter says. "The product is that good."
Fluid. The hierarchy is still there, but everyone is actively engaged in the organization's mission. At Quality Living Inc. in Omaha, Neb., a rehabilitation facility for people with brain and spinal cord injuries, there is a standing rule: No matter where a person is on the organization's hierarchy, he or she must connect decision-making to the hopes and dreams of the patient. "For this to work, you need to be crystal clear on what defines success," Notter says.
Fast. All the organizations Notter and Grant studied were agile and quick—in part because employees are trusted to make choices themselves. At Menlo Innovations, for example, "decisions get made without e-mail and boring status update meetings," Notter says.
Instead, employees communicate and resolve issues using something Notter referred to as "high-speed voice technology."
In other words, they talk to each other.
Read the original article posted on SHRM.org on July 27, 2016 Here.
Source:
Folz, C. (2016, July 27). What employers can learn from millennials [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/0716/pages/when-millennials-take-over.aspx
Healthcare strategies that can save employers money
Todd Rolland compares the traditional strategies to new stratigies for healthcare savings in the artilce below.
It is no secret that employee benefit costs are rising. As an employer, we wonder what can be done to reduce costs and as an employee, we are curious if we are getting the best deal. Medical insurance costs are rising faster than many companies’ profit margins and outpacing inflation on a year-to-year basis.
Rising healthcare costs are eroding revenue unlike any other element within a business. Government regulations and rising premiums are also affecting cash flow which can impact all areas of business operations. Separating rhetoric and marketing from meaningful, impactful company-wide solutions is becoming increasingly difficult. However, as the paradigm shift of healthcare strategies gains momentum, sustainable solutions are becoming clearer.
There are evolving options with this new paradigm shift of healthcare strategies: traditional, direct contracting, reference-based pricing and bundled pricing. A strong market push for pricing transparency has created additional opportunities for employers to save money and control costs, and they are doing just that. Employers now have the ability to function much like the traditional PPO has historically functioned by negotiating directly with providers.
The traditional approach includes elements such as reinsurance, administration, PPO networks, pharmacy benefit managers, population health management, predictive modeling, multiple plan designs and wellness strategies.
New options
Direct contracting is also a viable option because providers are much more willing to contract directly with employers than ever before. The idea is to establish a delivery and pricing contract that accomplishes two primary objectives:
- An agreed-upon fee schedule for services performed that is less than typical insurance company PPO-contracted rates.
- Incentive for participants to utilize contracted providers for the care needed.
The third option, reference-based pricing, allows employers to structure partial self-funding plans that reimburse a certain percentage of Medicare reimbursements levels for claims. PPO fee schedules can be 100-200% higher than these Medicare rates. As a result, the reimbursement plan can save employers a considerable amount. However, there is still a risk in balanced billing. The direct contracting option protects the employer with balanced billing issues that they would otherwise experience with reference-based pricing methodologies.
Bundled pricing is rapidly evolving and creates a significant opportunity for employers to save money. Employers simply pay agree-upon cash pricing for surgeries performed on an outpatient basis, and in certain cases, an inpatient basis. The price includes all services including facility, surgeon, anesthesiology, pathology, radiology, etc.
Additionally, two strategies that are gaining attention around prescription costs are average script pricing and pass-through average sales price prescription pricing. Both offer employers opportunities to find significant claims savings.
See the original article posted on EmployeeBenefitAdvisor on August 9, 2016 Here.
Source:
Rolland, T. (2016, August 9). Healthcare strategies that can save employers money [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://www.employeebenefitadviser.com/news/healthcare-strategies-that-can-save-employers-money
What It Means to Think Big As a Small Business
Sabrina Baker defines what it means for Small Business to Think Big in the article below.
I’ve been using this tag line of “small business who think big” for just under a year now. I took some time last year to really understand my target audience and focus my work and thought that best defines the clients I want to work with. It seems to be resonating because when potential clients reach out, they often mention how they really like that line and thought it fit them well.
And then they ask me what it means.
Funny, isn’t it, how something can speak to us, but then we wonder if it means the same to us as it was intended? Over lunch last week a new acquaintance asked what I did. I gave her the tagline and she, quite enthusiastically (which I don’t think was feigned), said she really liked that….and then asked me what it meant.
I told her and realized that maybe it would be worth sharing with you. I’ve explained it on the website, but never through the blog, where most of you meet me. So here’s the story.
When this business first began, I hadn’t really defined my target market. I always tell people who ask how I got started to never, ever, start a business like I did. I had no idea what I was doing, did not do any of the conventional things that people tell you to do (like, you know, have an actual plan) and somehow stumbled and fumbled into a growing business.
In the beginning, I would take almost any project. I knew I wanted to focus on small businesses, but that’s about all I knew; and very early on, most small businesses only wanted me to write a handbook or be someone they could call to talk through a termination. All of those things are necessary, but not indicative of businesses who think big. With these clients I would deliver on the service they asked for and then talk to them about other things. For the client who only wanted a handbook, I would ask them what message they wanted the handbook to send. What policies did we absolutely need and what could we leave out. For the business that wanted an employee termination hotline, I would ask them to think about leadership training or better onboarding so that we could maybe come to the place of termination a little less often. And often I would be met with the same response.
“Sabrina, that’s all great, but that’s big business stuff. We are too small to worry about that right now or put any of that in place. It will just change when we grow anyway.”
I would get so frustrated thinking about what they could do. I would try to explain that setting those things up now would be easier than doing it when they were big.
About two years in, I received a call from a potential client for onboarding help. He had 14 employees, but had just received his second round of funding and would be adding nearly 40 more in the coming year. He wanted to get all of the “HR stuff” setup, but most importantly really wanted to talk about onboarding. He felt that he needed to start these 40 employees off right and wanted to establish a process for future growth.
I was in love. In a total, business sense of course.
I decided right then and there that these would be the clients I chose to work with going forward. Not that I wouldn’t write a handbook or be on call for term issues, I still do those things, but I do them with businesses who also care about setting up what have been traditionally held as big business issues, even though they are still small.
Things like onboarding.
Culture.
Leadership Development.
Employee Development.
Branding.
Workforce strategy.
I know it’s hard to think about some of this stuff when you are just trying to get a business off the ground, but I firmly believe it’s even harder when that business is grown and some of these things have created themselves – and not in the manner the leader would have intended.
Or worse, you find out way too late that your business is behind the competition and cannot compete for talent because some of these human capital strategy areas weren’t addressed.
So a business who thinks big is a business who realizes, regardless of employee population, they can still think about and focus on advanced human capital concepts. They think about how they want the business to look in five, ten or twenty years when the population size may be double, triple or more and decide what they want things to look like then, and put practices in place now to make sure they do.
They are businesses who realize that regardless of whether they have one employee or 2,000, they are the spirit of the business, the thing that keeps customers coming back for more. They realize it and let that drive their strategy from day one.
Thinking big as a small business means not limiting your actions to the size you are now, but the size you can be.
And those are the small businesses I most want to work with.
Originally posted on Acacia HR Solutions blog.
Source:
Baker, S. (2016, August 03). What it means to think big as a small business [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://blog.shrm.org/blog/what-it-means-to-think-big-as-a-small-business.
Spicy, Sweet and Good to Eat!
This month, we are bringing you some food favorites of our own Abby Graham!
Abby is a member of Saxon's Wealth Management team with over 12 years of experience in the health and wellness industry. When she isn't helping members understand their benefits, she can be found sewing and quilting or out with her husband and son.
Her favorite place to be eat can be found in Mariemont. "The outside seating [at Dilly Café] is perfect on a nice night and/or when we have our little one with us. They generally have a band playing, the food is excellent, and the beer and wine list are great! Their crab cakes, wings and burgers are my favorites!"
At home, the family favorite is Corn Avocado Salsa. "My husband and I make this together since part of it is grilled and the rest is just chopping! It’s best in the summer when the tomatoes are ripe and the corn is sweet."
Here's what you'll need:
- 1 ripe tomato
- 1 avocado
- 1 ear of corn
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 sweet corn
- 1 jalapeno
- 2-3 garlic cloves
- 1 ripe lime
- salt to taste
Grill the tomato until the skin is cracked and peeling off. Cut the avocado and grill it face down for about 5 minutes. Grill the corn until it is cooked all the way. In the meantime, finely chop the onion, jalapeno, cilantro and garlic cloves. Squeeze ½ of the lime over onion, jalapeno, cilantro and garlic combination.
Once tomato, avocado, and corn are finished grilling, cut corn off of the cob, and peel skin off of tomato. Dice tomato and avocado and add to chopped mix. Add salt to taste and serve warm with tortilla chips!
Sounds like a great dish Abby! Thank you!
Report highlights employers’ biggest concerns: ACA, new bias claims and OT regs
What are your top concerns as an employer? See what others had to say in the article by Tim Gould.
What’s keeping C-level execs up at night? Just a few small concerns like the new overtime rules, a likely increase in bias claims based on sexual orientation, the Affordable Care Act and the threat of workplace violence.
Those are the takeaways from the 2016 Executive Employer Survey from Littler, the giant employment law firm. The fifth annual survey, completed by 844 in-house counsel, human resources professionals and C-suite executives from some of America’s largest companies, examines the key legal, economic and social issues impacting employers as the 2016 presidential election approaches.
Those pesky OT rules
As you well know, the Department of Labor (DOL) has advanced several regulatory initiatives that have brought the agency’s enforcement of federal employment laws to the forefront for employers. This concern is no doubt driven in large part by the recently finalized Fair Labor Standard Act overtime regs, which will dramatically increase the number of Americans who can qualify for overtime pay. Although respondents completed the survey in the weeks prior to the release of the final rule, 65% had already conducted audits to identify affected employees.
“Employers are clearly feeling the impact of the DOL’s increasingly aggressive regulatory agenda, most notably the new overtime regulations,” Littler attorneys Tammy McCutchen and Lee Schreter said in a joint statement.
They added a sobering note: “While it is encouraging that the majority of respondents started to prepare before the rule was finalized, more than a quarter (28%) said they had taken no action given delays in the rulemaking process. Given that the reclassification process can take up to six months and the rule is unlikely to be blocked from going into effect on December 1, 2016, employers should move quickly to ensure compliance.”
And participants are pretty sure the DOL’s going to be aggressive about making the new rules stick: The vast majority of respondents to this year’s survey (82%) expect DOL enforcement to have an impact on their workplace over the next 12 months, with 31% anticipating a significant impact (up from 18% in the 2015 survey).
Where are the presidential candidates likely to land on employment policies? The majority of respondents (75%) said income inequality (e.g., overtime rules, state equal pay, minimum wage laws, etc.) would be a significant priority of the Democratic candidate. Only 4% felt income inequality would be a significant priority of the Republican candidate.
Top regulatory and legislative issues
With the National Labor Relations Board’s recent expansion of the definition of a “joint employer,” 70% of respondents to the Littler survey expect a rise in claims over the next year based on actions of subcontractors, staffing agencies and franchisees. Approximately half of respondents predicted higher costs (53%) and increased caution in entering into arrangements that might constitute joint employment (49%).
As was the case in the 2015 survey, 85% of employers said the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would have an impact on their workplace in the next 12 months. While two-thirds said they do not expect a repeal of the ACA if a Republican is elected president this fall, respondents saw a greater likelihood of changes to individual provisions. Fifty-three percent said a Republican administration could lead to a repeal of or changes to the Cadillac excise tax and 48% saw a likelihood for changes to the play-or-pay mandate.
Social issues come to the forefront
Today’s companies are increasingly experiencing the incursion of social issues into the workplace, the survey indicated.
In the largest year-over-year change in Littler’s survey results, 74% of respondents expect more discrimination claims over the next year related to the rights of LGBT workers (up from 31% in 2015) and 61% expect more claims based on equal pay (up from 34% in 2015).
This change is driven by LGBT discrimination and equal pay ranking among the top enforcement priorities for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), but it also mirrors key focus areas for the Obama administration, government efforts at the state and federal levels, and increased public awareness.
Preventing workplace violence
In response to tragic mass shootings across the nation, companies are taking a range of actions to keep their employees safe, including updating or implementing a zero-tolerance workplace policy (52%), conducting pre-employment screenings (40%) and holding training programs (38%). Only 11% of respondents said they had not taken any action because violence is not a concern for their company.
“Putting policies in place to increase awareness of workplace violence and ensure that employees understand how to report threats in the workplace are steps that all employers would be advised to take,” said Littler’s Terri Solomon, who has extensive experience counseling employers on workplace violence prevention. “Unfortunately, even though workplace violence – and particularly active shooter instances – are statistically rare, no employer is truly immune.”
See the original article from HRMorning.com Here.
Source:
Gould, T. (2016, July 13). Report highlights employers' biggest concerns: ACA, new bias claims and OT regs [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://www.hrmorning.com/report-highlights-employers-biggest-concerns-aca-new-bias-claims-and-ot-regs/
Adopting a coaching mindset to help employees plan for retirement
Are your employees prepared for retirement? See how Cath McCabe gives tips and tricks on coaching your employee for retirement.
America may be becoming the land of the free and the home of the grey as more adults are living longer lives.
According to the Administration on Aging, the number of centenarians more than doubled between 1980 and 2013. But lifespans aren’t the only thing increasing – so are the expenses that many older Americans face.
Retiree health care costs have surged exponentially – the Employee Benefits Research Institute (EBRI) estimates that the average healthy 65-year-old man will need $124,000 to handle future medical expenses. For a healthy woman of the same age, the expected amount is $140,000.
Many of these extra years – or decades – will be spent in retirement, so it’s crucial that Americans plan to have the income they need not only to retire, but to last throughout a potentially long retirement.
Since many adults use employer-sponsored retirement plans as a source of retirement funding, plan sponsors are in a key position to act as retirement “coaches” by encouraging employees to plan ahead and help them plan for their financial security in retirement.
Engage employees early and often
We have found that employers are a trusted source of financial information for employees. Plan sponsors can leverage this trust to engage employees with a variety of programs and tools that help them understand their future retirement income needs.
A plan sponsor’s role as coach begins when employees begin their careers by providing financial education. Education can help new employees recognize the importance of contributing to a retirement plan and the benefits of saving early, as well as help to optimize employee participation in retirement programs. Education designed for mid-career employees, and those nearing retirement, can cover more complex topics as they encounter life events that require a change to their road map for retirement.
And if employees can get started earlier in their careers, there is an increased likelihood that employees will have a positive retirement experience. A recent survey among current TIAA retirees found that those who began retirement planning before age 30 are more likely to retire before the age of 60, and 75 percent say they are very satisfied with their retirement.
Coach employees through education and advice to create a retirement road map
Many Americans need help in setting and achieving their retirement goals – a recent survey found that 29 percent of Americans are saving nothing at all for retirement. It’s important to develop a retirement coaching strategy that can help put participants in the right frame of mind and offers the resources they need to establish clear retirement goals and a road map for achieving those goals.
Many people think about their retirement savings in terms of accumulation – how much of a “nest egg” they’re able to build to fund their retirement. But employers should help their employees think about their retirement savings in terms of the amount of income they will have each month to cover their living expenses. Having a source of guaranteed lifetime income can help employees mitigate the risk of outliving their retirement savings.
As a rule of thumb, most employees will need between 70 percent and 100 percent of their pre-retirement income. If employees find they are not on track to meet this ratio, plan sponsors can help identify the necessary actions to increase the chance of success. For example, employees may need to increase their savings rate. Plan sponsors can help by encouraging employees to save enough of their own dollars to get the full employer match. If employees already are saving enough to get the full match, they then should aim to increase their contributions each year until they are saving the maximum amount allowed. Many employees older than 50 also can take advantage of catch-up provisions to save additional funds.
Perhaps the most important function of education is to drive employees to receive personalized advice from a licensed financial consultant supporting the employer’s retirement plan. This is where the road map is created, with the advisor providing turn-by-turn guidance. For most employees, an annual meeting can help keep them on track.
Why is it important to “coach” employees to create the road map? Simply put, it can improve both plan outcomes and the employees’ retirement outcomes. Advice is proven to positively correlate with positive action – enrolling, saving or increasing saving or optimizing allocations. (See this Retirement Readiness research for more information). Individuals who have discussed retirement with an advisor are much more likely to “run the numbers” and calculate how much income they’ll need in retirement – 79 percent versus only 32 percent who have not met with an advisor.
Helping employees along the road to retirement is a win-win for employees and plan sponsors, even beyond the fiduciary requirements. A 2015 EBRI report found that 54 percent of employees who are extremely satisfied with their benefits, such as their retirement plan and health insurance, also are extremely satisfied with their current job. Similarly, a 2013-2014 Towers Watson study revealed that nearly half (45 percent) of American workers agree that their retirement plan is an important reason why they choose to stay with their current employer. Establishing strong connections between employees and their retirement plans may aid employers’ retention efforts.
Supporting employees on their retirement readiness journey
Once employees have a better sense of the actions they need to take, plan sponsors can provide additional support by highlighting the investment choices that may help employees achieve their desired level of income. Many employees may understand how to save, but they are far less familiar with how and when to withdraw and use their savings after they have stopped working. Offering access to lifetime income options, such as low-cost annuities, through the plan’s investment menu can help employees create a monthly retirement “paycheck” that they can’t outlive.
The peace of mind that these solutions offer can last a lifetime, too. A survey among TIAA retirees found that those who have incorporated lifetime income solutions into their retirement have been satisfied with that decision. Among the retirees with a fixed or variable annuity, 92 percent are satisfied with their decision to annuitize.
Employers also should set a benchmark for regularly evaluating employees’ progress toward their retirement goals. This will allow employees to monitor their retirement outlook and identify opportunities to adjust their savings strategy so they don’t veer off their retirement road map.
Remember the emotional aspect of retirement
In addition to the financial aspects of retirement planning, it’s important to factor in emotional considerations. Offering a mentoring program, one-on-one advice and guidance sessions, or workshops and seminars to guide people on how to navigate this major milestone could be helpful for new retirees.
For some employees, going from working full time to not working at all may be a too abrupt change. Employers may want to consider offering a phased approach to retirement that gives employees the opportunity to work part time or consult to help ease the transition. An alumni program that offers occasional reunions or other programming can help retirees still feel connected to their organization for many years after they stop working.
Employers are uniquely positioned to guide employees through the retirement planning process, from early in their careers to their last day in the office – and beyond. It’s not enough to simply get employees to retirement: Plan sponsors need to help them get through retirement as well. Establishing a coaching mindset can be an effective way to actively engage employees in retirement planning and help them see that the end of their working careers can be the beginning of a wonderful new stage of life.
See the Original Post from BenefitsPro.com Here.
Source:
McCabe, C. (2016, August 04). Adopting a coaching mindset to help employees plan for retirement [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://www.benefitspro.com/2016/08/04/adopting-a-coaching-mindset-to-help-employees-plan?slreturn=1472491323&page_all=1
Form 5500 changes could increase obligations for plan sponsors
With proposed changes to Form 5500, small business may need to be prepared to stay in compliance as exemption statuses may change. See the article by Joseph K. Urwitz, Srarh Engle and Megan Mard fro Employee Benefit Adviser.
Historically, Form 5500 has served primarily as an information return used by plan administrators and employers to satisfy their reporting obligations under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and the Internal Revenue Code. However, the DOL and IRS are increasingly relying on information reported on Form 5500 as a key component of their compliance and enforcement initiatives.
As a result, the proposed revisions to Form 5500 would add a number of new reporting requirements designed to aid the DOL and IRS in assessing whether an employer-sponsored health and welfare plan is being operated and maintained in compliance with the Internal Revenue Code, ERISA and the Affordable Care Act. Most notably, the revisions would limit the reporting exemption for small health and welfare plans, and require employers to disclose significantly more information about their plans in a new Schedule J (Group Health Plan Information) to the Form 5500.
Proposed changes limit exemption for small health and welfare plan reporting
Under the existing reporting regulations, employer-sponsored group health plans with fewer than 100 participants that are fully-insured, self-insured or a combination of insured and self-insured, are not required to file a Form 5500. The proposed changes would eliminate this small plan exception and would require all employer-sponsored group health plans that are subject to ERISA (including grandfathered and retiree plans) to file a Form 5500, regardless of a plan’s size or funding.
The DOL’s executive summary on the proposed regulations states that this change will improve the DOL’s effective development and enforcement of health and welfare plan regulations, as well as the DOL’s ability to educate plan administrators regarding compliance. The new reporting rules will also provide the DOL with data needed for congressionally-mandated reports on group health plans. Under the proposed rules, the existing financial reporting exemptions for health and welfare plans on Schedule C (Service Provider Information), G (Financial Transaction Schedules) and H (Financial Information) will continue to apply. Small, fully-insured plans would have a new limited exemption and would only be required to complete basic participation, coverage, insurance company and benefit information.
Changes to form 5500-SF eligibility
Currently, a welfare plan with fewer than 100 participants, including a plan that provides group health benefits, may file the Form 5500-SF if it is not exempt from the reporting requirements and otherwise eligible. Under the proposed regulations, welfare plans that provide group health benefits and have fewer than 100 participants would no longer be permitted to use the Form 5500-SF. For example, under the proposed rules, a plan funded through a trust with fewer than 100 participants would be required to complete the Form 5500 and Schedule H and Schedule C, if applicable. Welfare plans that do not provide group health benefits, have fewer than 100 participants, and are not otherwise exempt from the reporting requirements would still be able to use the Form 5500-SF.
Proposed changes require disclosure of significantly more plan information
The proposed revisions would also add a new Schedule J (Group Health Plan Information) to the Form 5500. Schedule J would require group health plans to report detailed information about plan operations and compliance with both ERISA and the ACA. For example, plans would be required to disclose, among other things:
- The number of participants and beneficiaries covered under the plan at the end of the plan year.
- The number of individuals offered and receiving Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) coverage.
- Whether the plan offers coverage for employees, spouses, children, and/or retirees.
- The type of group health benefits offered under the plan, i.e., medical/surgical, pharmacy, prescription drug, mental health/substance use disorder, wellness program, preventive care, vision, dental, etc.
- The nature of the plan’s funding and benefit arrangement, and information regarding participant and/or employer contributions.
- Whether any benefit packages offered under the plan are claiming grandfathered status, and whether the plan includes a high deductible health plan, a health flexible spending account, or a health reimbursement arrangement.
- Information regarding rebates, refunds or reimbursements from service providers.
- Stop-loss coverage premiums, information on the attachment points of coverage, individual and/or aggregate claims limits.
- Whether the plan’s summary plan description (SPD), summaries of material modifications (SMM) and summaries of benefits and coverage (SBC) comply with applicable content requirements.
- Information regarding the plan’s compliance with applicable Federal laws, including, for example, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA), the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA) and ACA.
- Detailed claims payment data, including information regarding how many benefit claims were submitted, appealed, approved and denied during the plan year, as well as the total dollar amount of claims paid during the plan year.
The DOL has generally requested comments on the new proposed reporting requirements for group health plans and has specifically requested comments on several of the proposed disclosures listed above, including the costs and feasibility of collecting COBRA coverage information and the methodology and reasonableness of collecting information on denied claims.
Next steps
The proposed revisions to Form 5500 are complex and will likely be subject to a number of changes in response to comments received by the DOL. It is clear, however, that future Form 5500 reporting obligations will require more data, more resources and be subject to increased scrutiny by Federal agencies. Employer sponsors of group health plans should begin to evaluate plan documentation and the potential new disclosures required by Schedule J to ensure that each plan sponsor will be in a position to access such information and adequately communicate the new reporting requirements.
See the original Article Posted on EmployeeBenefitAdvisor.com here.
Source:
Urwitz, J.K., Engle, S., Mardy, M. (2016, August 04). Form 5500 changes could increase obligations for plan sponsors [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://www.employeebenefitadviser.com/opinion/form-5500-changes-could-increase-obligations-for-plan-sponsors