Updates to Statute 1557 that Healthcare Providers Need to Know
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Can Employers Impose a Health Insurance Surcharge on Plan Participants Not Vaccinated for COVID-19?
PODCAST: Wellness Program Compliance Update
Regulations under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act and HIPAA will require health plans and health care providers to take action in the coming months to meet new requirements. Health plan sponsors and providers that...more
We are pleased to present our annual End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” Lists. This year, we present our “To Do” Lists in four separate Employee Benefits Updates. This Part 1 covers year-end health and welfare plan issues....more
Employers that are considering imposing health plan premium surcharges to encourage their employees to get vaccinated have clearer guidance on how to do so without running afoul of the nondiscrimination rules under the Health...more
On this episode of Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion, host Brydon DeWitt explores compliance considerations for employers who are considering imposing a health insurance surcharge on plan participants who are not...more
For years we have been trying to understand how the EEOC regulates wellness programs. Although we still do not have a complete picture, we are getting closer with the EEOC’s new Notices of Proposed Rulemaking on wellness...more
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) proposed two new regulations on January 7 applying the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA) to...more
Synopsis: For years, employers have struggled to understand what level of incentives in wellness programs might be considered “voluntary” under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). ...more
Employers with established wellness programs that collect health information and/or require a medical exam can no longer rely on the EEOC regulations to justify that incentives provided under their wellness programs are...more
With increasing employee health costs, many employers are adopting or expanding their health wellness programs. In the retirement plan area, some employers are also adopting programs to assist their employees with managing...more
Administering health plans is not the easiest task. Such plans are subject to an alphabet soup of laws, including but not limited to ERISA, the Internal Revenue Code, COBRA, HIPAA, GINA, Mental Health Parity, the ADA, the...more
For years, employers have been trying to find the right incentives for employees to embrace wellness programs. If incentives are too meager, employees are not likely to participate. If they are weighted too heavily in favor...more
Q. Are the EEOC’s Wellness Program rules still valid? A. The ADA and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act both permit an employer to seek medical information as part of a wellness program if the employee...more
On Tuesday, August 22, the US District Court for the District of Columbia ordered the EEOC to revisit its controversial rules placing certain limits on employer-sponsored wellness programs under the Americans with...more
As 2016 comes to an end, we are pleased to present you with our traditional End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” Lists. Like last year, we are presenting our “To Do” Lists in three separate Employee Benefits Updates. Part 1 of...more
The road to health plan compliance has never been straight and narrow, but it has become more winding over the years, due in large part to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The road to compliance just became even more difficult...more
As we start looking forward to 2017, and as many employers head into annual enrollment periods this fall, employers need to be aware of recent changes in the law that have a significant impact on health benefit plans. This...more
The EEOC’s regulations allayed many concerns over the permissible level of incentives/penalties, as well as the challenge of dealing with inconsistent requirements under the various laws. Originally published in The HR...more
In light of new rules from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), employers should examine their wellness programs now (and during open enrollment for next year) to determine the potential impact of the final...more
Please see Infographic below for more information. ...more
With the final rules, the EEOC tried to harmonize, to some extent, its new regulations with the existing HIPAA/ACA regulations. On May 17, 2016, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued long-awaited...more
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued two final rules May 16, 2016 that guide employers on the manner with which their wellness programs that ask health-related questions and/or require participants to...more
Increasingly, more employers are offering workplace wellness programs to promote and encourage healthier lifestyles for their employees and to prevent disease. These programs often involve medical questionnaires, health risk...more
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has published final regulations and a set of questions and answers on how the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to employer-sponsored wellness programs that offer...more
On May 16, 2016, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued final regulations governing the treatment of wellness programs under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Genetic Information...more
Many employers offer some type of “wellness program” to their employees as a way to improve employee health and reduce healthcare spending. Wellness programs can be called many different things, including “weight loss...more