“There are three primary areas that employers should keep in mind when thinking about compliance for their health plan,” said Brad Roehrenbeck, General Counsel and VP of Legal Services and Compliance at MedCost.
1. Employment Retirement Income Security Act
“The first of those is the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), which governs employer-sponsored benefit plans. ERISA was a law created in the early 1970s that has been applied to basically set the rules for how an employer that creates their own health plan should do that.”
Michael Berwanger, Director of Quality Management and Compliance, agreed. “ERISA requires several things of plan sponsors and plan administrators. One of those things is to provide notices of what benefits are available to employees. The types of notices that you might expect with the summary plan document are any tax filing notices you might need to be aware of.
“This is to make employees aware of the rights available to them under ERISA. And with the right service provider, employers can feel confident knowing they’re distributing the right notices in the right formats.
2. HIPAA Compliance
“The second area of compliance for self-funded employers is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). HIPAA requires that you safeguard patient data. Employers might find themselves subject to certain HIPAA rules; and with the right service provider, it could be relatively easy to navigate those waters.”
Keeping track of privacy obligations with documents that contain patient information is very important, said Brad Roehrenbeck. “Another thing that HIPAA requires is that anyone who handles that information, particularly if it’s electronic, must keep it secure. That basically means that you have to have systems in place that control who has access to that type of information, if you’re keeping it on your systems.
“HR directors want to make sure that they work with their IT departments to look at what kind of controls are in place, who has access to any folders where patient data is maintained, or anything else in relation to running the health plan. The HR department keeps that sensitive member information for the plan.
3. Internal Revenue Service Compliance
“The third primary area of the law that impacts health plans is tax laws. Like other types of benefit plans, health plans come with a tax benefit to both employees and employers. As dollars go in to support the plan, those dollars are provided on a tax-free basis.”
“There are certainly tax advantages when you’re considering self-funding your health plan,” Michael Berwanger said. “To take advantage of those, you need to be aware of your compliance obligations -things like making sure you’re not discriminating unfairly in favor of your highly compensated employees.”
“There’s one other area of the tax laws that actually provides some additional benefit to employers and employees, and that is this concept of a Health Savings Account (HSA). Health savings accounts are a great vehicle under the tax laws where employees can set aside dollars and employers can contribute dollars on a tax-free basis. Those monies can be used toward deductibles and the payment of claims. Employees can keep that money for the rest of their lives or until such time as they need to use that for their medical expenses.
“HSAs are a great asset for employees and a great savings vehicle. More importantly, it’s a great avenue for employers to engage with participants in the health plans to be conscious of where their health plan dollars are spent and to use them in a way that not only promotes their own health, but also the financial stability and viability and strength of both their dollars and the health plan dollars,” Mr. Roehrenbeck said.
“As the markets continue to move towards a consumer-driven economy, it’s important for employees to be mindful of their options and how to best take advantage of the benefits available through their employers,” Mr. Berwanger noted.
“We find ourselves in a challenging environment. It’s important to be able to offer great incentives and great packages to employees. A self-funded health plan is a great opportunity to be able to do that.
“The risk can be worth the reward. Managing those compliance obligations isn’t as complicated as you might think, once you have a good trusted advisor to help you navigate that.”
(This post is a transcript from the video, “3 Compliance Areas for Self-Funded Employers.”)
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