Employee Benefits Blog

EAPs That Meet Four Requirements May Avoid Application of Health Care Reform

Benefits provided through an employee assistance program (“EAP”) may be considered group health plan coverage, which would subject the EAP to the health care reform requirements mandated by HIPAA and the Health Care Reform Act, unless the EAP meets the criteria for being “excepted benefits.” In September 2013, the IRS, HHS, and DOL collectively issued […]

January 12, 2015 | 4 min read | Tagged: EAP, employee assistance program, excepted benefits, final regulations, Health Care, health care reform, welfare plans

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Nick J. Welle Former Associate

Accurate Documentation of Welfare Plans May Save Employers Certain Costs and Headaches Down the Road

ERISA requires all pension and welfare benefit plans to be maintained in a written plan document.  The DOL and several courts have taken a broad view of what constitutes a “written plan document,” and while pension plans are usually very well documented, many welfare plans consist of a loose, and often out-of-date, collection of insurance […]

October 21, 2014 | 2 min read | Tagged: health plans, plan documents, welfare plans

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Kevin Hogan Former Associate

HIPAA Business Associates Agreements – Reminder of September 22 Deadline

On January 17, 2013, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a final rule under HIPAA making substantial changes to the rules for vendors that provide services to HIPAA-covered plans, such as third-party administrators, pharmacy benefit managers and certain brokers – known in the HIPAA world as “Business Associates.” Under this final […]

September 12, 2014 | 1 min read | Tagged: business associate agreements, Health Care, health plans, HHS, HIPAA, Privacy Rule, Security Rule, welfare plans

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Marvin "Bucky" Swift Former Partner