Benefits Magazine Extras articles provide you with bonus content on a mix of benefits topics as well as deep dives and analyses on the latest benefit trends and compliance issues. Visit ifebp.org/benefitsmagazine to see the latest Benefits Magazine Extras as well as the bimonthly print […]
Health plan sponsors should take note: Regulators are increasing their focus on the privacy and security of health information. And failure to comply with the latest guidance on these areas could prove costly. In their article “Risks Abound: What’s Going on With […]
This blog has been updated with new information from the previous version published on April 12, 2023. President Biden signed H.R. Res. 7 on Monday, April 10, 2023, to end the national emergency (NE) for COVID-19, effective immediately. Although the NE ended […]
After nearly three years, the time has finally come. The Biden administration announced that both the COVID-19 national emergency (NE) and the public health emergency (PHE) will end on May 11, 2023. Now it’s time for employers to prepare to unwind the […]
Recent actions by the federal government are designed to ensure full access to abortion medication across the country, but it remains unclear whether these medications can be prescribed to and legally obtained by patients in states that have banned or limited abortions. […]
Anyone who works with health care benefit plans knows that costs keep going up. They also know they have a responsibility to make sure the plan is sustainable. Add into that the ERISA responsibility to make sure the plan’s terms are followed. […]
Maybe the 26th anniversary (coming up on August 21, 2022) of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) isn’t as noteworthy a milestone year as last year’s 25th, but the act remains in the headlines in 2022. HIPAA, the cornerstone patient […]
On June 13, 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued guidance on Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requirements as they relate to audio-only telehealth. Telehealth technology is typically thought of as […]
In an interview in the March/April issue of Plans & Trusts, actuary Bonnie-Jeanne MacDonald, Ph.D., FCIA, FSA, called for new policies and practices to address the multiple challenges and opportunities facing Canada’s long-term care model. MacDonald, the director of financial security research […]
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR), under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is responsible for enforcing the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). In 2020, OCR received 27,182 HIPAA-related complaints. Of these, some of the most […]