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New and Updated in Health and Welfare Plans (Q3 2018)
Practical Law Legal Update w-016-4974 (Approx. 4 pages)
New and Updated in Health and Welfare Plans (Q3 2018)
by Practical Law Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation
| Published on 18 Sep 2018 • USA (National/Federal) |
New from Practical Law Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation! A collection of the top Health and Welfare Plan resources we published or significantly updated in Q3 of 2018.
At Practical Law, we are constantly expanding and updating our Health and Welfare Plan resources to reflect the latest developments in employee benefits law. The following list reflects some of the most important Health and Welfare Plan resources that we published or revised during Q3 of 2018:
- Association Health Plans. This entirely new practice note reflects final regulations under ERISA that expanded the ability of small employers and sole proprietors to join together in a group or association of employers to provide health coverage.
- Employer Mandate Under the ACA: Penalties and Enforcement. This entirely new resource addresses IRS penalties and enforcement procedures concerning the Affordable Care Act's employer mandate (26 U.S.C. § 4980H; see Employer Mandate Toolkit).
- Executive Employment Agreement (Medium-Form). This new standard document, which specifies the terms and conditions of an executive's employment, addresses numerous health and welfare benefit provisions including fringe benefits, post-termination health coverage, and disability.
- HIPAA Enforcement: Settlement Agreements. We updated this resource to address HIPAA privacy and security enforcement activity during 2018 to date, including an administrative law decision upholding a $4.3 million assessment of civil money penalties relating to the theft of an unencrypted laptop and loss of two unencrypted USB drives.
- Medicare Part D Creditable Coverage Disclosures and Group Health Plans. This entirely new resource addresses group health plan creditable coverage notice requirements under the Medicare Part D prescription drug program, which was added by the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act (MMA).
- Notice of Availability of Plan's HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices. This new standard document is a sample notice intended to comply with a requirement under the HIPAA regulations that group health plans notify covered individuals regarding the availability of the plan's HIPAA notice of privacy practices and how to obtain the notice.
- PEO Client Service Agreement. We updated this standard document, written in collaboration with our Labor & Employment colleagues, to address additional health plan benefit mandates, the potential impact of the Trump Administration's association health plan rules, and much more.
- Short-Term, Limited-Duration Insurance (STLDI). This entirely new practice note addresses tri-agency final regulations regarding the meaning of STLDI. Among other requirements, the final regulations expanded the definition of STLDI to mean health insurance with a maximum coverage period of less than 12 months.
- SPD Language, Anti-Assignment Provision (Health Plan). This new standard clause reflects summary plan description language to prohibit health plan participants and beneficiaries from assigning benefits under the plan.
- Wellness Programs. We updated this resource to reflect recent DOL guidance concluding that an employee's voluntary participation in certain wellness-related activities, biometric screenings, and benefits fairs was not compensable worktime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (see Legal Update, Employees' Voluntary Participation in Wellness Activities Is Not Compensable Under the FLSA).
For a discussion of other updates to the Health and Welfare Plan resources, see New and Updated in Health and Welfare Plans.