The Infinisource Seminar Series
Learn what's changing with COBRA, HIPAA and CDHC
Whether it's providing the specifics on the Final COBRA
Notice Rules, reviewing how Consumer Driven Health Care (CDHC) can reduce costs
for employers or supplying critical information on new HIPAA Portability
Regulations, Infinisource is ready with the information you need to help your
clients.
In the course of 18 years, more than 225,000 seminar
attendees have left regular and In-house seminars with a better grasp of their
COBRA responsibilities, valuable information on how to help control rising
health care costs, or an accurate understanding of HIPAA obligations.
COBRA
The Department of Labor (DOL), after nearly 18 years of
COBRA, released final notice rules on May 26, 2004. This means that it's time
to throw away the old COBRA manuals and prepare for the new requirements.
The final rules require two new notices along with new
General Notice requirements, including up to 29 possible COBRA dates to
track.Failure to comply with COBRA
notice requirements could lead to significant costs, including penalties under
ERISA.
A
COBRA seminar features an in-depth overview of the most important areas
affecting employers' COBRA compliance programs. Employers will learn how to
avoid IRS penalties by complying with the four TAMRA (Technical and
Miscellaneous Revenue Act) criteria. An important aspect of compliance is
making sure all Qualified Beneficiaries are sent proper notices within the
required time frames.
CDHC
Higher health insurance costs have led to increased co-pays
and deductibles. As the cost of employer-sponsored benefits continues to
skyrocket, now is the time to put employees in charge of their healthcare with
CDHC.These plans empower employees to
decide how their health care dollars are spent.
The key to making this work is education and Infinisource is
ready to provide you and your clients with better plan designs and methods to
keep costs in check with a CDHC seminar.
Many insurance brokers are finding consumer-driven plans
more attractive for their clients, especially those seeing large increases in
the cost of health benefits.One reason
for the increased interest in CDHC is specifically related to Health Savings
Accounts (HSAs).Infinisource reviews
the legal responsibilities when contributing to an employee's HSA along with
the specific requirements of the CDHC program to make it allowable for the HSA
plans.
HIPAA
The latest news to hit is the Final HIPAA Portability
Regulations.Your clients may feel like
they had enough of HIPAA compliance. Perhaps they have their HIPAA Portability
responsibilities covered, put their HIPAA Privacy program into place, and
thought they would get a breather until they had to deal with HIPAA Security
deadlines in 2005 or 2006.
But that lull in HIPAA action just wasn't meant to be. On
December 30, 2004, three federal agencies, the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid
Services (CMS), the Internal Revenue Service and the Employee Benefits Security
Administration, jointly posted final rules and proposed regulations that
clarify existing portability rules and add new provisions.
Infinisource is prepared to offer guidance on these new
rules.A part of the seminar program
offered by Infinisource provides guidance on these rules that includes 81 pages
of final regulations and 26 pages of proposed regulations.These contain a lot of important
information--from changed and additional definitions to clarifications. Find
out about these when you attend your next Infinisource seminar.
Infinisource is the most trusted provider of employee
benefits administration and compliance education. Our Subject Matter Experts
began traveling the country in 1986, teaching agents, employers (and even some
of our competitors) about proper COBRA compliance. Today the Infinisource
Seminar Series continues to grow and evolve with the ever-changing world of
employee benefits.
Find out when the next Infinisource seminar will be held
near you by visiting our website, www.benefitsolved.com
or contacting our seminars area at 800-300-3838. Agents or their clients can
register online. Agents may also work with Infinisource to customize their own
In-house Seminar for clients.
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