Healthcare Reform: HR’s Golden Opportunity

Don’t Be Shy: Take the Lead on Healthcare Reform

Healthcare reform is a hot topic right now. I am not an expert on it, and you may not be either. But, if you are an HR professional, you need to get educated and prepare to take the lead on your company’s attempt to make sense of healthcare.

Employee Benefits Plans Communication

Responsibility Rests on Both Sides in Health Benefits Communication

A May 2011 case before the U.S. Supreme Court, Cigna v. Amara, centered on whether critical information about Cigna’s pension benefits were properly communicated in the company’s Summary Plan Description (SPD), a federally required summary of plan benefits that must be distributed to employees, retirees and beneficiaries. At the heart of the case is the employees’ contention that Cigna failed to fully and clearly disclose a change in its pension plan which, if employees had understood it, might have spurred them to retire or take another job.

The Top HR Changes Due to Healthcare Reform

Fall Open Enrollment Season: Health Care Reform Starts to Take Effect

October traditionally marks the beginning of health insurance open enrollment season, during which employees can review and change their health plan benefits. Employers that don’t require an “active” enrollment and/or that have not made substantive plan changes for some time may find that their employees pay scant attention, automatically selecting the plans they had the previous year without looking to see what’s new.

Develop an Employee Health Survey

The First Step to Building a Cost-Effective Corporate Wellness Program

An effective employee health survey is the important first step to developing a cost-effective corporate wellness program in any size company. If HR and/or senior management implement employee wellness program components without staff input, disappointing attendance and poor return on investment (ROI) may have a negative effect on any future health promotion efforts.

Activities to Reduce Employee Stress

Take a Deep Breath and Start Improving Employee Productivity

What can companies do that is free, shows quick results, and can have a long term beneficial impact on employee’s mental, physical, and emotional well-being? Simple - teach them breathing techniques and activities to reduce stress.

FLSA Requires Break Times for Nursing Mothers

Breaks Now Required for Nursing Mothers

If you are like most employers, you probably have not had time to consider the many new obligations imposed in the 2,000-plus pages of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Most of the provisions that substantially change how health care will be provided in this country do not take effect for several years, beginning in 2014.

An Employer Guide to Healthcare Reform

An Employer’s View of Health Care Reform and What’s Next

Governor Schwarzenegger calls it “a good law.”

Attorneys General from several states claim it’s unconstitutional.

Whatever you have to say about it, Health Care Reform legislation is changing the face of health care for employers, big and small. The following list will give you a head’s up regarding some of the big changes coming in the next two years, and what you need to know from an employer’s view of healthcare reform. As a general proposition, health care reform will eventually require most individuals to get health insurance or pay a penalty. But what is going to happen this year and the next?

Strategies for Managing Stress in the Workplace

Stretching Strategies for Managing Stress in the Workplace

Are your employees feeling stressed in the workplace? Hopefully, you are starting to lay the groundwork for a corporate wellness program but, in the meantime, your employees can access free stress management in the workplace articles and reliable website resources now.

Health Care Reform and Corporate Wellness

On-Site Wellness Programs: Will They Be Hurt by Health Care Reform?

Is your company’s wellness program going to be helped or hurt by the new health care act? It depends on your situation but it will most likely get a boost.

The health care reform’s effect on employers will vary based on your company’s size, location, existing insurance and wellness plans, and how proactive your company will be to seek out and implement the bill’s benefits of more research, evaluation tools, and technical assistance. Delving deep into the 2,400 document entitled H.R. 3590 the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, you can find the following changes which may impact your company’s wellness programs.