On May 4th, the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), a division of the Department of Labor, and the IRS filed a joint notice which extends numerous deadlines applicable to employee benefit plans that are subject to ERISA. Health and Human Services (HHS) concurred with the notice thus extending its parameters to non-federal governmental plans as [...]
A recent survey by a data analytics firm found that benefits objectives often vary based on company size. Results showed that while smaller companies were focused on increasing employee productivity, mid-range employers were more concerned with employee satisfaction levels. Very large employers identified employee health and well-being as their main objective. One interesting finding was [...]
The CARES Act, which was signed into law on March 27th, 2020, provides for Small Business Loans called the Paycheck Protection Program. These loans, later supplemented by the Paycheck Protection Program and Healthcare Enhancement Act, provide for up to $10M in forgivable loans to small businesses. Paycheck Protection Loans (PPL): In order to apply for [...]
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact our daily lives from stay at home orders to social distancing and we’ve all had to adjust to what is becoming known as the new normal. One thing that has not changed, however, is Diversified Group's dedication to patient outreach via case management, pre-certification, disease management, and discharge planning. [...]
Even though Labor Department reports show that fewer than 15% of private sector employees are covered by paid leave programs, more states are looking for ways to help employees cope with the difficulties of caring for family members of all ages. In addition to California, New Jersey and Rhode Island that have had programs in place for a long time, [...]
The House and Senate have passed the "Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act" (Stimulus 3.5). The bill provides $484 billion in additional funding to supplement programs under the CARES Act. The bill includes further aid to small businesses and hospitals, as well as funding for coronavirus testing. Below are some of the key provisions in [...]
Whether you refer to it as Reference Based Pricing, Medicare Reference, Cost Plus or something else, the important thing is to understand what it is and why it’s being used to lower health plan costs. Health plans with reference based pricing provide high quality coverage at a lower cost by using Medicare fee schedules as [...]
The IRS released Notice 2020-23 on April 9, 2020, which postpones until July 15, 2020 the filing of many federal tax returns and the payment of taxes that had been due on or after April 1, 2020 and before July 15, 2020. Any tax return or payment due on or after April 1, 2020, and before [...]
Record numbers of generic drugs that could provide much needed relief for Americans with serious medical conditions are failing to come to market because of litigation and the filing of additional patents by brand-name drug manufacturers. The number of generic approvals has set records during each of the past 3 years. In fact, the FDA [...]
CARES Act Employee Benefit Impact High Deductible Health Plans payment for tele-health. Effective immediately, the CARES Act creates a temporary safe harbor allowing HDHPs to cover telehealth services and other remote care without cost to plan members before plan members’ deductibles are met. This temporary safe harbor applies to all HDHPs, including those with plan members using [...]
