HIPAA Special Enrollment Events are a subset of the Section 125 Election Change Events that provide special enrollment rights. But, unlike Section 125, HIPAA’s events are only about enrolling in your group health plan, not dis-enrolling. HIPAA requires group health plans to provide special enrollment opportunities outside the plan's regular enrollment periods in certain [...]
Civil penalties were recently updated, adjusting for inflation, by the Department of Labor (DOL) for 2024. Federal law requires penalties be adjusted annually by January 15th. Employers found in violation will be assessed these increased penalties beginning after January 15, 2024. The year-over-year inflation increase for 2024 is 3.241%. Annual inflation adjustments are based on [...]
On November 4, 2021, OSHA published its Vaccine Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS). The ETS obligates private employers with 100 or more employees to require vaccination or weekly testing and masking for their unvaccinated employees. Legal challenges have been made with more pending, but until those are resolved, employers should prepare for this mandate. All requirements [...]
The Department of Labor (DOL) on February 26, 2021 issued the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) Disaster Relief Notice 2021-01 which provides guidance on the length of COVID-19 relief to be allowed under the Timeline Extension Rule. Background: On March 13, 2020, President Trump declared a national emergency related to COVID-19 and established that the [...]
While health information is protected in doctors’ offices, hospitals and other healthcare institutions, that simply isn’t the case in the online world. The Department of Health and Human Services warns that HIPAA privacy regulations do not apply to information you reveal on social media, in emails and web searches or when using health apps. The [...]
