Webcast held in partnership with the New England Employee Benefits Council (NEEBC)

A successful wellness plan can lower health care costs and increase employee productivity. This lively, engaging presentation will discuss why it is so important to develop a comprehensive wellness program that is customized to meet the needs of your employees while keeping the requirements of your program within the letter of the law. Debra Wein, CEO of Wellness Workdays, will outline key factors to implement a wellness program gets results—from developing a custom strategy to critical success factors, while an attorney well versed in worksite wellness compliance will discuss the federal and state regulations that wellness programs can trigger—from HIPAA compliance and issues arising under the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) to potential data breaches of highly sensitive information.

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Cyber threats abound and your employee and plan participant data is at risk. Join us for this webcast where we will cover the following topics:

• Cybersecurity Risks To Employee Information
• Benefit Plans & Data Security – Duty to Protect Data
• Duties to Employees After Data Security Breaches
• What Can Employers and Plans Do Proactively?

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The Policy Forum will focus on major retirement policy directions likely to be in play during 2017 and beyond. EBRI-ERF holds a minimum of two policy forums per year. Their goal is to bring together a cross-section of EBRI sponsors, congressional and executive branch staff, benefit experts, and representatives from academia, interest groups, and labor to examine public policy issues. The forums are roundtable discussions featuring verbal and written exchange among speakers and participants.

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Understanding and embracing Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) investment risk factors can help pensions and other institutional investors mitigate risks, and may lead to long term sustainable returns. In addition, pension plan sponsors face increasing regulatory compliance to disclose ESG factors in their decision-making process. Aside from addressing fiduciary concerns, this webcast will address long-term ESG trends and their impact on retirement funding.

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It is just over 100 days into the new Trump Administration. What do activities of these early days mean for employer-sponsored benefits in 2017 and beyond? Labor and employment attorney Diana Bardes will share her insights on developments in Congress and the White House. Attendees will hear first-hand about key legislation and regulatory changes that could affect benefits, compensation and the workplace. Areas covered may include:

• The Affordable Care Act
• Department of Labor’s fiduciary and overtime rules
• Tax reform
• Paid leave
• Minimum wage

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Join us for a webcast to help you prepare for the latest EEOC regulations on apprenticeship programs. The presentation will cover:

• New Equal Opportunity Standards
• Stronger Equal Opportunity Compliance Reviews & Enforcement Actions
• Enhanced Record Keeping Procedures
• New Affirmative Action Programs
• Utilization Goals
• Targeted Outreach, Recruitment & Retention

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Health Reimbursement Accounts, Health Savings Accounts and Flexible Spending Accounts are medical expense reimbursement programs which encourage consumer-driven participation in health benefits on a pre-tax basis. Each is governed by a set of complex rules. And, if more than one program is used, there are rules governing the programs interaction and maximization through stacking. This webcast discusses the rules governing HRAs, HSAs and FSAs: What are they? What are each program’s design and IRS requirements? How do the programs interact with each other? How may the programs be stacked to allow for the largest benefit?

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Join us for this session where we will provide a "refresher" on the key requirements of the HIPAA Privacy, Security and Breach Notification Rules. We will discuss:

• What information is protected by the rules
• What electronic security measures must be in place
• Practical steps employers, boards of trustees and business associates should take
• Update on recent federal enforcement actions.

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Webcast held in partnership with the New England Employee Benefits Council (NEEBC)

The legislative landscape related to absence, including workers’ compensation, disability and leave, is changing at an unprecedented pace. Employers are aware of the need to “integrate,” but what does it mean and how will they know when they’ve achieved it? The Road to Integration webinar will cover the basics by establishing a common vocabulary, identifying key stakeholders, addressing compliance concerns and reviewing common organizational barriers. The speaker will discuss the components of a comprehensive, fully integrated absence management program, as well as provide some foundational questions, that when carefully considered, will help set the path forward for your organization.

Session participants will be able to:

• Understand the key components necessary for a successful absence management program.
• Leave with a firm understanding of the questions that must be answered prior to creating an absence management program.
• Learn how to evaluate an absence management program.

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Delivering effective benefits communications and getting participants to read them may be one of your biggest challenges. What can you do to ensure that your communication efforts are successful? In this webcast, Tupper Hillard, Vice President, National Communications, The Segal Company, will share what works and what doesn’t when it comes to crafting benefits communication that your participants will actually read. Learn easy and effective ways you can improve your communication and increase participants’ appreciation and understanding of the valuable benefits you offer.

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Webcast held in partnership with the New England Employee Benefits Council (NEEBC)

Gain a better understanding of the high-cost specialty pharmacy market by joining us for this webcast. Aon Hewitt's pharmacy experts will explore the emerging trends in the pharmacy benefit marketplace. Today, more than 25% of employer health care costs stem from prescription drugs, and more than one third of this cost is on specialty drugs. By 2018, industry predictions indicate specialty drug costs may comprise 50% of all drug spending. Now more than ever, it is essential for employers of all sizes to have a clear understanding of prescription drug costs and to be equipped with the strategies to manage them in order to keep health care plans affordable. 

Webcast topics to be discussed will include:

• The proliferation of high cost specialty medications for chronic and rare diseases.
• Implications of specialty biosimilars on competition and costs in the specialty drug market.
• Impact of patient assistance programs and co-pay cards on prescription affordability and patient use.
• Growth of rebates in prescription drug reimbursement.

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On February 27-28, 2017, National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS) held its Eighth Annual Retirement Policy Conference, Retirement Policy Game Changers: Tackling Retirement Readiness, in Washington DC. At the conference, we examined the issues like Americans' views of the retirement crisis; rethinking retirement in a changing political landscape; and creating a bipartisan plan to ensure retirement security for Americans.

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In light of an increase in participant litigation and heightened DOL enforcement efforts, it is imperative that plans ensure their procedures and policies for handling benefit appeals are in accordance with applicable law and plan documents. We will walk through each step of the appeal process up to and including litigation challenging benefit denials. We will discuss case examples at each stage of the process to assist attendees in developing a structure for handling benefit appeals that will put the plan in the best possible position in the event of litigation or audit. Finally, we will analyze recent participant litigation and the impact on plans going forward.

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Join us on February 16 to hear exclusive findings from the International Foundation's new survey on mental health and substance abuse benefits. Learn how organizations in the U.S. and Canada are impacted by these issues in the workplace, and what they're doing to help workers and their families.

Topics covered include:

• Types of prevention and treatment benefits offered
• Employee assistance program (EAP) services
• Prevalence of and coverage for certain conditions
• Opioid abuse
• Impact on work performance
• Cost impact
• Return to work.

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The Policy Forum will focus on major retirement and health policy issues likely to be in play during 2017, the emergence of financial wellness as a key policy and workplace priority, and recent EBRI research.

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Benefit plans nationwide are seeing huge increases in expenditures for substance abuse treatment. In most instances the rise in costs are due to legitimate treatment admissions caused by the opioid abuse epidemic and the high incidence of drug abuse in the 19 to 25 year old age group. However, in too many cases, increased costs are due to unethical treatment programs that are using the Internet and social media to lure plan participants to their treatment programs. This webcast will explore the tremendous impact of the opioid epidemic and the high costs of providing health care benefits to opioid abusers. The webcast will also detail some best practices for plans who are walking the tightrope of controlling costs while maintaining compliance with federal regulations and providing ready access to high quality substance abuse treatment.

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Webcast held in partnership with the New England Employee Benefits Council (NEEBC)

With rising healthcare costs and increased employee cost sharing, there is motivation for businesses to promote and incentivize health. Employers have tried to impact employee health with varying degrees of success - many through the use of innovative benefits tools. Benefits technology platforms have created a space for employers to include price transparency, wellness programs, competitions and others into their offerings.  Others have tapped into non-traditional benefits like debit cards to pay for education, paid sabbaticals, professional office chefs, laundry service, childcare aid, and personal finance services, which indirectly affect employee health and productivity.  Considering the myriad of factors that ultimately affect health, employers have an opportunity to attract new talent and lead in this new space.  

This session will help employers understand how the traditional benefits mindset is shifting toward a more holistic view of health.  Attendees will learn which levers can be pulled to positively impact employee health and productivity, including examples of solutions tried by organizations and the results they've achieved. 

Key Takeaways:

• How employers can use benefits tools to get people healthy.
• How to leverage a technology platform to impact employee health.
• Examples of innovative solutions tried by companies and their results (both traditional and non-traditional benefits).
• How companies can determine what strategy is right for their organization based on their unique needs.

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Hear Washington insiders discuss what the election results mean for employer-sponsored benefits. This webcast will start with Jim Klein's insightful analysis, giving attendees a political overview and an early look at likely scenarios. Then Katy Spangler and Lynn Dudley will cover the outlook for 2017, answering questions like, what will happen in the waning days of the Obama Administration and current Congressional session? What agendas will the new president and Congress bring? The webcast will examine key legislative and regulatory action that will affect benefits, including:

• The Affordable Care Act
• Department of Labor's fiduciary and overtime rules
• Retirement policy changes
• Tax reform
• State and local initiatives on health, retirement and paid leave.

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A key challenge for any HR department these days is finding ways to engage large segments of their workforce in true, long-term health improvement. Many employers in the health care industry have invested in workplace wellness programs but struggle to engage employees sufficiently to lead to lasting behavior change. In addition to traditional approaches, such as wellness incentives and free health screenings, innovative employers like Bon Secours Health System, Inc. (BSHSI) are refocusing their employee communications to build employees’ -intrinsic motivation to adopt healthier lifestyles. Using BSHSI as a case study, this session will demonstrate how health care organizations can significantly boost wellness engagement through more effective employee communications. Drawing on the latest research in behavior change and Behavioral Economics, session leaders will share evidenced-based strategies to help HR leaders transform traditional wellness communications into more compelling "I-can-do-this!" messaging for employees. The presentation will also include a representative from the Bon Secours Health System in Hampton Roads, VA.

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As employee benefits become more and more complex, companies have begun to realize how important an effective, engaging benefits communication strategy can be. It's no longer just about giving employees’ information about their benefits. Today our communication strategy needs to be designed to engage employees and influence behavior change as we assist employees in selecting a benefits package that best meets their individual needs.

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Administrative fees paid to vendors who administer the employer’s health benefit plan represent a significant portion of total “benefit dollars” spent, but there is often a lack of transparency and understanding about how the fees are calculated and exactly what value they provide to the plan and its participants. While health benefit costs are a significant driver of total employee compensation, little legal review is typically given to the contracts between the employer and their Third Party Administrator, insurer, providers, or brokers. With experience in all types of contracts in the health care arena, this presenter gives practical cost-reduction solutions and useful tips to ensure that the contract language has cost controls that favor the employer. Solutions are also given to control rising pharmacy costs and provide clarity and help for employers to negotiate savings and protections in these programs.

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This webcast discusses the global forces at play in the market for defined contribution plans; addresses plan design and current trends implicated in Canadian and U.S. markets. The presentation aims to get people started the "right way" and to help them finish the "right way."

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Crossing the threshold from employment to retirement is a series of giant steps, filled with many questions and decisions.  Katie Lewis crossed that threshold in 2004 and will share an update on the realities of retirement, as employees, employers and providers/advisors. Saving for retirement gets a lot of attention, but the bigger picture and the complex decisions that must be made are often glossed over. Ms. Lewis has been involved in employee education around the topic of retirement planning and will share how employers can help employees prepare for the transition and how it actually plays out.

Key Takeaways:

• "To dos" and "not to dos" learned from over a decade of retirement -- financial and non-financial
• Identification of individual retirement considerations for each of us as we move closer to that time
• Ideas that employers can use to help employees as they reach retirement.

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In light of heightened enforcement efforts which include litigation targeting Mental Health and Substance Abuse Parity violations, it is imperative that Health Plans ensure their current practice and operating documents comply with the Act’s requirements. This program will focus on the technical aspects of the Act and necessary plan language and practice in light of the recent Warning Signs Parity advisory issued by the United States Department of Labor. We will also analyze recent case law challenging Plan practices and procedures regarding the provision of mental health and substance abuse benefits. Finally, we will discuss concrete compliance steps for Plans.

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The Multiemployer Pension Reform Act (MPRA) added a new section to the merger law and PBGC recently circulated proposed regulations. This webcast will provide a brief explanation of the statutory and regulatory changes with a special focus on the new proposed plan solvency test.

• New plan solvency tests
• New definition for significantly affected plan
• Additional rules for facilitated mergers
• Actuarial valuation required for the plan year preceding the effective date of the merger or transfer.

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The conflict of interest final rule was published in the April 8, 2016 Federal Register. The regulations focus on payments, fees and investment advice. This webcast will help you understand the intent and practical implications of the regulations as well as the DOL’s intent relating to enforcement of consumer protections. Take away an understanding of how this rule change will impact your plan, service providers and participants.

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