Wellness

With mental health and substance abuse disorder services deemed an essential health benefit under the Affordable Care Act, employee assistance program providers are taking on a new role – helping employers and health plans sniff out fraudulent health care activity among substance abuse and mental health treatment facilities.

Although the ACA’s excise tax doesn’t go into effect until 2018, employers are already fearful — benefit advisers should be offering ideas and solutions to calm their fears.

For employers fighting to maintain grandfathered status, consultants and benefit managers predict the Affordable Care Act’s ongoing implementation will mean the end of these health plan structures in the near future.

Commentary: Employers and advisers that embrace the full concept of wellness by implementing programs with these four elements have the ability to improve the physical health of employees and put corporate productivity and profitability back in the black.

Benefits firm WorkforceTactix and tech company Digital Health Innovations are using data analytics and an innovative health app to predict and prevent clients’ high-cost claims, increase transparency and rein in health care costs.

U.S. employers are not immune to the Ebola scare sweeping the country, but for most businesses, the risk of their employees contracting the virus remains extremely low. Nevertheless, employers are encouraged to re-examine their workplace travel policies and pandemic plans, say labor and business health experts.

Successful worksite wellness programs may help improve employees' health and productivity, but how can you effectively implement and follow through on your wellness aspirations? Here are 10 ideas.

Several tech companies this week announced they would be adding egg freezing benefits to their health plan. While that may sound like a nice perk to some, making this and other benefit plan changes comes with risks that your employer clients, with your help, should consider.

The Internal Revenue Service said that the sequestration process could have an impact on the amount that certain small tax-exempt employers receive on the refundable portion of the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit.

The new CEO of the federal health insurance marketplace, Kevin Counihan, knows there is room for improvement, but says new processes have Healthcare.gov ready for 2015 open enrollment.