Employer Strategies

What could pediatrician appointments possibly have to do with Joe Merrick's business as an online precious metals dealer? When it comes to health insurance, the answer is everything. The 13 full-time employees of Merrick's Dallas-based Provident Metals have 30 children, all under the age of 15, with four babies born in 2011 alone. That means potentially high medical bills for everything from childbirth to vaccinations, which Merrick had to factor into his health-insurance decisions.

Pharmacy benefits manager CVS Caremark has agreed to pay $5 million to settle an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission that it overcharged seniors and taxpayers in the Medicare prescription drug program. The FTC also announced it has concluded its investigation of the company.

Walgreens is on the offensive this month, informing both employers and employees that it’s no longer part of the Express Scripts network. Kermit Crawford, president of Walgreens’ pharmacy, health and wellness business, recently sat down with EBN to discuss how the company plans to move ahead.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires employers to report the aggregate cost of employer-sponsored health coverage on the Forms W-2 of its employees. In March 2011, the Internal Revenue Service issued interim guidance on the Form W-2 informational reporting requirement in the form of 31 Q&As. Recently, the Internal Revenue Service revised this interim guidance by issuing Notice 2012-9, which clarifies several of the original Q&As and adds some Q&As. …

Broker-dealers are up in arms over a little-known provision of the Department of Labor's 401(k) plan fee disclosure rules. Ready why some industry observers say the brokerage industry only has itself to blame.

Broker-dealers are up in arms over a little-known provision of the Department of Labor's 401(k) plan fee disclosure rules.

A majority of human resource executives at U.S. hospitals and health care systems expect health care reform to hasten the transformation of the industry’s traditional business model, according to a new survey by Towers Watson. The survey also found that workforce issues, including shortages of primary care physicians, the need for a wider array of staff skills and new leadership models, will rise in importance as the industry grapples with this transformation.

U.S. health care spending barely rose in 2010 from record-low recession levels, as high unemployment and the loss of employer-sponsored health benefits forced many Americans to delay or forego medical treatment, government officials said.

HR’s role in merger and acquisition deals is growing, say M&A experts at management consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Walgreens is going through "the worst" part of not being in Express Scripts Inc.'s network and, while the transition is difficult now, the drugstore should rebound as the year progresses, its top pharmacy executive said on Monday.