Employer Strategies

Athletic trainers may have had their roots on the playing field, but the profession has branched out. Large employers such as Toyota, General Motors, Delta Airlines and Boeing have used athletic trainers for years to prevent and treat injuries on the production line and manufacturing floor. While athletic trainers traditionally have worked in an athletic environment, a sprained ankle on an pro athlete is no different than a sprained ankle on a baggage handler at an airport, says Tom Bair, an athletic trainer with ProgressiveHealth Aviation Services in Atlanta.

EBN's annual Benefits Barometer is a comprehensive and convenient benchmarking guide to everything from average annual premiums for health coverage to the number of investment options in 401(k) plans.

Electronic medical records are being hailed as a way to save money, but they're also making it easier to commit fraud; text analytics and sophisticated data mining software can help stop it.

Tax deduction available for employee retirement-plan contributions to in Japan; Korea amends retirement legislation.

Semantics are supremely important in making or breaking certain lines of insurance.

With serious concerns about medical commission cuts and maintaining top-line revenues, 58% of brokers and consultants are embracing two specific initiatives EBA contributor Nelson Griswold explains in the December issue.

As high-deductible and consumer-driven health plans continue to increase in popularity, EBA spoke with Nitra LaGrander, a product manager at Evolution1, a provider of electronic payment, on-premise and cloud computing health care solutions, for tips on how plan participants who are new to these types of plans can easily access their online accounts and take charge of managing their health care dollars.

Retirement plans collectively - but unwillingly - hold billions of dollars that plan sponsors have unsuccessfully tried to distribute to former participants.

Some experts are predicting that there will be fewer advisers focused on the 401(k)/defined contribution market. With greater competition, price pressure, more onerous regulations and increased fiduciary liability, that argument is understandable. But regardless of the pressure and challenges that the DC market poses, the number of elite advisers that focus on the DC market will double in the next five years because of the size of the opportunity.

Turning the corner into 2012, 401(k) plans are regaining some of their lost glitter, but more buffing needs to be done.