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Commentary: Pharmacy benefit managers and benefit brokers keep a watchful eye for profit-seekers looking to take advantage of loopholes in the health care delivery system.

The Internal Revenue Service recently released draft versions of the forms that will be used to meet the shared responsibility reporting requirements under the Affordable Care Act. They are designed to notify the government about whether individuals and employers are meeting their obligations concerning health coverage.

The IRS’ new draft forms for employer reporting on health care coverage unveils a glimpse of the administrative onus in store for benefit advisers and their employer clients working to comply with the Affordable Care Act.

While the logistics of health care growing increasingly complex, benefit advisers could and should play a crucial role in helping employers and employees understand the new health care delivery system.

In a landmark challenge to traditional labor law, the National Labor Relations Board is attempting to lump together McDonald’s and its independent franchises as joint employer, which leaves many questions on what this could mean for other collective benefit plan structures.

Benefit advisers working with small to mid-size employers to boost benefit participation can focus on cost-saving measures and enrollment and education activities that larger companies are more inclined or able to invest in.

Technical glitches and data-management challenges have dominated HIX headlines at both the state and federal level, with the latest news showing how even the most widely regarded and most vilified state-run operations now share this common thread.

Today’s best health assessments leverage sophisticated computer algorithms to identify individual health risk and measure motivation to change unhealthy behaviors. Across an employer population, health assessment aggregate data can inform the program choices for employer-based health management efforts. But not all health assessments are created equal. As health assessments gain broader use among not only employers but also health plans and in clinical settings, separating the myths from reality can help potential users focus on their true value. HealthFitness has identified several myths of health assessments and identified the best practices for worksite wellness.

As employers try to figure out how best to prepare their workforces for retirement, experts in the benefits and investment industries recommend that an individual retirement account – either the traditional or Roth version – can be a good complement or standalone option for an employee’s retirement path.

Benefit advisers hoping to stay ahead of the trend of employers transferring some of the burden of increased health care costs to their employees, should be prepared to discuss a variety of new and old cost-sharing strategies, as well as additional cost-saving tools.