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Ellen M.* is a 47-year-old single mom whose four-year-old son is diagnosed with something called pervasive development disorder not otherwise specified, a disorder on the autism spectrum. While he's very verbal, he sometimes struggles with expressing his needs. He has behavioral issues and several other medical issues, such as vision and gastrointestinal problems.

Enrollment in health savings accounts and health reimbursement arrangements continues to grow, but contribution patterns to these account-based health plans are changing, according to a new report from the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute.

In its annual retirement confidence survey released last year, the Employee Benefit Research Institute found that 20% of workers intend to retire at a later age than they had planned. Of those who said they will retire later, the main reasons cited were the poor economy, a lack of faith in Social Security or the government, a change in employment situation or, simply, that they can't afford to retire.

ERISA defines a multiple employer welfare arrangement as an employee welfare plan or any other arrangement which is established or maintained for the purpose of providing welfare benefits to the employees of two or more "unrelated" entities. Thus, if a welfare plan is maintained by an employer for the exclusive purpose of providing benefits to that employer's employees, former employees (e.g., retirees) or beneficiaries (e.g., spouses, former spouses, dependents) of such employees, the plan will be considered a "single employer" plan and not a MEWA.

Information commonly exits in silos: Pharmacy benefit managers, health plans, and absence management, disability and enrollment vendors generally all operate independently and invisibly to other health care entities that are caring for the same population of patients.

For large, self-insured employers, vendor management involves identifying and negotiating better arrangements with third-party vendors who administer benefits. A report from The Advisory Board Company shows that while vendor management is often overlooked by plan sponsors, the process can yield savings of between 5% and 10%.

As more U.S. employers hire international workers or extend their organization into foreign locations, benefits and tax issues have grown increasingly complicated when managing international assignees. Further complexity arises depending on the type of employee or independent contractor. U.S. multinationals have begun to fill more key positions with talent in other nations or third-country nationals, who work a position in a foreign country from the U.S., but are not from the U.S. or that foreign country, rather than implanting American expats to international positions.

In the information age, perhaps the only system left that hasn't gone completely digital or to the cloud is health care. Even insurance companies, who warehouse massive amounts of data, rarely share it with other insurance companies when an employee moves from one job to the next. And for patients to gain access to their own heath records, which largely are maintained on paper, they have to go through a lengthy process - on paper.

It's officially springtime, which means two things are on full display - pollen and presidential politics. Although every swing and sway in the 2012 race may seem like fertile ground for watercooler discussion, I - as well as etiquette and HR/benefits experts - strongly encourage you to resist talking politics in the office.

Almost all efforts to drive participation in wellness programs focus on motivation. Initiatives like inspiring messages, rewards and incentives, attempts to "make it fun," readiness-to-change surveys and activity tracking often try to address what common sense tells us is missing: People simply lack the motivation to change.