Employee Health & Benefits Aligning employee benefits cost containment and plan design strategies to support you in your effort to attract and retain quality employees.
Our Employee Benefits practice serves middle market and large employers in virtually every industry group. We are an entrepreneurial organization and take full advantage of the flexibility of being privately held. This allows us to bring our clients the best and most relevant resources available in the marketplace. We also bring many years of collective experience in guiding our clients through the complex and ever-changing world of employee benefits. Our goal is to always deliver creative alternatives that help you meet your objectives for your benefit plans while also building quality long term relationships. Our team is built to support you and to provide an excellent service experience.
Our approach is based upon a proactive service calendar that is designed to make your benefit programs sustainable, efficient, and as predictable as possible. Our process will include the following deliverables
- Consistently assess plan cost and benefits relative to benchmark data
- Establish risk profile of your group to assist with managing cost expectations
- Identify and communicate opportunities for savings and sustainability
- Assessment of plan funding options including fully insured, partial self-funding, and captives
- Provide ongoing custom financial reporting and plan performance metrics
- Pharmacy analysis to secure most competitive pricing and the most cost-effective formulary
There are ever increasing complexities around compliance as the IRS, DOL, and States pass new rules and regulations around employment and employee benefit plans. We can help by providing the following support and resources.
- Annual Compliance audit/review
- Labor & Employment hotline (Legal advice at no cost to you)
- Electronic Compliance calendar
- ACA plan reporting support
- Regular compliance alerts from our legal team via email
- Frequent webinars on relevant compliance topics
The Ironwood benefits administration team is here to support HR by assisting with the many day-to-day tasks required to keep your benefit plan enrollment current and accurate
- Day to Day administrative support & service
- Carrier Eligibility Assistance (New Hires, Life Events, Status Changes, and Terminations)
- Technology assessment and support
- Payroll Integration
- 5500 filings
Ongoing employee communication is a critical part of a successful employee benefits program. Our team is ready to assist with streamlining this process for you.
- Design, Develop, and Publish customized communication materials
- Simplify and clarify plan information for employees
- Primary projects are Employee and New Hire benefit summaries
- Open Enrollment meeting coordination and support
- Provide OE meeting content and presentations
- Total Reward statements
- Support HR team for any other employee communication initiatives
Our Claims Consultants work directly with members to help them successfully navigate the complicated healthcare system.
- Assist employees with medical/dental claims issues and questions
- Field plan benefit questions
- Triage with employee/provider/carrier to solve claims issues and questions
- Disability & Life claim support
- Rx prior authorization assistance
Wellness programs can impact your company in many ways. It can lower healthcare costs, increase employee productivity, decrease absenteeism, and improve morale. Our Wellness team is available to lead your wellness initiatives in the following ways.
- Facilitate strategy discussion around wellness objectives
- Design and Administer employee wellness surveys
- Direct assistance with implementing initiatives within compliance guidelines
- Negotiate with third party vendors, i.e. Screening, Tracking, Coaching, etc.
- Create educational materials to assist with communication of program
- Consulting around program effectiveness using claims and screening data
Many HR related initiatives and projects take a backseat if your HR team is stretched thin. Our HR Consulting team is available to take on project related work for you and is prepared to assist in the following areas
- Personalized situational support and guidance from our HR Consulting team
- Access to our On-line Learning Management System
- Compensation and salary benchmarking
- Handbook and policy review/creation
- Web portal library of HR resources, Common Templates, Forms, and Policy Guidelines
Businesses today are constantly exploring expansion opportunities that may include making a strategic acquisition of a competitor or strategic partner. Our Due Diligence and account management teams are experienced in assisting our clients with evaluating the insurance plans as part of an acquisition in the following areas
- Confirm and project healthcare costs on a fully Insured and/or self-insured basis
- Estimate pre-close accrual liabilities on self-funded plans Develop plan and cost benchmarking
- Determine Affordable Care Act (ACA)/Obamacare impact on healthcare costs
- Conduct cost projections and pro-formas
- Review adequacy of current plan design, cost containment and cost-sharing options
- Confirm ERISA Compliance – COBRA, 5500 filings, others
- Determine accrual liability on run-off plans, COBRA liabilities, retiree coverage and rollover deductibles
- Expatriate plans for US employees residing and working abroad
- Plans for local nationals hired into your non-US business locations
- Access to a worldwide network of broker partners located in 100+ countries
