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MedTech develops scholarship program
SYRACUSE — A new scholarship program introduced in September by MedTech will help students obtain hands-on experience with medical products as it also works to create a pipeline of talent for Central New York’s medical-device makers. The scholarship, a $3,750 matching grant, will benefit students participating in Engineering World Health’s (EWH) Summer Institute, where students […]
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SYRACUSE — A new scholarship program introduced in September by MedTech will help students obtain hands-on experience with medical products as it also works to create a pipeline of talent for Central New York’s medical-device makers.
The scholarship, a $3,750 matching grant, will benefit students participating in Engineering World Health’s (EWH) Summer Institute, where students travel to low-income countries to use or repair medical products in the field at a hospital or clinic. The scholarship will help cover the cost of travel and lodging.
The idea stemmed from discussions on how MedTech could celebrate its 10th anniversary, says Jessica Crawford, the organization’s president. MedTech is a Syracuse–based association of pharmaceutical, bioscience, and medical technology companies in New York state, as well as their suppliers, service providers, and research universities. Members include Welch Allyn, ConMed Corp., Rheonix, and Volpi USA.
“We wanted to find a way to help celebrate that milestone,” Crawford says of the anniversary. Along with being a great way for MedTech to give back to its member companies and the medical technology community, “it’s a nice way for our companies to feed their talent pipeline,” she notes.
Medical-device manufacturing is a big business in Central New York with medical device and equipment employment being 69 percent more concentrated in the region than the national average, according to MedTech’s recent 2014 bio/med industry report.
Students participating in the MedTech/EWH program not only gain valuable hands-on experience during the Summer Institute, but also benefit from mentorship opportunities with MedTech member companies, Crawford explains. In fact, that mentorship element is strongly encouraged and will factor into the scholarship selection.
As part of their mentorships, students could help create product-development opportunities and help medical facilities in a number of countries such as Nicaragua, Rwanda, and Tanzania.
“We hope these mentorship relationships are long-lasting,” says Crawford, who joined MedTech in the fall of 2012.
EWH works with college engineering students through university-based chapters including those at the Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Rochester, and Cornell University. Chapters are planned at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University at Buffalo.
EWH will expand its footprint in New York through MedTech’s academic affiliates, which include Binghamton University, SUNY Oswego, and SUNY Upstate Medical University.
“We are delighted with the connection to MedTech,” EWH CEO Leslie Calman said in a news release. “This helps us expand our reach to the outstanding university program throughout New York state and many medical-device providers and engineers who can help improve the state of health-care services in countries that are in great need.”
Scholarship recipients are also expected to work on EWH’s “Projects that Matter” program with a company mentor and enter the EWH Design Competition with their chapter. The contest promotes the design of medical devices that can offer significant impact at reduced costs to serve the developing world.
Based on funding secured thus far, Crawford says she expects MedTech will be able to award one or two scholarships for the 2015 Summer Institute. Applications for the scholarship are due by Feb. 6, and Crawford hopes to announce the first winners at the organization’s annual member dinner next June.
For more information on MedTech and the scholarship program, visit www.medtech.org.
Contact the Business Journal at news@cnybj.com

Goodman Impress program aims to prepare Whitman students beyond the classroom
SYRACUSE — The Martin J. Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University is using a new program to help its students prepare for life after college, including pursuing and keeping jobs. The Goodman Impress program works to help students focus on their “soft skills,” such as exhibiting self awareness, confidence, resilience, communication and social skills,
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SYRACUSE — The Martin J. Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University is using a new program to help its students prepare for life after college, including pursuing and keeping jobs.
The Goodman Impress program works to help students focus on their “soft skills,” such as exhibiting self awareness, confidence, resilience, communication and social skills, and the ability to “synthesize classroom content into the broader global context.”
That’s according to a section on the Whitman website describing the Goodman Impress program.
The Goodman Impress program is named in honor of Kenneth Goodman, who graduated from SU in 1970, to recognize his generosity in helping the Whitman School “mold future generations of professionally prepared business leaders,” according to the website.
The 2014-15 academic year marks the first time the Whitman School is using the program. Students and faculty held a launch gathering on Sept. 11 inside the school.
“It’s a program intended to help our students develop outside the classroom,” Amanda Nicholson, associate dean for undergraduate programs, said while speaking with reporters at the event.
The program is the result of feedback from Whitman stakeholders, Joseph Personte, Impress program manager, explained to reporters at the same event.
Whitman heard “from business partners and also from recent alums who came back to us and said that they did feel ill-prepared when they went out to their first job,” Personte said.
A group of 40 Whitman stakeholders, including faculty, staff, and young alums, in October 2013 brainstormed ways to develop undergraduates into “competent, engaged, and ethical business professionals with strong leadership skills,” according to the Whitman website.
“The goal of the session was how can we improve the Whitman experience for students,” Personte said.
Focusing particularly on “soft skills” and extracurricular experiences, the goal was to develop a program that would ensure undergraduates leave Whitman with a “sustainable competitive advantage” throughout their lives and careers.
Their collaboration generated the Goodman Impress program.
How it works
Every new student admitted into the Whitman School becomes part of one of four groups or “houses.” They include Adams, Harrison, Marshall, and Waverly and are named after well-known streets on or near the SU campus.
Each of these houses will have its own insignia and the leadership of a faculty house master.
“A lot of people have heard of that and have called it the Harry Potter model,” said Personte.
Harry Potter is the main character in a series of fantasy novels that British author J.K. Rowling wrote. The series included the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which was divided into four houses.
House masters are chosen for their excellence in teaching, communication, and student engagement, the Whitman website explained.
The four house masters will guide students through their first business course at Whitman and encourage them to become involved in extracurricular activities through which they can earn points.
The activities are centered on five learning objectives, including personal and professional-leadership development; major and industry exploration; certifications; global context; and community engagement, according to Whitman.
Every student will collect points for participation in activities such as leadership workshops; roundtables with visiting speakers; bonding exercises and competitions; community engagement; and certifications, such as Excel, system applications and products (SAP), and Bloomberg.
Students are working to earn points for their personal point total and for the point total of the house to which the student belongs.
A “gamification”-technology system will count and log the students’ points. The system will capture the students’ progress on a daily basis in the competition among the students and the four houses.
“They’ve been on their phones … they play with Game Boys or Wiis all their lives … this is what they do, they understand that,” said Nicholson.
Redwood City, Calif.–based Bunchball, Inc., which describes itself as “the leader in gamification” works with the Whitman School on the Goodman Impress program.
“We’re using modern-day technology to really enhance what our business community needs and that’s looking people in the eye, that’s sticking out a firm handshake and being able to talk one on one with people with clear and concise communications skills,” he said.
Students can check into the Impress program through a mobile web application on their phone. They also have the Impress dashboard page on their iPad, laptop, or personal computer, he adds.
A student’s point total at the end of each year determines his or her Impress level.
Students must earn a minimum number of points over four years to graduate. At the same time, Whitman will award a “Goodman Cup” to the house with the most points during an annual celebration.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
Survey: health-care costs to edge up nationally rise more sharply in upstate New York
Early responses from a “major” Mercer survey indicate employers are predicting that their health-benefit cost per employee will rise 3.9 percent on average in 2015. Cost growth slowed to 2.1 percent in 2013, a 15-year low, but appears to be edging back up. That’s according to a news release that Mercer, a health-care consultant, released on
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Early responses from a “major” Mercer survey indicate employers are predicting that their health-benefit cost per employee will rise 3.9 percent on average in 2015.
Cost growth slowed to 2.1 percent in 2013, a 15-year low, but appears to be edging back up.
That’s according to a news release that Mercer, a health-care consultant, released on Sept. 11. Mercer is a wholly owned subsidiary of New York City–based
Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE: MMC).
But those findings are “pretty different” compared to what Mercer is seeing among its upstate New York clients, says Thomas Flynn, Mercer’s health and benefits leader for Upstate.
He spoke with the Business Journal News Network on Oct. 8.
“Locally we’ve been seeing increases that have been several percentage points higher than that,” says Flynn.
He points to Excellus BlueCross BlueShield’s 12.2 percent rate increase for its book of business for employers with fewer than 100 employees.
Excellus had requested a 16.4 percent increase, but the New York State Department of Financial Services reduced it to 12.2 percent.
The department in early September also cut New York insurers’ overall, average rate-increase of nearly 14 percent for small-group plans down to 6.7 percent. That figure is higher than the finding in the Mercer national survey.
Nationally, the projected increase for 2015 reflects actions employers will take to manage costs, according to Mercer.
If they made no changes to their plans for 2015, employers’ costs would rise, on average, 5.9 percent. However, only 32 percent of respondents are simply renewing their existing plans without making changes.
Those results are based on responses from more than 1,700 employers on Mercer’s National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans collected through Sept. 1. The survey remains in the field, the company said.
“The average projected increase for 2015 may still be relatively low, but it does not come easily,” said Tracy Watts, senior partner and Mercer’s national health-reform leader. “Employers have to work hard each year to keep cost increases manageable. And health reform is certainly creating new challenges.”
Enrollment growth
Under the national health-reform law, 22 percent of employer health-plan sponsors are likely to see enrollment grow next year when they are required to open their plans to all employees working 30 or more hours per week.
Mercer called the 22 percent figure “a significant number.”
Mercer notes 63 percent were in compliance before reform was enacted, and 15 percent made the “necessary” changes last year for 2014.
Among large retail and hospitality businesses, which typically employ many part-time workers, 39 percent will need to extend coverage in 2015.
“…the first year that … they’ll be measuring toward that penalty for the employer shared-responsibility program,” says Flynn.
The Affordable Care Act has a provision for 2015 requiring firms to offer coverage to 70 percent of their full-time workforce, he adds. If not, they face a penalty of $2,000 per full-time employee.
“And that’s indexed at 4 percent, so it actually will be $2,080 per employee next year,” says Flynn.
Analysts and observers have speculated that employers would reduce staff or cut hours to limit the number of employees becoming eligible in 2015. However, the early results indicate few of the surveyed employers believe they will take either of those routes.
At the same time, many companies say they will manage schedules more carefully to avoid workers’ occasionally working 30 or more hours in a week or to make it clear to new hires that they will work fewer than 30 hours (31 percent).
The survey found 53 percent of those employers must extend coverage to more employees in 2015.
It’s “hard to predict” how many newly eligible employees will choose to enroll in health plans when given the chance, Mercer contends.
Those newly eligible are “generally lower-paid, variable-hour workers,” Mercer said.
The tax penalty for individuals who do not obtain coverage will rise in 2015, to a minimum penalty of $325 per individual.
When this penalty first went into effect in 2014, the minimum amount was only $95, and few employers dealt with “significant” growth in enrollment, according to Mercer.
CDHPs
One strategy employers are using to soften the increase in health spending in 2015 is adding a low-cost, high-deductible health plan for the newly eligible employees, or for all employees.
Consumer-directed health plans (CDHPs) that are eligible for a health-savings account cost, on average, 20 percent less than traditional health plans.
Health reform is “clearly accelerating that trend,” according to Mercer.
For the last five years, Flynn says the increase in the number of Mercer clients that have implemented, or examined implementing, CDHPs for the first time has been “dramatic.”
“I’d be counting it on one hand the number of clients that over the last year did not look at one,” he adds.
While about half of large employers offer a CDHP today, nearly three-fourths (73 percent) say they will have a CDHP in place within three years.
And 20 percent say it will be the only choice available to employees.
As of now, only 6 percent of large employers have moved to “full-replacement” CDHPs, Mercer said.
OSHA, NIOSH announce recommended practices to protect temporary workers’ safety and health
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recently released recommended practices for staffing agencies and host employers to “better protect temporary workers from hazards on the job.” The new “Recommended Practices” publication highlights the joint responsibility of staffing agencies and employers, to which they send
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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recently released recommended practices for staffing agencies and host employers to “better protect temporary workers from hazards on the job.”
The new “Recommended Practices” publication highlights the joint responsibility of staffing agencies and employers, to which they send employees, to ensure temporary workers are provided a safe work environment, according to a news release from the organizations.
“An employer’s commitment to the safety of temporary workers should not mirror these workers’ temporary status,” Dr. David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health, said in the release. “Whether temporary or permanent, all workers always have a right to a safe and healthy workplace. Staffing agencies and the host employers are joint employers of temporary workers and both are responsible for providing and maintaining safe working conditions. Our new Recommended Practices publication highlights this joint responsibility.”
Temporary workers are at increased risk of work-related injury and illness, the organizations contend. OSHA says its Temporary Worker Initiative, launched last year, includes outreach, training, and enforcement to ensure that temporary workers are “protected in their workplaces.”
OSHA noted in the release that in recent months, it has “received and investigated many reports of temporary workers suffering serious or fatal injuries, some in their first days on the job.” The Recommended Practices publication focuses on ensuring that temporary workers receive the same training and protection that existing workers receive.
“Recognizing that temporary workers are often new to the workplace to which they are sent, we believe these recommended practices will provide a strong foundation for host employers and staffing agencies to work together to provide a comprehensive program that protects the safety and health of all workers,” Dr. John Howard, director of NIOSH, said in the release.
The new guidance recommends that staff agency/host employer contracts “clearly define the temporary worker’s tasks and the safety and health responsibilities of each employer.” Staffing agencies should maintain contact with temporary workers to verify that the host employer has fulfilled its responsibilities for a safe workplace, the guidance says.
The Recommended Practices publication is available at http://www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA3735.pdf.
Ice Bucket Challenge offers nonprofits a fundraising lesson
The ALS Association, seeking a cure through research for Lou Gehrig’s Disease, has absolutely gone viral with its “Ice Bucket Challenge.” Videos are all over social media and TV showing people from all walks of life dousing themselves with icy water to raise money for the cause. The results are stunning, with close to $100
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The ALS Association, seeking a cure through research for Lou Gehrig’s Disease, has absolutely gone viral with its “Ice Bucket Challenge.” Videos are all over social media and TV showing people from all walks of life dousing themselves with icy water to raise money for the cause.
The results are stunning, with close to $100 million being raised from this campaign, compared to the association’s total contributions of $37 million for all of last year.
As this challenge shows, social media has fundamentally changed the structure of fundraising and development activities for charitable organizations.
This is, without question, a “tipping point” in the future of financial sustainability for nonprofit organizations that rely on charitable contributions.
I continue to believe that the three legs of the sustainable, fiscally viable, and successful nonprofit organization are as follows:
The Ice Bucket Challenge demonstrates that your fundraising and development efforts need to include a substantive social-media branding and solicitation component. The flip side of contributions received is whether or not your organization is adequately accumulating and allocating costs to your fundraising activities.
In addition, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued his Executive Order No. 38 in 2012, placing a cap of 15 percent on administrative costs of state-contracted service providers. Fundraising and administrative costs are two of the three legs of the cost-accounting stool for every nonprofit organization. Both government and private-sector funders, including donors, are increasingly interested in being able to assess the efficiency of organizational programs, services, fundraising, and administrative infrastructure.
Prior to Cuomo’s executive order, the nonprofit sector had been somewhat insulated from the need for sophisticated cost-accounting systems, until now. It used to be that government and third-party funders of nonprofits were focused on paying for programs as opposed to buying specific services on a unit-cost basis. The continuing move away from program-service funding toward the need to answer the question, “What does the service cost?” has dramatically changed the expectation for your ability to demonstrate cost-effectiveness. Now, everyone wants to know what they are buying and how much they are paying, and whether the price to be paid is competitive.
Since the Industrial Revolution of the 19th Century, manufacturers have focused on cost accounting as a key ingredient to financial success. A century of experience with developing cost-accounting systems led to many different approaches to determining the cost of producing a product. The three most common approaches that were developed are known as “standard cost,” “job cost,” and “process cost” accounting systems.
For example, in the auto industry, the Ford accountants can tell you the cost of every part that is used in the production and assembly of an automobile. The same is true of most industries where manufacturing, production, construction, and assembly are appropriate descriptions of the business activity.
Services versus products
The nonprofit sector is different in that most often the nonprofit entity provides a service instead of a product. The service sector also offers a different set of issues for cost accounting, particularly with the need for increased fundraising activities to subsidize mission-based program services. The current environment represents a dramatic change from the historical expectation that nonprofits have not been required to have sophisticated cost accounting because of the wide variety of funding mechanisms used to pay for their services. As a result, pricing and charges for services, in many cases, vary based on who pays the bill.
One nonprofit program may consist of many individual services. However, payment for these services may come from funding sources on a basis that is not directly tied to actual services provided. For example, many government grants are not based on specific units of service provided.
Deficit funding of programs means just that. While deficit funding is used much less frequently, if the program generates a deficit, then the funding source pays some or all of the deficit amount.
What does this mean? Where are we going with this?
The nonprofit sector has arrived at a tipping point on cost accounting and administrative efficiency. Government funders and regulatory authorities are demanding accountability and cost justification on the basis of service units instead of total program costs. More funding sources are paying for services on a unit-cost basis instead of program or deficit-funding approach.
As a result, success in today’s nonprofit sector has been redefined. Competition and cost are the important elements for determining bottom-line success (e.g., managed-care contracting). The challenge is to accomplish this transformation while maintaining or improving the quality of the services provided.
Now that you have a sense for the problem, let’s talk about the solution. Whether you are a board member, volunteer, management, staff, or donor to a nonprofit, please consider the following suggestions for developing your own circumstances-specific solution.
Cuomo’s executive order is just one example of the expanding focus and scrutiny of administrative costs of nonprofits. In your cost accounting, be sure to properly identify and segregate administrative and fundraising costs from direct program costs. Make sure that your payroll system provides you with the appropriate level of sophistication to document an accurate distribution of staff labor efforts to program, administration, and fundraising efforts.
In most cases, time is of the essence. What may have developed in the manufacturing sector over a century ago is a necessity in the nonprofit sector today, tomorrow, or yesterday, depending on your situation. Fortunately, there are many resources available to move rapidly toward a cost-accounting solution that fits. At the same time, many nonprofit service sectors do not yet have software applications that provide the level of sophistication necessary. If this is your situation, you need to make cost accounting a priority.
There is a significant difference between cost reporting and cost accounting. To understand the difference puts you one step closer to the solution.
Remember, accurate cost information is power.
Gerald J. Archibald, CPA, is a partner in charge of the management advisory services at The Bonadio Group. Contact him at (585) 381-1000, or via email at garchibald@bonadio.com
Why Do Physicians Permit, If Not Encourage, Futile Medical Care?
The economics of health care are the awkward combination of cost and caring. In prior columns (see Sept. 5, 19, and 26 issues of The Central New York Business Journal) we have looked at the economics of health care based on the challenging questions from patients that Dr. Michael Kirsch, a practicing physician and newspaper
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The economics of health care are the awkward combination of cost and caring.
In prior columns (see Sept. 5, 19, and 26 issues of The Central New York Business Journal) we have looked at the economics of health care based on the challenging questions from patients that Dr. Michael Kirsch, a practicing physician and newspaper columnist, has said he has trouble answering. This week, we address his question, “Why do physicians permit, if not encourage, futile medical care?”
Who is to say what medical care is futile? Much of the costs of health care simply try to manage the dying process. At the end of life, there are rarely any good answers. We are all mortal. Every effort to save the patient from dying ultimately proves futile. The only debate is how many years of life can be gained from a treatment versus the outcome if no course of treatment is pursued.
Medical care is measured in quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). QALY measures how many years of additional life can be gained by any medical procedure. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has set the cost threshold of one year’s worth of quality life at $50,000.
In previous articles, we discussed that some screening tests don’t save money even if they save lives. As a result, we’ve been accused of putting costs over caring. Nothing could be further from the truth.
David Marotta’s brother Mark was born in March 1955. From February through May 1955, the government set off 14 different open-air nuclear detonations in Nevada. The radioactive fallout drifted over the eastern United States. In September of that year, Mark was diagnosed with acute leukemia.
Mark’s parents took him to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., because they were doing research on leukemia. He was given six months to live.
Mark was part of the first wave of alarming increases in cancer as a result of nuclear testing at a rate of more than three per month. For his parents, no amount of money was too much if it offered even a slim chance of success.
In a free-market equilibrium, everyone is satisfied with the outcome. There are no shortages, no surpluses. The suppliers are happy with the quantity sold and the price set. The consumers are happy with their decision in response to the price. Some consumers are excited to have made a good deal. Others are grateful they avoided overpricing.
Because individuals can weigh the cost and the benefit for themselves and make their own decisions, they can choose what will satisfy them.
No amount of centralized planning will allocate resources better than supply and demand. One reason that physicians provide futile medical care is because patients demand it.
Mark had a brief remission and came home for Christmas. He appeared healthy and happy. But then the symptoms returned. He died when he was 18 months old. Was the care futile?
In 1955 the survival rate was effectively zero. Today, as a result of research, children with leukemia have a 5-year survival rate of 85 percent.
Who is to say what constitutes futile medical care?
In 2008, David’s father had a life-threatening abdominal aortic aneurysm. The first surgery was ineffective and had to be redone. After surgery, he was unconscious for two weeks with ventilator-associated pneumonia.
As an 82-year-old, it wasn’t clear that he would make it. But this past summer he celebrated his fifth wedding anniversary. This fall he is traveling to Italy.
Physicians should provide their services to everyone who is willing to pay either out of pocket or for insurance to cover their needs. They should not be burdened with trying to decide who is the most deserving or what care is worth delivering.
But these death-panel discussions only come into play when governments try to override free markets with centralized planning.
Third-party payer systems drive up demand so physicians have an incentive to encourage care no matter how futile. Thus if the government is willing to pay for a scooter, companies will advertise the Medicare coverage and help claimants fill out the necessary paperwork to qualify.
Physicians have an incentive to encourage the use of their services as well. And patients covered by a third-party payer system have little incentive to refuse them.
Centralized planners are no more qualified to distribute health care than they are to distribute organically grown vegetables. The market is both fairer and more efficient at allocating such resources.
The market also leaves individuals free to make the difficult decisions regarding what levels of insurance or health care are worth the expense and which are not.
Striving to live is admirable. Fighting to save a life is also a virtue. Accepting our mortality can also be a virtue. There are no good answers at the end of life. We should not judge the difficult choices of others even if the struggle seems a waste of resources to us.
Only under a socialist or collectivist model, when we are required to pay for the choices of others, do we begin to begrudge letting others make their own choices.
Often there are no easy decisions toward the end of life. Our advice is to remember this and not blame yourself because it did not turn out well.
One helpful document is an advanced medical directive. The organization, called Aging with Dignity, provides a free and relatively easy way to think through these issues. Its document “Five Wishes” lets your family and doctors know:
We can only afford to allow others the freedom to strive against death when we are not trying collectively to subsidize it.
David John Marotta is president of Marotta Wealth Management, Inc. providing fee-only financial planning and wealth management at www.emarotta.com. Megan Russell studied cognitive science at the University of Virginia and now specializes in explaining the complexities of economics and finance at www.marottaonmoney.com.
Employer-Reporting Requirements Under the Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has not only redefined employee-benefit plan requirements, but also employer-reporting requirements. In 2015, CFOs and their human-resources managers will be faced with the need to manage unprecedented employee-level data tracking in order to comply with the latest aspect of the “Pay or Play” mandate. Prior to Jan. 1, 2015, employers
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The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has not only redefined employee-benefit plan requirements, but also employer-reporting requirements. In 2015, CFOs and their human-resources managers will be faced with the need to manage unprecedented employee-level data tracking in order to comply with the latest aspect of the “Pay or Play” mandate. Prior to Jan. 1, 2015, employers must ready themselves from a data systems and personnel perspective to ensure they are well-positioned to meet ACA’s latest compliance requirements.
Starting in 2015, large employers (those with 50 or more full-time equivalent employees) are required to demonstrate their compliance with ACA’s employer mandate. Often referred to as the “pay or play” mandate, this piece of ACA establishes that large employers must offer the majority of their full-time employees, and their children, health-benefit coverage that is affordable and meets established minimum-value requirements. Otherwise, they may be subject to a financial penalty.
The Affordable Care Act added section 6055 to the Internal Revenue Code, which requires insurers and self-insured employers that provide minimum essential health coverage to their employees to report employee coverage to the IRS annually. Insurance carriers are required to submit the returns in the case of fully insured coverage, while employers are mandated to submit the returns in the case of a self-funded benefit plan.
Reportable minimum essential coverage does not include limited-scope vision and dental coverage, and other excepted benefits, however it does include COBRA coverage, major-medical coverage provided through a retiree-only plan, and retiree-only health-reimbursement arrangements (HRAs).
The IRS recently released draft versions of the forms that employers will need to complete under tax code sections 6055 and 6056. The mandate requires that employers compile monthly employee data throughout the year and submit an annual report to demonstrate their compliance with ACA’s requirements regarding the availability and affordability of their employee health benefits. While the first report will not need to be submitted until January 2016, employers must spend all of 2015 tracking coverage detail at the employee level in order to provide an accurate submission.
The mandate requires that employers collect and disclose employee data that includes some elements that most employers are likely capturing today, such as the name, address and Social Security number of all employees and their health-plan-eligible dependents.
Additional required data, which may not be tracked by employers today, includes the number of full-time employees and full-time equivalent employees for each calendar month, and the employees’ share of the lowest-cost monthly premium for self-only, minimum-value coverage for each calendar month. For organizations not currently tracking this level of health-coverage data, in order to comply with the mandate, they may be facing data-infrastructure upgrades relative to time and attendance systems, record management, and payroll systems, as well as human-resources personnel staffing enhancements.
The first coverage-verification report will be due by employers to their employees by Jan. 31, 2016, and then to the IRS by Feb. 28, 2016, or March 31, 2016, if filing electronically.
Both self-insured health plans and fully insured carriers must provide a health coverage/health-insurance form to each of their enrollees and members. The forms must then be filed together with a transmittal of health coverage/health-insurance coverage information return form with the IRS. Employers are required to file returns electronically if they file 250 or more of tax form 1095-C or 1095-B. The forms may be delivered to employees electronically.
To ensure compliance, penalties are expected to be enforced for failure to file timely and/or accurately. However, as we have seen before with other aspects of ACA, the IRS does not intend to impose penalties on employers that have made a good-faith effort to comply in the first year.
ACA has also set goals to streamline the transmittal of electronic-payment transactions. In order to accomplish this goal, certain health plans, including self-funded plans, must obtain a health-plan identifier (HPID) by Nov. 5, 2014.
The HPID is a unique 10-digit identifier issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and obtainable through the CMS Enterprise Portal, known as the Health Plan and Other Entity Enumeration System (HPOES), at no cost to the employer plan. As of Nov. 7, 2016, health plans, medical providers, health insurers, third-party administrators (TPA), and all other entities that make standard HIPAA electronic transactions must use their assigned HPID for all transactions.
The purpose of the consistent identifier format is to increase the efficiency and accuracy of all electronic-data exchanges subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). CMS has also reported that the HPIDs will be used to help the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to implement various administrative-simplification initiatives.
Small employers, as defined by those with total claims paid of less than $5 million, are granted a one-year extension and are not required to comply with the mandate until Nov. 5, 2015. In order to be approved for the extension, small employers must complete an online application with CMS.
There is still time to take the steps necessary to prepare your organization for ACA’s newest reporting requirements. With proper documentation in 2015, meeting the reporting requirements in 2016 will be smoother and more efficient for both you and your human-resources staff.
Vanessa Flynn is vice president of client services for the POMCO Group.
Career and Technical Diploma Approval By Regents Will Fill Thousands Of New York Jobs
New York state is in the midst of a middle-skills job crisis. When you look at help-wanted listings across our state, the positions being advertised are for computer-network specialists, electricians, machinists, welders, and high-tech manufacturing workers. We often hear from employers who say many job applicants for skilled labor or high-tech positions lack the necessary
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New York state is in the midst of a middle-skills job crisis.
When you look at help-wanted listings across our state, the positions being advertised are for computer-network specialists, electricians, machinists, welders, and high-tech manufacturing workers. We often hear from employers who say many job applicants for skilled labor or high-tech positions lack the necessary skills to do the job.
Additionally, we have a significant number of students who do not finish school, or who graduate without the skills to do well in college or in the job market. Providing a career and technical education (CTE) pathway to high-school graduation helps solve this problem, but time is ticking to act.
Recently, New York State Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch said during a radio interview that the board plans to vote in October to change high-school graduation requirements to create multiple ways for students to earn a diploma, including a CTE pathway. Chancellor Tisch stated a 21st Century economy requires that students be able to show capacities in a variety of different areas. This is what we have been hearing too from employers, educators, and students themselves. Together, we urge the Board of Regents to support the plan this month because there is no time to waste.
Earlier this year, we introduced legislation known as “the 21st Century Initiative” (A.8189C/S.5966C) to help make the CTE pathway to graduation in New York a real option. However, if the Regents act as planned on creating new pathways to graduation, the CTE pathway option will be rightfully fast-tracked as an additional path to a diploma and a good-paying job.
Offering students a chance to become certified in high school for careers as computer-network technicians; FAA-certified airplane-repair technicians; or in fields like nanotechnology and agriculture or natural resources will significantly increase the high-school graduation rate. In recent years, the rate has been far too low for a state like New York — at or below 75 percent.
There is more good news. The infrastructure for this pathway is already in place. Much of the training for this CTE diploma can be done through existing organizations, such as our BOCES districts. This effort has broad support and great potential to provide a boost to community colleges and other institutions of higher learning. Moreover, the value of a high-school diploma in New York will be strengthened. Students would graduate high-school ready for an entry-level, skilled job or could advance their certification at a two-year or four-year institution.
Creating a CTE diploma will reinforce the bedrock of New York’s educational system, raise graduation rates, help our business owners fill manufacturing and high-tech job vacancies, and will help lead to a more robust economy in our state. Together, with educators, business leaders, and parents, we urge the Board of Regents to approve this plan swiftly.
David J. Valesky is a New York State Senator representing the 53rd Senate District, which includes most of the city of Syracuse, Liverpool, Cicero, and Madison County. Anthony J. Brindisi is a Democratic New York State Assemblyman representing the 119th Assembly District, which includes the cities of Utica and Rome and towns of Floyd, Frankfort, Marcy, and Whitesboro.
What an exciting election we have in New York this year. In this corner, we have a governor who may be indicted weeks before the election. Or maybe during the weeks after it. Federal prosecutor Preet Bharara loves to hint about this. But when it comes to deciding, he is about as decisive as the
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What an exciting election we have in New York this year. In this corner, we have a governor who may be indicted weeks before the election. Or maybe during the weeks after it.
Federal prosecutor Preet Bharara loves to hint about this. But when it comes to deciding, he is about as decisive as the governor is about fracking.
Meanwhile, the prosecutor also hints of other indictments — of politicians. Yes, he suggests some of our politicians are crooks. This is like suggesting that some Alcoholics Anonymous members drink.
Do you know who is running for the Democrats for lieutenant governor? You should know who the candidate is. It is your civic duty. There is always a chance she will become the governor.
How about Cuomo’s opponent for governor? Here is a good campaign slogan for him: “Who on Earth is Running Against Cuomo for Governor?” That has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?
My friends in the publicity industry tell me that it may work. It might entice some voters to find out before the election. And it would be a better slogan than Cuomo’s. His is “Not Indicted Yet.”
All right, I have given you extra time to come up with the name of his opponent for governor. Before we get to it, here is your chance for triple points. Name the opponent’s running mate. Who is running for lieutenant governor on the Republican ticket? That is a tough one, isn’t it?
I have only been playing around here. I actually went to the state Republican Convention this year. On the last night, the chair spoke to the assembled delegates about the nomination for the governorship.
“Ladies and … ! Does anyone want to run for governor? Anyone? Speak up please.
“From your silence I have to assume that in this year’s election we will not have a candidate. Wait, wait, I see a hand waving from the back of the room. There is a hand waving from behind the Budweiser bunting.
“What’s that sir? Speak up, speak up. You are willing … you are willing to run for governor on the Republican ticket? Wow, that is a relief. What is your name, sir? Louder please, sir. Your name is … Rob, from Astoria?
“That’s good. I think Astoria is in New York state. Even if it’s not … Well, ladies and gentlemen, we have a candidate. All those in favor of Rob of Astoria carrying the Republican banner in … All those in favor of Rob from Astoria carrying the Republican banner in this year’s election …
“Well, Rob, you’re our man. Good luck, sir.”
“Now for the next order of business, our door prize. Yes, the highlight of the convention. I will just ask former Senator Johnson, who is out on parole, to draw the winning ticket.”
“Wait for it. Our winner is Christopher Moss. Hey Chris, you win two tickets to the Demolition Derby at next year’s State Fair.
“And, sir, come on down here! We have another surprise for you. You, sir! You get to be our candidate for lieutenant governor Isn’t that cool? You get to be the running mate of Rob from Astoria. He’s the guy in the rear. The guy behind the Budweiser bunting. I’m sure he is looking forward to knowing you too, sir.
From Tom…as in Morgan.
Tom Morgan writes about political, financial, and other subjects from his home near Oneonta, in addition to his radio shows and TV show. For more information about him, visit his website at www.tomasinmorgan.com
Radical Legislation Would Give Illegal Immigrants Right to Vote
It is important to remember that we are a country of immigrants and that all people should have the opportunity for a better life. Our history and heritage derives from the millions who have immigrated to the United States and become U.S. citizens. Each year, naturalization ceremonies are held throughout the U.S. in which foreign
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It is important to remember that we are a country of immigrants and that all people should have the opportunity for a better life. Our history and heritage derives from the millions who have immigrated to the United States and become U.S. citizens.
Each year, naturalization ceremonies are held throughout the U.S. in which foreign citizens that meet the eligibility requirements for citizenship officially become citizens of the United States of America.
Earlier in the year, at a naturalization ceremony in Syracuse, 42 individuals from 24 different countries became U.S. citizens. One man who participated in the ceremony and was granted citizenship told local reporters he pursued citizenship for five years. In the interview, it was clear that he was proud of what he accomplished. Obtaining citizenship can be a long path for many immigrants, but, the rewards of becoming a citizen make it well worth it.
I bring this up because lately there has been much discussion on illegal immigration in our country — and rightfully so. Generally, immigration matters fall under the jurisdiction of the federal government. However, a common trend has emerged where state legislators are trying to influence immigration policy and grant rights and privileges reserved for U.S. citizens to illegal immigrants. Several years ago, former Gov. Eliot Spitzer proposed allowing illegal immigrants the right to obtain a New York State driver’s license. This proposal drew ire from many. Fortunately, it was never implemented.
Another bill is the Dream Act. This bill would allow illegal immigrants the opportunity to receive financial aid under New York’s college tuition and scholarship program. The concern is that by allowing those who are not legally residing in New York to receive tuition assistance, there will be less funding available for those who are New York citizens. This is especially concerning as the pool of applicants for New York’s tuition-assistance program rises along with the costs of attending college. Rather than implementing the Dream Act, a better solution would be to allow the creation of a private fund that could provide financial aid to illegal-immigrant children without using tax dollars.
Additionally, I want to make you aware of the radical proposal, called the “New York is Home Act.” Proposed by two New York City legislators, this bill attempts to bypass federal immigration policy by creating “state citizenship.” Under their plan, illegal immigrants would have voting rights and the ability to run for public office. They could also obtain a driver’s license, receive financial aid through the state, and obtain a professional license (this could include licenses for professions such as a doctor, mental-health counselor, certified public accountant, and other professions).
The criteria for becoming a New York State citizen is fairly nonexistent and it appears that almost any illegal immigrant would be eligible for “state citizenship.” One of the sponsors of the bill estimates that 3 million illegal immigrants would be eligible for the newly created citizenship pathway. This legislation is so broad it essentially does away with any requirements to become a citizen. There are good reasons why we have immigration laws and why immigration policy should be set by the federal government. National security would be on the top of that list. States should not impose what they believe should be naturalization requirements, or as in this case, almost no requirement.
In two weeks, another group of proud immigrants hailing from around the world will gather at a naturalization ceremony in Syracuse to become our newest American citizens. The hard work and dedication these individuals have shown will be rewarded with the greatest gift that we could offer to citizens — freedom. We should celebrate our immigrant heritage. We should not pass state laws that make a mockery out of U.S. citizenship.
William (Will) A. Barclay is the Republican representative of the 120th New York Assembly District, which encompasses most of Oswego County, including the cities of Oswego and Fulton, as well as the town of Lysander in Onondaga County and town of Ellisburg in Jefferson County. Contact him at barclaw@assembly.state.ny.us, or (315) 598-5185.
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