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Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Reform May Result in Higher Health Insurance Premiums

President Barack Obama fulfilled his promise to reform the nation's healthcare system and make health insurance affordable on March 23, 2010, when he signed the Patient Protection and Affordability Care Act of 2010 (PPACA) into law. Proponents of the law applauded the reform, based on the assumption that many formerly uninsured Americans would be given the opportunity to obtain health insurance coverage.

Obama predicted at the time, that the average family would save $2,500 in yearly premiums. This amount was later refuted by the Congressional Budget office, which predicted a yearly health insurance premium increase of $2,300.

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Reform May Result in Higher Health Insurance Premiums

Monday, July 26, 2010

How one hospital rebranded itself from the inside out | Article |

Enhanced in-house communication and taking a vow of excellence have motivated the staff to improve the experience for patients.

Trover Health System was suffering from a less than sterling reputation.

If things were perceived badly from the outside, it didn’t look too bright on the inside, either. The culture inside the Madisonville, Ky., hospital was described as “stressed.” A hospital survey showed that employees wanted better internal communication.

The new CEO, Bert Whitaker, wanted to change the internal and external perception about the organization. It enlisted the help of Ten Adams, a health-care marketing and business development consultancy. The two worked together to connect employees and the public with its new branding efforts.

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How one hospital rebranded itself from the inside out Article

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Sibson Consulting's Perspectives - The Compensation Scorecard: What Gets Measured Gets Done

Employee compensation, one of the largest expenses in any organization, is also one of the least managed. While transparent data and scorecards have greatly improved the management of other aspects of performance, compensation often goes unevaluated beyond the fundamental measure of incremental costs. The invisible nature of compensation leads to problems. These include failing to differentiate pay for performance, over- and/or underpaying jobs relative to the market, having compensation spending grow faster than revenue and allowing employees to suspect they are not being paid fairly.


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SibsoConsulting's Perspectives - The Compensation Scorecard: What Gets Measured Gets Donen

How to make the most of employee benefits

Don't miss out on a match. If your company offers a 401(k) or 403(b) retirement plan, ask whether the employer will match the money you save.


Having a portion of your salary withheld from each paycheck and deposited into a tax-deferred retirement savings account is generally a good idea even without an employer match. But if your company matches the money you save, it's like free money.


"This is the biggest mistake I see people make,"  "They somehow think joining the 403(b) is costing them money, when it's actually getting them more."

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Independent Contractor Vs Employee - The Exponential Risk of Worker Misclassification

Think twice before routinely classifying that next worker as an independent contractor or employee, or be prepared to write the Internal Revenue Service a large check for unpaid taxes, penalties and fines, should the worker be found incorrectly classified during an audit. In addition, employers in violation of worker classification laws should also be ready to provide retroactive access to employee benefits programs for incorrectly classified workers. And, if during an audit, a privately held company has plans to go public, it could be faced with providing misclassified workers retroactive access to stock options as well.

For more information click on this link.....a must read for business owners.
Independent Contractor Vs Employee - The Exponential Risk of Worker Misclassification

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Reasons to consider Disability Insurance


Female architect had a father who got Parkinson's. She had just started her practice and wasn't making a whole lot of income, but wanted and needed disability income. To be covered, as a 32 year old female, was pretty expensive. She couldn't afford it. She had 2 other people working for her - so what we did was have her buy minimal ($1000 for 2year benefit) on each of the assistants. This let us go with a Multi-Life unisex plan and even with her buying the coverage for her employees - She saved enough to be able to afford it - This works extremely for females

Friday, July 09, 2010

IRS ombudsman warns of barriers to health reform implementation - The Hill's Healthwatch

The IRS is neither structured correctly nor funded adequately to tackle the responsibilities assigned to it under the new health reform law, an IRS ombudsman warned this week.

IRS ombudsman warns of barriers to health reform implementation - The Hill's Healthwatch Click on link for full article.

Health-care law may pose compliance issues for IRS, taxpayers

The Washington Post (7/9, Hitzenrath) reports that the IRS "has been given a key role administering health insurance premium subsidies, tax credits for small businesses, assessments on employers." For example, beginning in 2012, all businesses and tax-exempt organizations will have to issue a new IRS form to vendors "from whom they buy goods totaling $600 or more annually." The Post writes that it "will require thorough record-keeping," adding to the agency's burdens. In addition, a tax reporting requirement in the healthcare law "may impose significant burdens on businesses, charities and government agencies," the advocate service said.

Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Trends in Pension Planning

•Highly customized, strategic programs that are designed around a company’s specific needs, benefits, demographics, culture and existing communication channels. There’s been a big shift away from “one size fits all” education through standard plan communication materials and tools and towards custom programs that deliver personalized guidance on an individual level.



• A shift away from “benefits communication” which provides employees with an understanding of the benefits they have available towards “benefits planning” which takes the communication a step further by providing employees with guidance around how to best manage their benefits in order to achieve their financial goals. This is in response to employers freezing pensions, eliminating or cutting 401(k) matches and reducing company-subsidized health care. Now employees have a greater burden for funding their benefits and making key choices between different options. Employers are responding by working with financial education vendors and retirement plan providers to launch programs that provide this level of guidance rather than relying on plan communication materials and workshops that simply describe the benefits available to employees.



• Launching retirement and financial education as an employee benefit, rather than simply using it to announce plan changes or communicate during open enrollment. Ten years ago, companies tended to launch education based on a specific event or change. Now, nearly all the companies we talk to are making financial education a key part of their benefits package..

Healthcare Law Expected To Help 1 Million People Obtain Coverage By 2011.

The AP (7/6, Alonso-Zaldivar) reports, "The first stage of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul is expected to provide coverage to about 1 million uninsured Americans by next year, according to government estimates." While this is a small beginning, "many others -- more than 100 million people -- are getting new benefits that improve their existing coverage." The AP notes, "For weeks, the White House has been touting the new law's initial benefit changes, even as Obama dares Republicans to make good on their threat to repeal his signature social policy achievement. Now, a clearer picture is starting to emerge from the patchwork of press releases."

Sunday, July 04, 2010

Discussion: HRAnswerLink | LinkedIn

Employee vs. Intern GuideImproperly classifying an individual as an unpaid intern instead of a paid employee increases an employer’s wage and hour compliance liabilities. To help minimize your company’s risks of unnecessarily owing unpaid wage and overtime, the Employee vs. Intern Guide will help strengthen your position in case the U.S. DOL decides to pay a visit and questions your company’s internship programs. The guide covers relevant areas including:

Discussion: HRAnswerLink LinkedIn Click fo mor information,
a value added service of AMSINSURE for clients.

Discussion: HRAnswerLink | LinkedIn

"HR Fact of the Month
July 2010

Did you know?!?

90% of unemployed job seekers reported that they would accept less than they originally wanted to land a new job. (Source: Glassdoor.com)"