Stephanie Ward, Author at Corporate Synergies

The Knowledge Center

Our health & welfare experts write articles, host webinars, launch videos and get interviewed by employee benefits, insurance, business and national media. It's award-winning insurance journalism which can be found here weekly.

Another Way to Improve Employee Wellbeing: Disease Management

Stephanie WardMay 22, 2018

A Health & Wellness Program Is Incomplete without Disease Management| Stephanie Ward | Corporate Synergies

Disease Management Amps Up a Corporate Health & Wellness Program

How Do Employees Make Smart Decisions in a Consumer-Driven Health Plan?

Stephanie WardSeptember 20, 2016

Consumer-driven Health Plan Enrollment Readiness| Stephanie Ward | Corporate Synergies

Choice is Hard; Enlighten Employees About Consumer-driven Health Plans

HSA, HRA, FSA: Interpreting the Alphabet Soup of Healthcare Spending Accounts

Stephanie WardApril 19, 2016

Healthcare Spending Accounts HSA, HRA & FSA | Stephanie Ward | Corporate Synergies

Healthcare Spending Accounts help employees manage costs. But HSAs, HRAs & FSAs aren’t the same.

Should You Consider a Captive for Your Employee Benefits?

Stephanie WardOctober 13, 2015

Understanding individual readiness and risk tolerance before joining a health & welfare benefits captive.

Empower your employees—treat them like insurance consumers

Stephanie WardJune 17, 2014

Corporate Synergies discusses how to close the information gap to help employees take a proactive role in their health insurance selections.

Open enrollment best practices in the ACA era

Stephanie WardOctober 1, 2013

More than ever, it’s critical to plan and execute a first-rate open enrollment program.

Compliance Minute

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WEBINAR:
A Primer on SUI Tax Alternatives

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DATE:
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
11:00-11:45 a.m. ET

Did you know there is an alternative to paying State Unemployment Taxes that saves non-profits thousands? Think of it as a $50,000 donor walking through your door! Hear from 3 unemployment insurance experts.

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Town Hall with Dan Kuperstein: Re-wiring the ACA

The last few months have provided a whirlwind of activity around the ACA. Even though the ACA replacement bill failed to go to vote in the House, discussions & debates continue. For now, the ACA remains law, yet it is evolving. Some parts of the ACA will likely be transformed while other parts will likely die.

What will it mean for you? ERISA attorney and Healthcare Reform expert Dan Kuperstein will provide the legal interpretation and street-level guidance you need, including:

What went wrong with the repeal and replace initiative
The leading replacement plan – the AHCA
Compliance with the surviving ACA in 2017, its evolution and challenges
Understanding other recent healthcare-related compliance developments

Workshop: Dollars & Sense of Wellness Programs

Health & wellness expert Gary Cassidy presents a metrics-based wellness workshop demonstrating the tools and strategies that help drive measurable results.

See how wellness can impact your employees’ health and organization’s profitability, despite your funding arrangement.
Take an in-depth look at Value of Investment and Return on Investment and what both mean to your organization.
Learn why transitioning from participation-based wellness to outcome-based wellness increases measurable returns.
Identify a truly EPIC opportunity to increase employee wellness engagement and participation.

Top 3 Hot Risks of 2017: Workers' Comp, Marijuana & Cyber

Controlling Workers’ Compensation costs, protecting your organization from social engineering and cyber risk, and understanding emerging issues created by the legalization of medical marijuana is challenging for HR & Finance professionals today. Property & Casualty insurance expert James Gow examines:

Untamed Workers’ Compensation
Budding Marijuana Issues
Invasive Cyber Scams

Telemedicine’s Influence on Health & Wellness Benefits

Learn how this fastest-growing provider resource reduces costs and improves participants’ access to healthcare. Session highlights:

Why medical carriers are adding telemedicine to most fully-insured contracts
How telemedicine impacts claims for self-funded plans and how employees can benefit too
How education drives employee participation and understanding of what telemedicine can and cannot do

FMLA Law, Paid Leave & Upcoming Changes
for NY Employers

Unum will present and discuss:

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), including legal considerations for employers & risk of non-compliance
Administrative options & employer challenges with FMLA programs, as well as the link between FMLA and Short-term Disability programs
Potential ROI for administering & managing FMLA with Short-term Disability in a single administrative platform
The value of developing a more structured FMLA administration program
Upcoming 2018 New York Paid Family Leave Law

Lower Healthcare Costs up to 30% with Reference-based Pricing

Historically we’ve asked providers how much they need to perform a service, procedure or treat a medical condition, then we would negotiate a lower rate by promising more patients. But has that approach promoted less personalized service and a need for physicians to increase service volume? Did we trade quality for quantity? In this session, you will:

Understand the current billing system, negotiated discounts and allowed charges
Learn reference (or “metric-based”) pricing by calculating costs from a measurable price, rather than starting with a fictitious cost of service pricing system
Appreciate pitfalls and challenges in referenced-based pricing
Hear how conversations about fair pay to providers is taking place at every level, from government to individual providers

Pharmacy Trends and Strategies to Preserve Affordability

Healthcare cost management expert Cory Easton of HORIZON Health Ventures will guide you in understanding unsustainable pharmacy trends & their key drivers. He will provide alternative market strategies to manage costs and mitigate trends and offer advanced strategies in managing pharmacy benefits today and in the future.

FMLA and ADA: Reducing Absences and Administrative Burden

FMLA continues to be a top concern for HR, while the ADA has been called an “inadvertent leave act.” In this session, leave management expert Mike Garfield walks through complexities of both FMLA and ADA, trends in absences, and solutions for employers wishing to reduce impact to their organization. Attendees will learn:

Top trends in absences related to FMLA and ADA
Key questions to ask when considering outsourcing leave management
How to integrate other support programs to speed employee return to work

SUI Tax Relief for Nonprofits

ALERT: There is an alternative to paying State Unemployment Taxes that saves nonprofits thousands! Think of it as a $50,000 donor walking through your door. Unemployment insurance expert Ron Lucki from UC Assure explains.

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Rx Trend: Leveraging Your PBM to Control Prescription Drug Costs

Healthcare costs continue to push upward. This trend poses a significant financial challenge for employers in 2017 and in the years to come. Bill Resnick, Chairman and CEO, and Kristin Begley, Chief Revenue Officer of Pharmacy Benefits Manager EmpiRx Health, walk employers through the role of the PBM in the design of drug plans that manage spending while providing clinical care commensurate with patient need.

They discuss:

Inflationary factors impacting drug programs
The role of rebates, tradition pricing and pass-through pricing
New drugs entering the market place
Specialty drugs’ impact on escalating cost…and how to manage the trend

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ACA(now) News Alert

Corporate Synergies has seen unsourced news reports that the IRS will impose Employer Mandate penalties within weeks. We will research and validate these reports and provide updates as available.

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Paid Leave: The Changing Landscape

Managing employee absences and remaining compliant with the Family and Medical Leave and Americans with Disabilities Acts has never been simple. But now, with more states and municipalities across the country adopting legislation to extend employee protections, keeping up with the evolving changes can add an entirely new level of complexity and risk. Ellen McCann, assistant vice president and special counsel for Unum’s employment law group, provides a detailed overview of the changing trends in U.S. leave laws and what these new requirements mean for HR professionals and their organizations.

Financial Wellness for Overall Employee Efficiency

Financial woes = low productivity + high stress. Employers can gain increased productivity and a more focused, satisfied workforce by giving employees tools to more effectively manage their personal finances, including healthcare costs. Employers can enhance their benefit offering with resources in:

Retirement Preparedness
Budgeting
Debt Management
Savings/investing
Risk Protection

Financial wellness expert Matthew Bahl from Prudential shares insights on these and other benefits of enhancing your benefits program.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

The SPARK⚡HR Washington, D.C. Forum is currently being rescheduled for a later date. We apologize for the inconvenience. If you have any questions, please contact us at csg.events@corpsyn.com

Panel Discussion: How Washington Will Impact Your Benefit Plans in 2019

From Prescription Drug Reform to Tax Reform to Medicare for All, we’ve seen a lot of new rules and regulations coming out of Washington, D.C. What does this mean for your organization’s health and welfare benefits plans? Our panel of experts in employee benefits legislation will discuss:

How to Prepare for the New Rules
Costs of New Employee Benefits Legislation
Employers’ Benefits Compliance Responsibilities & Reporting Obligations

Top 6 Voluntary Benefit Trends Your Employees Want

Industry expert Nicholas Park explores the top 6 emerging Voluntary Benefits that employees are asking for, using and appreciating. Attendees will hear why Voluntary Benefits are an important offering to your workforce, serving both your organization and their individual needs. He will also expound on the top 6 Voluntary Benefit products of today, offer industry measurements & markers, and delve into a case-in-point.

REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED.

To be added to the waitlist, click here.

The Fine Line Between Stressed & Disengaged Employees

Stress is key for survival, but too much stress can be detrimental. Unresolved stress in the workplace can swiftly turn a productive, motivated employee into a disengaged resource. Research suggests that companies are losing between 20-25% of their revenue each year due to disengaged employees. This presentation will teach how to spot a disengaged employee and the economic consequences of failing to do so.

Participants will understand how to:

Define good stress vs. bad stress
Decode individual personality traits
Identify and resolve workplace triggers

A Peer Discussion: Employee Benefits Trends & Solutions

Staying abreast of new benefits tools/resources available to employers can be a daunting task. We’ll facilitate a discussion among your peers on innovative solutions that are helping organizations manage their benefits programs. This session will allow participants to learn from each other on how to overcome the complexities of employee benefits for their population. In addition, we’ll share innovative strategies that are reshaping the benefits landscape from our perspective as a leading employee benefits brokerage and consulting firm. This session is not approved for CE credits.

Participants will learn about:

Top HR challenges and ways to overcome them
Cost reduction strategies
Innovative tools to drive participant engagement
New technologies to better administrate your benefits program

Absence & Leave: Navigating the Complexities

Employers struggle to manage absence, statutory leaves and reasonable accommodations. State and federal FMLA, ADA and ADAAA pose particular challenges for employers. A host of state and local leave laws also exist, including an increasing number of paid sick leave and paid family and medical leave.

In this seminar, Abigail O’Connell, Senior Counsel at Sun Life Financial, will review the requirements of each and other important leave and accommodation laws. She will discuss the major risks and liabilities employers can face as a result of recent DOL/EEOC rulings and jury awards related to FMLA and ADA. This session will also present common scenarios highlighting the pitfalls of ineffectively administering FMLA and ADA leaves.