Davis, Brown, Koehn, Shors & Roberts, P.C.

Preventative Care Rules Released

info@lawiowa.com (Davis, Brown, Koehn, Shors & Roberts, P.C.) — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Yesterday HHS, Dept of Treasury, and the DOL released interim final rules requiring coverage of certain preventative care services by non-grandfathered plans. Under the Affordable Care Act, non-grandfathered plans must cover certain preventative care services at 100% with no participant cost-sharing (deductible, co-insurance, co-payments, etc). The new rules go into effect for non-grandfathered plans with the first plan year beginning on or after September 23, 2010. The following is a summary of the new rules.

Definition of "Preventative Care." Under the interim rules, group health plans and health insurance issuers must cover and prohibit the imposition of cost-sharing requirements for the following categories of preventative care services:

(1) Evidence based items or services that have in effect a rating of A or B in the current recommendations of the US Preventative Services Task Force for the individual involved;

(2) Immunizations for routine use in children, adolescents, and adults as recommended by the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices;

(3) For infants, children and adolescents, evidence-informed preventative care and screening provided for in the comprehensive guidelines supported by the Health Resources & Services Administration; and

(4) With respect to women, evidence-informed preventative care and screening provided for in comprehensive guidelines supported by HRSA. (To be issued no later than 8/1/2011).

The complete list of recommendations and guidelines is available at http://www.healthcare.gov/center/regulations/prevention.html

When Multiple Services Are Provided. The rules clarify how cost-sharing may or may not be applied when multiple services are provided. If a preventative care service is provided during an office visit but billed separately from the office visit, cost-sharing may be imposed on the office visit. If the preventative care service is not billed separately from an office visit and the primary purpose of the visit is not the preventative care service, cost-sharing may be applied to the office visit. If the preventative care service is not billed separately from an office visit and the primary purpose of the office visit is the preventative care service, cost-sharing is prohibited. The rules provide several examples of when cost sharing is and is not allowed. For example, if a patient receives a cholesterol screening test during a routine office visit, no cost sharing may be applied to the cholesterol screening but cost-sharing may be applied toward the office visit.

Out of Network Providers. A plan that distinguishes between in-network and out-of-network providers is not required to cover preventative care services provided by out-of-network providers and may impose cost-sharing on preventative care services provided by out-of-network providers.

Updates to Preventative Care Guidelines. Because preventative care recommendations change frequently, the Affordable Care Act provides that health plans and insurance issuers must have at least 1 year between when the recommendations or guidelines are issued and the plan year for which the services addressed in such recommendations or guidelines must be covered. The interim regulations provide that a recommendation or guideline must be covered at 100% starting with the first plan year beginning on or after the date that is one year after the new recommendation or guideline went into effect. For example, if a new recommendation is adopted on February 1, 2011, calendar year plans will have until January 1, 2013 to cover the new recommendation at 100%. For non-grandfathered plans who must start complying with the preventative care requirements with the first plan year on or after 9/23/10, the preventative care recommendations that will apply to them are those that were in effect as of 9/23/09.

The rules also clarify that if a recommendation or guideline is dropped, the health plan or issuer no longer has to cover the service at 100%. Health plans and issuers will need to check the applicable recommendations and guidelines once per year to determine whether any additional items or services must be covered without cost sharing and to determine whether any recommendations or guidelines have been dropped. The recommendations and guidelines can be found at http://www.healthcare.gov/center/regulations/prevention.html

For more information regarding the new rules, please contact your Davis Brown attorney or Susan Freed at (515) 288-2500.

Amy Landwehr speaks at IAICE/CCPI Annual Conference

info@lawiowa.com (Davis, Brown, Koehn, Shors & Roberts, P.C.) — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Amy Landwehr will be a speaker at IAICE/CCPI Annual Conference (Iowa Association for Internships and Cooperative Education and College Career Professionals of Iowa): Session on "Understanding International Students: OPT" at the University of Northern Iowa July 14-15.

More information can be found at http://www.uni.edu/careerservices/events/misc/ccpi/.

New Regulations Define "Grandfathered Status"

info@lawiowa.com (Davis, Brown, Koehn, Shors & Roberts, P.C.) — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0000

On June 14, 2010 the United States Health & Human Services, Department of Labor and Department of Treasury issued interim rules further defining “grandfathered status” for purposes of the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act (the “Act”). These rules are important because several of the new health care reform provisions in the Act are not applicable to “grandfathered plans.” The Act defines a grandfathered plan as simply a plan that was in place on March 23, 2010; however, it was silent on what changes a plan could make and still retain its grandfathered status. The new rules released Monday give us initial guidance on this issue. Below is a summary of the new rules and how we anticipate they will impact employer-sponsored group health plans. Note, the impact of the new rules on individual plans is beyond the scope of this summary.

Click on download associated document above for more information.

SEC No-Action Letter Further Limits Activities of Unregistered Broker-Dealers

info@lawiowa.com (Davis, Brown, Koehn, Shors & Roberts, P.C.) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0000

In a letter dated May 17, 2010, the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) declined to provide the no-action relief requested by a law firm that proposed to assist one of its clients (the “Company”) in raising capital without registering with the SEC as a broker-dealer. In its letter to the SEC, the Brumberg, Mackey & Wall, P.L.C. law firm (“BMW”) requested the SEC staff to advise that it would not recommend enforcement action if BMW introduced potential investors to the Company and, upon the closing of any successful debt or equity investments made as a result of these introductions, the Company compensated BMW by paying a “referral fee” based on a percentage of the amounts raised.

In its letter to the SEC, BMW acknowledged past SEC guidance indicating that receiving transaction-based compensation in connection with attempting to induce the purchase or sale of securities was one of the hallmarks of broker-dealer activity. BMW attempted to distinguish its proposed referral fee arrangement, however, by stating that its role would be limited to introducing the Company to a limited number of potential investors who “may have an interest” in making an investment in the Company. BMW also stated that it would not, among other things, (i) engage in any negotiations between the Company and the potential investors, (ii) provide any information about the Company to potential investors which may be used as the basis for negotiations between the Company and the investors or (iii) provide any assistance to either the Company or the investors with respect to potential investment transactions.

The SEC staff’s response to BMW stated that any person receiving transaction-based compensation in connection with another’s purchase or sale of securities generally must register as a broker-dealer or be an “associated person” of a registered broker-dealer. The staff also stated that it believed that BMW’s proposed introduction activities would involve “pre-screening” potential investors to determine their eligibility to invest in the Company and “pre-selling” the Company’s securities to gauge investors’ interest. Further, the staff stated that the proposed compensation arrangement, in which the Company would pay BMW a fee tied directly to successful investments, would give BMW a “salesman’s stake” in the proposed transactions such that BMW’s proposed activities would require BMW to register as a broker-dealer.

The SEC’s letter denying BMW’s no-action request is the latest in a line of no-action letters that restrict the ability of “finders” to assist companies in raising capital without triggering broker-dealer registration requirements. The full text of the BMW letter, and the SEC’s response, can be found at the following website:

http://www.sec.gov/divisions/marketreg/mr-noaction/2010/brumbergmackey051710.pdf

In light of this recent SEC guidance, persons seeking to act as “finders” should carefully consider their role in, and the structure of, any transactions. Please contact Robert W. Dixon at 515.288.2500 or robdixon@davisbrownlaw.com if you have any questions.

Lori Chesser Moderating Business Implications of Immigration Reform

info@lawiowa.com (Davis, Brown, Koehn, Shors & Roberts, P.C.) — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Lori Chesser will be moderating Business Implications of Immigration Reform presented by the Business Record at the Science Center of Iowa on Thursday, June 17, 2010 from 7.30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.

The new Arizona law has brought the issue of immigration reform to the forefront. National experts Raul Hinojosa Ojeda (North American Integration and Development Center) and Daniel Griswold (Cato Institute's Center for Trade Policy Studies) will join our panel of local business leaders to discuss the impact immigration reform could have on our business community.

Local panelists include Tracy Lewis, World Wide Human Resources Director, Kemin Industries; and Doni DeNucci, President and CEO Iowa Restaurant Association.

More information at www.businessrecord.com

Charges for Medical Records

info@lawiowa.com (Davis, Brown, Koehn, Shors & Roberts, P.C.) — Fri, 21 May 2010 00:00:00 +0000

House File 2700, the "Standings Bill" which is the final piece of legislation typically passed by the Legislature, included amendments to Iowa Code Section 622.10 relating to the provision of medical records in litigation. This amendment includes specific information relating to changes for the cost of medical records. New Iowa Code Section 622.10(4)(a) provides:

* Upon appropriate request for medical records from a patient, legal representative, attorney or adverse party the records must be provided within 30 days of receipt of the written request. A patient's waiver is necessary unless the request is made by the patient, patient's legal representative as defined by HIPAA or patient's attorney.

* The fee charged for the cost of producing the requested records shall be based upon the actual cost of production. If it demands the release of all patient records for the specified timeframe, including requests for mental health, substance abuse and HIV/AIDS "the amount charged shall not exceed the rates established by the workers' compensation commissioner for copies of records in workers' compensation cases".

* A patient, patient legal representative or patient attorney is entitled to one copy free of charge of the patient's complete billing statement. The provider is allowed to charge for the actual cost of postage or delivery incurred in providing the statement.

* The provider may require payment in advance. If payment in advance is required an itemized statement should be sent immediately and will extend the time for production.

* If access to all records is not provided, pursuant to the requirements of HIPAA, the provider must provide notice that certain records have been redacted or withheld.

If you have any questions regarding this issue please contact Jo Ellen Whitney at 515.288.2500 or joellenwhitney@davisbrownlaw.com

Davis Brown 2010 Legislative Update

info@lawiowa.com (Davis, Brown, Koehn, Shors & Roberts, P.C.) — Thu, 20 May 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Davis Brown Law Firm attorney M. Michelle Lickteig recently issued her report about the 2010 Iowa legislative session including updates on Business, Banking, Employment, Taxes, Real Estate, and other issues. For more information, contact her at 515.288.2500 or michellelickteig@davisbrownlaw.com.

2010 Employment and Labor Law Seminar Outlines

info@lawiowa.com (Davis, Brown, Koehn, Shors & Roberts, P.C.) — Fri, 14 May 2010 00:00:00 +0000

The 23nd annual Employment and Labor Seminar on Monday, April 26, 2010 provided human resource executives, business owners and operators a full afternoon of information on many topics of note including social media, ADA, COBRA, FMLA, HIPAA, immigration, age discrimination, terminations, privacy and more.

Click above on 'download associated document' to read outlines for the nine sessions. This is being made available here as a courtesy to Davis Brown clients. Feel free to contact your Davis Brown attorney or Deborah M. Tharnish at 515.288.2500 or debtharnish@davisbrownlaw.com for more information on specific issues.

Early Retiree Reinsurance Program Unveiled

info@lawiowa.com (Davis, Brown, Koehn, Shors & Roberts, P.C.) — Wed, 05 May 2010 00:00:00 +0000

On May 4, 2010, the United States Department of Health & Human Services (“HHS”) issued interim final rules implementing the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program. The Program provides subsidies to employers who provide health insurance to early retirees that can be used to lower health insurance costs for the employer and plan participants. There are limited funds available under the Program and funds are available on a first come first serve basis. The Program starts June 1, 2010. Employers who provide health insurance to early retirees, their spouses and dependents should prepare to apply for participation in the Program on June 1.

For more information, click on download associated document.

COBRA Subsidy Extended Through May

info@lawiowa.com (Davis, Brown, Koehn, Shors & Roberts, P.C.) — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Congress has passed, and the President has signed, another temporary extension of the COBRA subsidy through May 31, 2010. An individual who loses coverage as a result of an involuntary termination (or reduction in hours if followed by an involuntary termination) between April 1 and May 31 will be eligible for up to 15 months of the 65% subsidy. Employers must provide notice of the subsidy to any individual who experiences a qualifying event through May 31, 2010.

Employers who provided COBRA notices on or after April 1 will need to provide these individuals with another notice notifying them that the subsidy has been extended through May 31, 2010.

For more information, please contact Susan Freed at 515.288.2500.

Update on Tax Treatment of Adult Children in Group Health Plans

info@lawiowa.com (Davis, Brown, Koehn, Shors & Roberts, P.C.) — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0000

The definition of "dependent" under Section 105 of the Internal Revenue Code has been expanded to cover adult children who are under the age of 27 for the entire taxable year. The change was effective on March 30, 2010. Employers who provide group health plan coverage to dependents who previously did not meet the Federal tax code's definition of "dependent" will no longer need to after-tax premiums or tax amounts paid by the employer toward the dependent premiums, for those dependents who are under age 27 and remain under age 27 for the entire taxable year. A child who turns age 27 during the plan year would not meet the new federal definition of "dependent" because he/she did not remain under 27 for the entire taxable year. In practice, employees with adult children covered under the health plan will not have any additional Federal tax consequences until the plan year after the year in which the child turned 26. For the plan year during which the adult child turns age 27, the adult child will be a non-tax dependent and the value of his/her coverage must be paid on an after-tax basis and any employer contribution toward the adult child's coverage considered taxable income to the employee.

This should be a welcomed change for Iowa employers who have had to wrestle with the tax implications of Iowa's dependent mandate. Please note, however, that Iowa still requires group health plans to offer coverage for dependents who are full time students regardless of age. Therefore, employees may still have dependent children who qualify for coverage but do not meet the Federal tax code's expanded definition of dependent. Employers would need to continue after-taxing the premiums associated with these dependents as well as taxing contributions made by the employers toward the dependents' coverage.

For more information, contact Susan Freed at 515.288.2500.

MAY 15, 2010 Filing Deadline Looms for Smaller Tax-Exempt Organizations

info@lawiowa.com (Davis, Brown, Koehn, Shors & Roberts, P.C.) — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0000

The Pension Protection Act of 2006 (“PPA”) made several significant changes to the reporting requirements of tax-exempt organizations, including those imposed upon smaller organizations that were not previously required to file an Annual Information Return (Form 990 series). Under the PPA, new sections were added to Internal Revenue Code § 6033 to address electronic filing requirements for organizations whose annual gross receipts are normally $25,000.00 or less, and to provide for the automatic revocation of tax-exempt status for failure to file Annual Information Returns or the electronic filing, as the case may be. These new provisions apply to a tax-exempt organization’s reporting periods beginning after 2006 (i.e., for taxable years beginning in 2007).

Download the associated link for more information.

Health Care Reform's Impact On Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangements

info@lawiowa.com (Davis, Brown, Koehn, Shors & Roberts, P.C.) — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Multiple employer welfare arrangements (“MEWAs”) will be required to comply with many of the insurance market reforms passed last month in the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act. In addition, the legislation contains several provisions targeted specifically at MEWAs, including provisions aimed at deterring fraud. Many questions are still unanswered regarding the new law’s impact on MEWAs, however, the following is an overview of some of the issues that have been identified to date.

Download the associated document for more information.

Health Care Reform Summary for Employers

info@lawiowa.com (Davis, Brown, Koehn, Shors & Roberts, P.C.) — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0000

The Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act (“PPACA”) as amended on March 30, 2010 by the Health Care & Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (“HCERA”) is the most sweeping legislation to impact employee benefits in more than 35 years. While much of the details will be forthcoming, the following is an initial overview of provisions impacting employers and the group health plans they sponsor.

Download the associated document for more information.

COBRA Subsidy Extended & Eligibility Expanded

info@lawiowa.com (Davis, Brown, Koehn, Shors & Roberts, P.C.) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0000

COBRA Subsidy Extended & Eligibility Expanded

Yesterday the Senate passed the Temporary Extension Act of 2010 extending the COBRA subsidy provisions through March 31, 2010. The Act was previously passed by the House and now moves to the President for his signature. Employees who are involuntarily terminated between March 1 and March 31, 2010 and who lose group health coverage in connection with the involuntary termination are now eligible for the 15 month COBRA subsidy. Employers will need to amend their notices by replacing "February 28, 2010" with "March 31, 2010" and continue to utilize the subsidy notices through March 31, 2010.

The Act also expands who is eligible for the subsidy. Previously a reduction of hours that resulted in a loss of group health plan coverage did not entitle employees to the subsidy. Under the new Act's provisions, an employee who loses group health plan coverage as a result of a reduction in hours is eligible for the subsidy IF the employee is later involuntarily terminated. Under the previous subsidy provisions, this individual would not have been eligible because his/her qualifying event would have been reduction in hours and not an involuntary termination. The involuntary termination must occur after the Act's passage and presumably before March 31, 2010.

Employees who experienced a reduction in hours followed by an involuntary termination that occurred prior to the Act's passage are not eligible for the subsidy. For example, an employee whose hours were reduced in September 2009 and lost health plan coverage because he/she was no longer a full time employee and then was later terminated in January 2010 would not be eligible for the subsidy because the involuntary termination occurred before the Act's passage.

An employee who experienced a reduction of hours and did not elect COBRA but then is involuntarily terminated after the Act's passage would be eligible to elect COBRA starting with the date of the involuntary termination. The period of coverage, however, would be determined using the date the employee's hours were reduced. For example, if the employee lost coverage in September 2009 because of a reduction in hours and then is involuntarily terminated on March 3, 2010, the 18 month COBRA period (or 9 months for state continuation coverage) would begin to run from September 2009. The employee would be entitled to elect COBRA beginning March 2010 and COBRA would continue only for the remaining COBRA coverage period (in this example, 11 months for COBRA, 2 months for state continuation coverage). No pre-existing condition exclusions can be applied to their coverage. Employers will need to provide these employees with a special notice notifying them of their right to elect COBRA and their entitlement to the subsidy. We expect the Department of Labor to publish a model notice to assist employers with complying with this notice provision and will alert you when the notice is available.

If you have any questions regarding COBRA or administering the COBRA subsidy extension, please do not hesitate to contact Susan Freed at (515) 246-7891 or susanfreed@davisbrownlaw.com

Christopher James Speaking at National Business Institute Continuing Education

info@lawiowa.com (Davis, Brown, Koehn, Shors & Roberts, P.C.) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Davis Brown attorney Christopher E. James will be one of the presenters at the National Business Institute (NBI) continuing education in Des Moines on May 25, 2010. The session, titled "Helping Your Client Select the Best Entity Option" will include multiple tracks. James' session will include comparison of entity options: advantages, disadvantages and consequences of entities including Limited Liability Companies, Limited Liability Partnerships, Limited Partnerships, C Corporations, S Corporations, and other entities. James will also address advantageous uses and entity selection for professional organization use.

More information on the seminar can be found at www.nbi-sems.com

Becky Knutson Presents at Technology Association Legal and Finance Clinic

info@lawiowa.com (Davis, Brown, Koehn, Shors & Roberts, P.C.) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Davis Brown attorney Becky S. Knutson will be co-presenting with Chris Fereday, PCDM Insurance and Midwest Tech Insure, on the topic "Employee Dishonesty in Times of Recession: Safeguards and Proper Handling."

Knutson's portion of the session will include investing employee theft and fraud, covenants not to compete, and severance agreements.

Click to review slides from Investigating Employee Theft and Fraud and Covenants Not To Compete and Severance Agreements.

More information can be found at the Technology Association of Iowa website at www.technologyiowa.org.

IRC 48C Tax Credit Awards

info@lawiowa.com (Davis, Brown, Koehn, Shors & Roberts, P.C.) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0000

On January 8, 2010, President Obama announced the award of $2.3 billion for new clean-tech manufacturing jobs. The Recovery Act Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit was awarded to one hundred eighty three projects in 43 states. Qualifying manufacturers will produce solar, wind, and geothermal energy equipment; fuel cells, microturbines, and batteries; electric cars; electric grids to support the transmission of renewable energy; energy conservation technologies; and equipment that captures and sequesters carbon dioxide or reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

Contact Davis Brown attorney Jason M. Stone for more information about the IRC 48C Tax Credit program. Learn more about the award at the Department of Energy website.

Lori Chesser Presenting at Central Iowa Society for Human Resource Management Seminar

info@lawiowa.com (Davis, Brown, Koehn, Shors & Roberts, P.C.) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Davis Brown attorney Lori T. Chesser is presenting an immigration update at the 18th Annual Legal and Legislative Conference presented by Central Iowa SHRM and the Iowa State SHRM Council on February 23, 2010 at the Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center in West Des Moines, IA.

Learn more about the conference at the Central Iowa SHRM website.

Frequently Asked Questions About COBRA

info@lawiowa.com (Davis, Brown, Koehn, Shors & Roberts, P.C.) — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Davis Brown attorney Susan Freed has developed a document of FAQ's and answers for employers about the extension of the COBRA subsidy provisions as well as examples illustrating how the subsidy extension applies to common situations encountered by employers.