Brian Bartels and John Westerhaus will take a deep dive into the complexities, obstacles, and pitfalls of an employee wellness program in a webinar hosted by United Benefit Advisors® (UBA) entitled Compliance 201: Creating and Maintaining a Compliant Wellness Program. Attendees will learn about the various types of wellness programs; HIPAA, ADA and GINA wellness program regulations and requirements; recent changes to wellness program guidelines for employers; and compliance recommendations. This event will take place on May 11, 2023 from 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. CDT.

A wellness program is an employee benefit that is designed to incentivize its participants to voluntarily improve their health and fitness, so that the improvements in healthy behaviors reduce the cost of healthcare claims over time. Wellness programs come in many different forms and, depending on their design, can be subject to a complex variety of federal laws, including the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”), the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (“GINA”), and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (“ADA”).

Brian works with clients on employee benefit plan issues and advises on group health plans, wellness programs, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, HIPAA, ERISA, cafeteria plans, health savings accounts, and other health and welfare plans. He regularly drafts and negotiates service agreements and business associate agreements for employee benefit plans. Brian also prepares plan-related documents and employee communications, and counsels clients on benefit plan design and administration issues. Additionally, he advises clients on employee benefit issues in the context of mergers, acquisitions and divestitures. 

John advises plan sponsors and fiduciaries regarding the design, administration and operation of employee benefit plans. This includes compliance issues relating to benefit determinations, plan disclosures and policies, the drafting of plan documents and amendments, and the review of service provider agreements and investment documents. John has worked extensively with compliance issues affecting Taft-Hartley and governmental retirement plans and has also represented such plans in litigation or other adversarial proceedings.