Legal Compliance for Wellness Programs

June 29, 2010 - PRLog -- Benchmark Wellness, a boutique wellness firm based in Honolulu and San Francisco, is again offering its popular webinar covering the often tricky and contradictory legal issues relating to employee wellness programs.  From 1:00-2:00 p.m. (PDT) attendees will learn about regulations such as HIPAA, ADA, GINA, ERISA and COBRA, as well as how to work around them and still provide programs that are fun for employees and a good investment for employers.  Registration is still open at http://www.regonline.com/wellness_programs_legal_compliance.  $39.  Continuing education credit for human resources professionals has been pre-approved by the Human Resource Certification Institute.  

Employers are increasingly turning to wellness programs in an effort to curb health care costs and improve employee productivity.  Federal and state regulations must be considered before implementing any wellness program that offers incentives for participation, making it difficult for many small businesses to jump on the wellness bandwagon.  "The cost of wellness programs is decreasing, making them more accessible to small- and medium-sized businesses," says Deanna Moncrief, Founder & CEO of Benchmark Wellness.   "However, smaller employers without their own legal departments need to educate themselves about the guidelines and about the possible violations they may already be making," she says.  

Webinar participants will understand how health reform has impacted regulations pertaining to employee wellness programs, as well as what employers need to know in 2010 and beyond.

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About Benchmark Wellness:
For the past eight years we have been helping companies design, implement and sustain effective wellness programs. We provide cool tools, how-to training, evaluation services, and on-demand, real-time management dashboards. We work with employers who are ready to break away from low participation rates and embrace wellness programs that are customized to their business values and culture. Our mission is to rid the world of boring employee wellness programs everywhere.