President's Pen
by Cherilyn Stephens, PHR

Dear HRACI Members,

We need you! HRACI has several open board positions and we’re looking for great leaders to help advance our association. If you've always wanted to have the opportunity to further serve the organization by volunteering for a board position, now is the time!

We have the following positions up for election for the 2008-2009 term (2 year commitment):

• Treasurer
• Vice President, Membership
• Director of Certification
• Director of Communication
• Director of Special Interest Groups
• Director of Sponsorship

If you are interested in being considered (or re-elected) to one of these positions, please complete the Board Leader form and submit along with a resume no later than September 21, 2007. The nominating committee of the Board (comprised of Past President, President, and President-Elect) will review all candidates and recommend a slate of officers. The membership will be notified of the slate by email and the candidates will be presented and voted on at our October monthly meeting.

Criteria for consideration:
• HRACI Member
• SHRM Member (or will join SHRM once elected)
• PHR/SPHR certification preferred
• Ability to attend monthly board meetings and monthly meetings/special programs
• Previous HRACI volunteer in some capacity preferred
• Ability to facilitate and lead a committee if position requires
• Ability to commit time to the position and the organization
• Strong leadership skills and self-starter

Sincerely,

Cherilyn Stephens, PHR

President-HRACI

Click here to access the Board Leader Form

COMING SOON...COMING SOON

Board elections will be held via electronic vote in October.
Watch your email for you ballot!

Ambassador Program ….. Watch your email and website for updates or contact Tammy Green at TGreen@goodwill-indy.org

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Submitted by Mark Records

Please save the date for the INShape Indiana Health Summit on Monday, October 15, 2007. This year, the Health Summit is focusing on worksite wellness.

Health Summit Goals:

• Provide Indiana businesses with the tools to implement worksite wellness plans.
• Understand the economic impact of poor health on Indiana employers, and the return on investment related to worksite wellness programs.
• Learn what other businesses are doing to improve the health of their employees.
  
  Registration:
  
• Visit www.inshape.in.gov/summit to register.
• Early registration ends September 15th!

If you are interested in becoming an exhibitor, please contact:

Joshua Gonzales
(317) 234-2864
jogonzales@isdh.IN.gov

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Healthcare: The State of the Union
Speaker: Mike Campbell, CLS Benefits

Mike uses Power Point, humor, personal challenge and current statistics along with benchmark information to motivate his audiences to accept personal responsibility for their part of the solution to the “healthcare crisis”. Some of the items covered will be the near future changes coming in Value-Driven Healthcare and why the current model of “Consumerism” is not producing the outcomes expected. The very latest in plan design, to include CDHP’s, the real drivers behind healthcare costs (be prepared to be surprised) to include Rx and “wellness that works” will all be addressed. Because Mike deals with employers with over 4,000 employees to less than 10 he knows and understands the applications of innovative programs, techniques and tools in population managed health. In addition, regardless of size, industry or profession there are legal issues that you can expect to learn more about.

• Attendees will be challenged by learning the real sources of Healthcare costs.
• Attendees will learn how they can truly impact healthcare costs at their worksites with proven resources.
• Attendees can look forward to being encouraged and given the tools to personally motivate and lead by example in this vital area of “Health and Productivity”.
  
  
  This program has been approved for recertification credit hours toward PHR, SPHR and GPHR recertification through the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI). For more information about certification or recertification, please visit the HRCI homepage at www.hrci.org

Click Here to Register Now!

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Submitted by Erin Brothers

Where: Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA)
When: Friday, October 12 from 6:00-8:00
The Romans Are Coming! Over 200 pieces of art from the Louvre Museum in Paris, France will be on display
Live Music! Free hors d’oeuvres, and drinks! Free tour! Free entrance to galleries!
Don’t miss it!
More details to come at the HRACI website, including free registration.

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It’s hard to believe that another fantastic year is coming to a close!! We value all the members of our organization and encourage you to continue your membership in 2008. We are in the process of planning exciting programs for next year that will include national speakers, varied venues and meeting times and we also have numerous networking and volunteer opportunities for you to become connected with your fellow HR professionals. To encourage early renewals, we will be providing some exciting opportunities to have your name placed in drawings for free SHRM State Conference registrations, gift cards, and meeting discounts. To be eligible for these drawings, we must receive your renewal no later than December 12th.

Watch for more details in the October newsletter!

Please click on the link provided to complete your renewal form. We encourage you to also check that all of your contact information is correct.

Click Here to Renew Your HRACI Membership!

Legislative News

Submitted by Dennis Stull

Do you know who your State Legislator is?

Invite them as your “Special Guest” to join us at our HRACI November Luncheon.

We are excited to have Bernard Coleman as our Luncheon speaker in November. Bernard currently serves as the Member Advocacy Specialist at the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). In that capacity, he is responsible for developing and implementing SHRM’s integrated member advocacy program known as HRVoice. Bernard also serves as a vital information resource to the Society’s volunteer leaders, members, staff and others stakeholders, facilitating the Society’s member advocacy program.
Bernard will be sharing with us how to better interact with our elected officials, and what better way to show our State Legislators how much we appreciate their service to our state than by having them as our guest?
If you would like to invite your State Legislator to the luncheon and have no idea how to do that, please contact the Director of Legislative Affairs, Dennis Stull or any of the Legislative Committee Members for details.

HIPAA NONDISCRIMINATION AND WELLNESS PROGRAMS
On December 13, 2006, the federal government issued final regulations for Nondiscrimination and Wellness Programs in Health Coverage in the Group Market, pursuant to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”). These final regulations were effective for all group health plans on February 12, 2007. To a large degree, they restate the rules contained in the 2001 interim regulations, which prohibited group health plans from discriminating against participants on the basis of health-status related factors. Specifically, the final regulations continue to prohibit “actively-at-work” provisions in group health plans, and any other provisions which adversely impact participants based on a health-status factor. In addition, the final regulations make clear that benefits cannot be denied for injuries resulting from a medical condition, even if the condition was not diagnosed prior to the injury.

Perhaps most notably, the final regulations clarify the treatment of wellness programs in group health plans, which by their nature, take health factors into account. Group health plans may discriminate based on health factors through wellness programs, if such programs are established and maintained appropriately under the regulations. All employer-sponsored health promotion and disease prevention programs are considered wellness programs. These programs can be categorized into two types.

No Reward or No Health Standard. The first type of wellness program is a program open to all similarly-situated individuals which promotes health or disease prevention but does not offer a reward, or, if it does offer a reward, does not require participants to meet any health standard. The final regulations expressly state that these programs are deemed to comply with the HIPAA nondiscrimination rules.

Reward Based on Health Standard. The second type is a program that offers a reward and conditions obtaining the reward on the satisfaction of a standard related to a health factor. A reward may be in the form of a discount or rebate of a premium under a group health plan, a waiver of all or part of a cost-sharing mechanism (such as a deductible, copayment or coinsurance amount) under the health plan, the absence of a surcharge or the value of a benefit that would not otherwise be provided under the group health plan. These programs are required to meet five requirements to satisfy the HIPAA nondiscrimination rules:

1. Limited Reward. If the reward is tied to a group health plan, the total reward for meeting the wellness standard, combined with any other rewards for health factor based programs that relate to the same group health plan, cannot exceed 20 percent of the full cost of coverage under that group health plan. Full cost of coverage includes both the employer and the employee contribution for “employee only” coverage. It will also include the cost of coverage for dependents (including spouses and dependent children), but only if they are allowed to participate in the wellness program.
   
2. Reasonable Design. The program must be reasonably designed to promote health or prevent disease. This standard is intended to be easy to meet if the program has a reasonable chance of improving health or preventing disease in participants.
   
3. Annual Opportunity to Qualify. The program must give individuals who are eligible to participate an opportunity to qualify for the reward at least once per year.
   
4. Uniform Availability. The program must be available to all similarly situated individuals, which means that the program must allow a reasonable alternative standard (or waive the applicable standard if no alternative is available) to obtain the reward for a participant for whom meeting the standard is unreasonably difficult or medically inadvisable. In making the determination as to whether a participant requires an alternative standard, the plan administrator may ask for verification, such as a physician’s statement, that a health factor makes it unreasonably difficult or medically inadvisable for the participant to satisfy the otherwise applicable standard.
   
5. Disclosure of Reasonable Alternative Standards. Plan materials describing wellness program standards related to a health factor must disclose that reasonable alternative standards are available to participants.
   
   The final regulations eliminate the reference to “bona fide” wellness programs in the interim regulations because this term created confusion. It is also important to note that it is still permissible for wellness programs to provide more favorable treatment to participants with medical needs. Finally, these regulations reiterate that while a program may satisfy the standards established under HIPAA, employers and plan administrators must be certain that their program does not violate other applicable laws and regulations, such as the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) or the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
   Submitted by: Catherine Stowers at Krieg DeVault
   

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1. “HR people aren’t the sharpest tacks in the box” because the, “best and the brightest don’t go into HR”…. “Most human-resources mangers are not particularly interested in, or quipped for, doing business.”
2. “HR pursues efficiency in lieu of value”… Because it’s easier – and easier to measure.”
3. “HR isn’t working for you”….. “they pursue standardization and uniformity in the face of a workforce that is heterogeneous and complex.”
4. “The corner office doesn’t get HR”… “HR has to step up and assume responsibility not wait for management to knock on our door.”

Rosa Partida
Sandi Jarboe
Tyrell Giles
Paulette Gardiner
Victor White
Wendy Weiler
Katie Millikan
Lynn Russell
Rhoda Ludy
Andrea Munn

Kathy Powers
JoDee Curtis
Jim Benge
Mia Short
Edith Sanborn
Charlene Giles
Kristen Motes
Leigh Crick
Carl J. Wert
Leah Colville
Kelly Chastain