Your healthcare and business costs are determined by the health of your employee population and how they manage their well-being. Using data to manage your cost and create benefit packages that energize and engage employees can help you stay ahead of your competition. We harness the power of our broad and deep intellectual capital to transform your raw data into practical, useful information. We use your business history, our client experiences, and insights gleaned from national trends to support your decision making.
Using a robust clinical data analytic tool, along with the help of skilled health management consultants, you can pinpoint drivers behind your healthcare costs. Our team looks for risks associated with your employee population, the role chronic conditions may play in your employees’ health, gaps in care, use of healthcare services across the continuum and other indicators to guide benefit decision making.
Our on-staff actuary takes things one step further by identifying not just cost advantages but also behavioral changes that take place whenever you alter your plan design. We compare trends in cost, utilization and population health to help you create a healthier, more productive workforce. Employee surveys are also considered to provide insights to help shape programs and your benefit packages.
Understanding your claims experience and what matters most to your employees empowers you to manage costs, improve the health of your employees while increasing productivity and engagement.
Knowing that life’s only two certainties are death and taxes, let’s turn our attention to how the IRS determines independent contractor status. Previously, the IRS used to apply a 20-factor test to determine whether or not an individual could be classified as an independent contractor. A number of years ago they moved to what they call a “common-law” test that focuses on the degree of control the business exercises in achieving its purposes versus the degree of independence the worker has to actually perform the tasks themselves. As described in IRS Publication 15-A, the IRS will closely examine each of the following three areas: “behavioral control, financial control, and the type of relationship of the parties.” Let’s take a look at each.
The Federal Department of Labor (DOL) and its related state agencies are charged with making sure that employees are given the modern-day equivalent of an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work. Employers who fail to do so can be subject to back-pay claims, penalties and attorneys’ fees.