Employee Benefit Compliance:
Notice and Disclosure Rules
This Compliance Overview summarizes a number of the notice and disclosure requirements that apply to group health plans and employers under federal laws.
For example, this overview describes notice and disclosure requirements under:
- The Affordable Care Act (ACA)
- The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA)
- The Consolidated Appropriations Act
(CAA) - Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA)
- The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
- The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA)
- The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)
- Medicare Part D
- Other federal laws, such as the Women’s Health and Cancer Rights Act (WHCRA)
Required Notices
Group health plan sponsors must comply with numerous reporting and disclosure requirements.
- Each notice or disclosure has its own timing requirements.
- Although some notice and disclosure requirements apply to all employers, others only apply to certain employers.
- Model forms are available for many required disclosures.
Examples
Some of the main notice and disclosure requirements for group health plans are:
- The summary plan description (SPD)
- COBRA notices
- ACA employee statements
- Medicare Part D notices of creditable coverage
- Form 5500
- Transparency in health care disclosures
Links & Resources
- Department of Labor’s (DOL) website regarding compliance assistance for health plans, which includes links to many model forms and notices.
- Internal Revenue Service (IRS) website for tax forms and instructions.
- Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) website regarding Medicare Part D disclosures.
- CMS’ Transparency in Coverage webpage.
Download the PDF for the summary of notice and disclosure requirements that apply to group health plans under federal laws.
