News Updates
The information posted below aims to share general information pertinent to our employer groups, brokers, and consultants, as well as members. Not all the information will be applicable to all the parties with whom we partner. If you have any questions about information shared here, please be sure to reach out to your representative, or contact the Group Services team at 888.460.4013, Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm CT. Or via email at Client.Advocate@HelloFurther.com.
The End of the COVID-19 National Emergency is Announced
February 2, 2022
On January 30, 2023, the White House announced its plan to allow the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) and National Emergency periods to expire on May 11, 2023.
This will begin workstreams by many teams to address the impacts of these expiring emergency periods and subsequent preparation of our systems to accommodate these changes. Clients can expect additional communications and outreach as this work continues.
Public Health Emergency
During the PHE, group health plans are required to cover the cost of COVID-19 tests and testing-related services without cost-sharing or prior authorization or other medical management requirements. This was later expanded to include over-the-counter (OTC) home COVID-19 tests.
Although the PHE period was slated to expire April 11, 2023, with the White House’s declaration that this period will be renewed again and then terminate it May 11, 2023 (prior to the end of the 90-day period), employer plans will no longer be required to cover such tests and services with no cost sharing.
National Emergency
As previously stated, certain plan deadlines were suspended for up to one year as long as the national emergency was in place. Now that this national emergency will be terminated as of May 11, 2023, the 60-day period following the end of the national emergency will begin on May 12, 2023, thus counting down the end of the COVID-19 outbreak period.
Once this 60-day period ends (i.e., July 10, 2023), these suspended timeframes will begin to run again at pre-pandemic rates effective July 11, 2023:
- the 14-day deadline for plan administrators to provide COBRA election notices to qualified beneficiaries;
- the 30-day period (or 60-day period, in some cases) to exercise HIPAA special enrollment rights in a group health plan following birth, adoption, or placement for adoption of a child; marriage, loss of other health coverage; or eligibility for a state premium assistance subsidy;
- the 60-day deadline by which a participant or qualified beneficiary must provide notice of divorce or legal separation, a dependent child that ceases to be an eligible dependent under the terms of the plan), or a Social Security disability determination used to extend COBRA coverage;
- the 60-day deadline in which to elect COBRA coverage;
- Individuals electing COBRA outside of the initial 60-day election period (as referenced above) generally have one year and 105 days after the election notice is provided to make the initial premium payment; and individuals electing COBRA within the generally applicable 60-day election period have one year and 45 days after the date of their election to make the initial payment;2
- the date by which monthly COBRA premium payments are due; and
- the deadline under the plan by which participants may file a benefit claim (under the terms of the plan) and the deadlines for appealing an adverse benefit determination or requesting an external review.
Once the national emergency period expires and the remaining 60 days of the Outbreak Period are underway, any remaining deadlines described above will resume on July 11, 2023.
For additional details, read the full Compliance Alert and client/group email <link to the attached PDF>.
Allow listing Plan for New Email Platform
October 6, 2022
Further and HealthEquity will begin using a new email platform for certain types of partner, broker, client, and member communications. Salesforce Marketing Cloud will be the go-forward email system beginning on December 20, 2022. The current email system, Marketo, will be sunset on January 6, 2023.
To ensure our partners, brokers, clients, and members continue to receive important communications from us regarding their products and accounts, it is necessary for them to notify their IT team to allow server acceptance from the following dedicated IP addresses and email addresses. Please note: If they have allowlisted any of our IP or email addresses previously, please ensure they keep them in place with these additions.
IP Addresses
- 13.111.112.225
- 13.111.112.244
- 13.111.162.91
Domain
“From” and “Sender” Emails
For additional details, read the allowlisting email to clients. Full allowlisting instructions are available here.
Transition to Proofpoint
September 15, 2022
As a result of the acquisition of Further by HealthEquity, we currently utilize multiple secure messaging solutions. To streamline and consolidate solutions, HealthEquity will implement Proofpoint as our sole, secure messaging platform on Wednesday, September 28, 2022.
Using Proofpoint, emails containing sensitive information will be delivered securely by one of two methods:
· Transport Layer Security (TLS) Encryption
· Secure Web Portal (requires username and password)
For additional details, read the full Proofpoint client/group email and Proofpoint Encryption User Cheat Sheet.
Further Unaffiliated Member HSA Migration
September 9, 2022
As part of the Further F2 migration, member letters were mailed to roughly 120,000 Unaffiliated Health Savings Account (HSA) members, notifying them of an upcoming migration to HealthEquity beginning October 13. This included 2,157 members that were sent a notification letter in error and have been sent a ‘disregard’ communication and were removed from the October migration. The Further HSA Migration Investment Notification letter was mailed on September 2 to 3,171 migrating HSA members with an open investment account (a subset of the 120,000 members).
A Further Migration Health Plan Partner (HPP)/Broker communication was emailed beginning on September 15 and a Further F2 Migration group communication was emailed to groups beginning on September 19.
For additional details, read the investment notification letter, Further F2 Migration HPP broker communication, and the Further F2 group communication.
Data Processing Center and Mailroom Services Changing from Datamark to Conduent
August 24, 2022
Beginning October 1, 2022, Further materials and communications will reflect the new document processing center address in Lexington, KY (PO Box 14836, Lexington, KY, 40511). The existing El Paso, TX, address will remain active, and all mail will be forwarded to Conduent for at least 6 months. The St. Paul, MN, address will be discontinued, and all mail will be forwarded to Conduent for at least six months.
For additional details, read the full data processing and mailroom services update here.
Impact on Further by HealthEquity Nondiscrimination Testing
August 3, 2022
Effective immediately, Further by HealthEquity clients will directly utilize a web-based program called Claims X Change (CXC) for nondiscrimination testing (NDT) service. Using this online software program, results will now be available in an expedited manner (3–5 business days).
Group ACH Email Notification Changes – Update
June 14, 2022
The phone numbers included in the original versions of the broker and group/client ACH notification emails were incorrect. This information has now been updated in both email versions.
For additional details, read the corrected ACH Email Notification Change email for groups/clients.
Group ACH Email Notification Changes
June 14, 2022
Effective June 20, 2022, groups will see the following changes when receiving Automated Clearing House (ACH) notification emails:
· Groups with multiple products will now receive one ACH pull per product instead of one combined ACH pull for all products.
· Group ACH emails will now state “The funds will be automatically withdrawn from your bank account” instead of stating the electronic funds transfer will occur in two business days.
· There will not be changes to the timing of when the ACH email is sent and when the ACH pull is initiated.
· Groups with multiple products will receive one ACH email per product.
· Groups who will receive multiple Claim Reimbursement ACH emails may want to see the product name on their emails. There is an option to change your Email Option to “Product Breakdown” or “Location & Product Breakdown.” Groups should contact the Group Leader line to initiate this change.
· For groups who will receive multiple Administrative Fee ACH emails, the Product types do not display on these multiple emails for ACH. Groups will need go on the Group Portal and pull their invoice detail in Excel to determine which total equals which product if they would like to know.
· Email totals will match what a group sees for ACH pulls on their bank statements.
For additional details, read the ACH email notification change group/client email.
PCORI Fee for Further Administered HRAs
June 1, 2022
As a result of the Affordable Care Act, health plans are subject to a Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) fee to support clinical effectiveness research. This fee applies to both fully- and self-insured employer-sponsored health plans and Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) accounts. Because the fee is treated as an excise tax by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), we are recommending that groups contact their advisor to determine their specific tax liability.
For plan year’s ending:
· On or after October 1, 2020, or before October 1, 2021, the applicable fee is $2.66 per covered individual.
· On or after October 1, 2021, or before October 1, 2022, the applicable fee is $2.79 per covered individual.
For additional details, read the complete PCORI fee information sheet here.
2022 Employer Consent
May 26, 2022
Following the acquisition of Further by Further Operations, LLC (a subsidiary of HealthEquity, Inc.), Further employer groups will receive a notification from their Further Account Executive or MIII Life requesting that the group execute an electronic consent to the assignment of their existing agreements to Further Operations, LLC.
Read the full Further employer notification here.
2021 5498-SA Tax Forms on Member Portal
May 19, 2022
Revised 5498-SA statements are available on the member portal as of May 6, 2022. Members will receive a new and/or updated form if contributions or revisions were made for the 2021 tax year after December 31, 2021, until the tax filing deadline of April 18, 2022.
For additional details, read the full email communication to members.
Changes to Investment Fund Lineup
April 14, 2022
Further by HealthEquity is making changes to certain Health Savings Account (HSA) investment fund lineups. Effective May 18, 2022, certain funds will automatically convert to a share class with a lower expense ratio, new funds will be added to the list of mutual funds available, and certain funds will be closed to new investment and become “sell-only.”
A communication was sent to members via email on Friday, April 15, 2022. Members without an email address will be notified by mail via USPS.
For additional details, read the full member email.