Articles by Girish Anand

Boom times equate to what the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) calls "the quits rate" in an accelerated way. Roughly 3.5 million Americans quit their jobs every month in search of better pay and/or better commute times, the highest level since 2001.  Nearly one-quarter of those who have quit their job cite bad commutes as the reaso...

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR), has  issued a Request for Information (RFI) seeking input from the public on how the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Rules, especially the HIPAA Privacy Rule, could be modified to further the HHS secretary’s goal of promoting coordinated, value-based health care.

Seattle will set the bar for minimum wage rates on Jan. 1 when a $16-per-hour legal mandate takes effect, but the rate applies only to employers with 500 or more employees (think Amazon). Click on the image for a larger, more readable version. New York City won't be far behind when it boosts its legal pay rate to $15...

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is issuing its Strategic Plan for fiscal years 2019 through 2022, which is required under the Government Performance and Results Act of 2010.  The Strategic Plan contains four mission-related goals to support the vision of NLRB Chairman John Ring and General Counsel Peter Robb. These four mission-related goals include: (1) achieving a collective 20 p...

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is reminding small business taxpayers that changes to the tax law mean they can immediately expense more of the cost of certain business property. Many are now able to write off most depreciable assets in the year they are placed into service. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), passed in December 2017, made tax law changes that will affect virtually every bu...

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS), saying that "a substantial number of employers, insurers, and other providers of minimum essential coverage need additional time," has extended the deadline for supplying Form 1095-B and 1095-C to individuals from Jan. 31, 2019, to March 4, 2019. Form 1095-B is titled "Health Coverage," while Form 1095-C is called "Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer ...

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of the Treasury issued new guidance on Nov. 29, allowing states to move their insurance markets away from what they called the "one-size-fits-all" rules and regulations imposed by the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or Obamacare) and increase choice and competition within their insurance markets. 

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is granting waivers for states to establish work requirements for the able-bodied who receive Medicaid health care services. The requirements usually consist of community service, job training or schooling, if not outright employment. The waivers are designed to control the costs of Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or...

There were approximately 2.8 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses reported by private industry employers in 2017, which occurred at a rate of 2.8 cases per 100 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this month. State-by-state comparison of injury-illness incidence ratesClick to en...

In week three of the 2019 Open Enrollment, 748,244 people selected plans using the HealthCare.gov platform, bringing the total to 1,924,476. As in past years, enrollment weeks are measured Sunday through Saturday.  Consequently, the cumulative totals reported in this snapshot reflect one fewer day than last year. Every week during Open Enrollment, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Servi...