HighRoads today announced that HR Technology Advisors (HRT), a national, independent benefits and HR technology consulting firm who focuses on the needs of employee benefit firms and their clients, will be distributing HighRoads’ QuickSPD, an automated online service to generate and store Department of Labor (DOL) compliant summary plan descriptions (SPDs) for small and midsize employers.
With the recent increase in DOL regulation enforcement, employers both large and small are turning to HighRoads, the company providing employers – for the first time – complete control over their health care costs and compliance, to both automate and simplify their benefits SPDs for assured government compliance.
SPDs are documents developed by employers that provide a summary of the employee benefits and health insurance coverage programs offered to employees and their families by an employer. SPDs have been required by the Department of Labor since the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) was put in place in 1974. The act calls for employers to provide accurate and complete SPD information to employees on a timely basis. If a plan participant requests an SPD that cannot be delivered within 30 days, the penalties are as high as $110 per plan participant, per days elapsed before an SPD is delivered.
HighRoads has created a version of its industry-standard online SPD service for brokers – QuickSPD. With QuickSPD brokers can provide clients with DOL compliant SPDs every year at minimal cost with little effort.
QuickSPD is an online service for brokers to create and store SPDs for their small to midsize clients. QuickSPD gives brokers a menu of compliant SPD templates with fill-in-the-blank variables for each client. Once the templates are completed for each client, they can be stored, exported, printed, retrieved and easily updated each year. In addition, QuickSPD brokers benefit from the HighRoads central repository for easy access, storage and maintenance of client SPDs.
“The DOL does not discriminate by company size. Small to midsized companies share the same SPD compliance burden, and therefore require a low-cost technology solution,” said Michael Byers, president and CEO, HighRoads. “By offering QuickSPD to its broker partners and clients, HR Technology Advisors now offers a one-of-a-kind, value-added service that keeps its clients ERISA compliant at minimal cost and effort.”
“QuickSPD will automate the time consuming process of creating, updating and maintaining ERISA compliant SPDs,” said Joe Markland, principal, HRT. “As a service to our broker partners, HRT searches for and selects cutting edge technology tools that add value and improve efficiencies. QuickSPD is one such solution that meets an emerging market demand and reduces legal and DOL fine exposure for our brokers’ clients.”
For more information about HighRoads QuickSPD please visit: www.quickspd.com.
About HighRoads
The world’s largest employers choose HighRoads to gain complete control over their health care costs and compliance. With HighRoads’ service, employers – for the first time -- have online access to benefits plan information and pricing, competitive benefits benchmarks, and complete benefits supply chain management. The privately-held company is headquartered in Woburn, Mass.
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