Can e-cigarettes be part of a wellness plan? One of 3 things you need to know this week in employee benefits

Do e-cigarettes and wellness mix?

Electronic cigarettes, battery-powered vaporizers that simulate tobacco smoking, are growing in popularity among individuals seeking to quit tobacco without exposing themselves to the harmful health effects of true cigarette smoking.

However, e-cigarettes produce an aerosol that contains nicotine. So, do the products have a place in an employer-sponsored wellness program for tobacco cessation—like gums, lozenges and patches currently do?

Perhaps, according to a recent report in Employee Benefit News. The final wellness rules in the Affordable Care Act don’t mention e-cigarettes specifically. That said, an outcome-based wellness program is one that’s defined simply by ACA as participants “not smoking,” and the definition doesn’t specifically mention tobacco either.

Anecdotally, few employers have embraced e-cigarettes as part of a smoking cessation program, and there is little medical evidence that shows e-cigarettes pose fewer health effects than regular ones.

Officials at the Food and Drug Administration, in their efforts to bring tighter regulation to e-cigarettes, have written that the agency doesn’t “currently have sufficient data about e-cigarettes and similar products to determine what effects they have on the public health.”

One FDA official, Priscilla Callahan-Lyon, who works in the Office of Science at the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, wrote that “while e-cigarette aerosol may contain fewer toxicants than cigarette smoke, studies evaluating whether e-cigarettes are less harmful than cigarettes are inconclusive.”

So, for now, companies may want to continue using traditional tobacco-cessation methods and products—rather than the smoke and mirrors of e-cigarettes.

4 reasons you’d be the target of a DOL audit, and how to prepare

Most benefits professionals work hard to keep eagle-eyed compliance records, just in case the Department of Labor comes calling one day to conduct a benefit plan audit. A recent issue brief from Bronfman E.L. Rothschild walks through everything pros need to know to get ready for an audit.

The brief also aims to set practitioners’ minds at ease, stating that among the four reasons for the DOL to audit plans, one of them is random luck of the draw. The other three to steer clear of, though, are:

• Form 5500 errors.
• Late retirement plan deposits and deferrals.
• Participant complaints.

This week’s hidden gem: ‘The ABCs of Voluntary’

With both employers and brokers expecting demand for and participation in voluntary benefits to grow as much as 65% in the next five years, new research from Prudential outlines the “ABCs of Voluntary” to guide employers’ strategies for the future.

Among the firm’s main findings—and the stat we’re happiest about!—is that employers view communication and education as a critical part of a successful voluntary benefits offering:

55% of employers say improving the overall effectiveness of benefits communication is “very important,” making it the highest-rated benefits strategy.

Bonus! Download the five-part Master Class series in its entirety

Our Benefits Communication Master Class series is complete—thank you to all who participated! If you missed any of the sessions, or would like to have them to view and share, you can download slides and audio for all five webinars online.