Certain health promotion or disease prevention programs offered by a group health plan ? commonly known as wellness programs ? must comply with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) wellness program regulations. However, it is not always clear to employers whether they sponsor a wellness program subject to the regulations and, if so, how to apply the rules to the program. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued Field Assistance Bulletin (FAB) No. 2008-02, which includes a Wellness Program Checklist, in response to questionsconcerning what types of programs must be in compliance with the final regulations. The DOL?s Wellness Program Checklist takes some of the uncertainty out of this process.

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