Flexible Spending Account (FSA) Open Enrollment

Alerus provides employees with access to educational and plan resources on our online Employee Resource Center.

Enrollment forms (if needed for internal use) can be downloaded from the Employer Resource Center.

ACTION ITEMS

PLAN DESIGN CHANGES
Due two months before plan year begins: If you desire to make changes to your plan design (change claim submission deadlines, change annual benefit amounts, add debit cards, etc.), submit these changes through the Employer Websit e – Requests>New Request.
PAYCHECK DATES
Due one month before plan year begins: Submit new paycheck dates through the Employer Website – Requests>New Request.
PLAN DESIGN CHECKLIST
Due one month before plan year begins: If your plan offers Parking or Transit Commuter benefits, complete the Plan Design Checklist found in the Employer Website under Tools>Resources and submit it through the Employer Website – Requests>New Request.
DEBIT CARD COPAYS
Due one month before plan year begins: If your plan is debit card enabled, complete the Debit Card Copay Template found on the Employer Website under Tools>Resources with your group health plan copays and submit it through the Employer Website – Requests>New Request.
PARTICIPANT ENROLLMENT
Due one month before plan year begins: Submit new plan year participant enrollment information using one of the enrollment submission methods listed below.

Enrollment Submissions

Enrollment information can be submitted to Alerus:

ENROLLMENT FILE
File Feed: If you have a secure file feed established between your HRIS system and Alerus, the new plan year enrollments you may be able to submit through this file feed. Connect with your HRIS team to coordinate sending this enrollment file to Alerus no later than one month before your plan year begins. Format your open enrollment file using the following file naming convention: “CompanyCode_PT_EN_DATE_OE”.

Employer File: You can upload an employer demographic/enrollment file through the Employer Website. Visit Importing Files for instructions on this process.
DIRECT ENROLLMENT ENTRY
You may enter your enrollments one at a time directly through the “Employees” section of the Employer Website. Visit Manual Enrollment Entry for instructions on this process.

Do not submit enrollment termination dates for active participants to Alerus as of the plan year’s end, either through file integration or the employer website. Doing so will cause issues with your benefit programs. Alerus automatically tracks the end of your plan year for claim eligibility.

New plan year participants who have not previously had Alerus access will not have online access until the first day of the plan year. For example, if you enter a new participant enrollment for January 1st in December, that participant will not be able to access their account until January 1st.

Participants must make FSA elections for the new plan year.

Employee Educational Materials

All employee educational materials can be found in the FSA Resource Center.

Plan Limits

Health and Wellness Annual Limits

Carryover

If your Health FSA, Limited Purpose FSA, or Parking/Transit plans allow for carryover, the remaining funds, up to the applicable carryover amount for that plan, will carry over on the first day of the new plan year. If your carryover provision is contingent upon the participant making a new election in the new plan year, please ensure those new plan year elections are submitted to Alerus by the enrollment submission deadline.

Alerus Health Benefits Card

Plans With Debit Cards

Participants with a current Alerus Health Benefits Card will keep the same card for the new plan year. If cards are scheduled to expire, participants will receive new cards in the mail approximately 30-55 days before the expiration date.

Employees not interested in using the debit card can contact the Client Service Center to close their card and destroy the cards mailed to them.

To ensure new participant debit cards are in hand by the start of your new plan year, enrollments must be completed no later than one month before the start of your new plan year.

Debit Card Copays

Copay transactions made with the Alerus Health Benefits Card can be set up to automatically adjudicate and participants would not be required to submit documentation for those purchases. Please provide us with the copays applicable to your group health plans that may include the below copays. Use the Debit Card Copay Template (also available under the Resources tab of the Employer Website) and submit the completed template to Alerus through the Requests tab of the Employer Website.

Office Visit Copays
Pharmacy Copays
Dental Copays
Vision Copays

Debit Card Insurance Carrier File Feeds

For health FSA and limited purpose combined, if you have 250 or more enrolled participants you can set up an insurance feed that will help eliminate approximately 90% of debit card transactions flagged for adjudications. These file feeds can only be set up before the start of a new plan year. Feeds can be set up for your health insurance, dental, vision, or prescription providers (where applicable). Alerus does not charge a fee to set up these feeds (custom file formats may be subject to additional fees), however, your insurance provider may charge a fee to set up the feed. Feed set-up times vary depending on the insurance carrier’s response but generally take 8-12 weeks to complete. If you are interested, please contact Alerus right away to start this process.

Plans Without Debit Cards

Alerus offers the Alerus Health Benefits Card as an optional service with Health FSA/Limited Purpose benefits. The Health Benefits Card allows participants to pay for healthcare expenses directly from their FSA, without having to wait for reimbursement. The card can only be used at merchants that provide healthcare services, such as pharmacies and clinics, and will not work at non-healthcare establishments. In some cases, participants will still be required to submit itemized documentation for their card purchases, however, the wait for reimbursement is eliminated.

Please contact Alerus right away if you are interested in offering the Alerus Health Benefits Card for your new plan year. We can provide you with cost information and explain the steps to be taken in advance of open enrollment.

Payroll Dates

To ensure accuracy for contribution posting, submit your new plan year paycheck dates through the Employer Website – Requests>New Request no later than one month before the start of your new plan year.

Parking/Transit (If your plan offers Parking/Transit benefits)

Complete the Plan Design Checklist found on the Employer Website under Tools>Resources and submit it through the Employer Website – Requests>New Request no later than one month before your new plan year begins.

Plan Document Updates

If you have any plan design changes, your plan documents will need to be amended. Please notify Alerus of any plan design changes as soon as possible.

If Alerus writes your plan documents, we will make these amendments for you. Applicable document fees may apply. For reference, Alerus plan documents can be found under the Resources section of the Employer Website.
If Alerus does not write your plan document, you will need to contact your plan document provider to ensure that any applicable plan document amendments are completed (if necessary).

Enrollment Verification

Enrollment verification is required to ensure accurate benefit enrollment. After the plan year enrollments have been processed, you are required to verify plan year enrollments by downloading a report through your Employer Website – Reports>New Report>Enrollment. Report parameters for this review are:

File Type: PDF or Excel
As Of: Current date
Plan Year: YYYY
Group By: Divisions
Include Detail
Check: “Include additional information”
Check: “Include coverage level”

Plan Upgrades to Consider

Participant/Dependent File Feed: Alerus can accept a file feed from your HRIS or payroll system to automatically send demographic, enrollment, dependent, or contribution benefit information to Alerus, eliminating the need to manually update participant information within our systems. Reach out to our team at health_benefits_client_support@alerus.com if you are interested in integrating a file feed.
Claim Reimbursement Schedule: Alerus offers daily or weekly claims processing. If you would like to change your claim reimbursement schedule, contact Alerus at health_benefits_client_support@alerus.com.
Carryover Provision: Health FSA, Limited Purpose FSA, and Parking/Transit plans can offer carryover provisions allowing participants to carry over a certain amount of unused funds automatically into the next plan year. If you are interested in adding a carryover provision or adjusting your carryover provisions on your plan, please reach out to Alerus at health_benefits_client_support@alerus.com. Applicable fees may apply for plan document amendments.
Claim File Feed: Alerus accepts a claim file feed from your insurance carriers that will send claim information from your health plan to Alerus to either be automatically filed on the participant’s account or to automatically substantiate debit card transactions. Your insurance carrier may charge a fee to set up this file feed. If you are interested in setting up this claim file, contact Alerus at health_benefits_client_support@alerus.com.