LSA Open Enrollment

Alerus provides employers and employees with access to a robust Resource Center to review information about benefits plans and view instructional and educational videos.

Enrollment forms (for external use only) can be downloaded from the Resources tab on the employer website. If you work with a benefits broker, they may prepare enrollment material for you. We recommend you coordinate with them to ensure all bases are covered and efforts are not duplicated.

ACTION ITEMS

  1. Contact Alerus through the Requests tab on the Alerus employer website if you wish to make changes to your Lifestyle Spending plan design (add expense options, change reimbursement limits, add debit cards, etc.) no later than two months prior to the start of your new plan year.
  2. Submit your signed HRA/LSA New Plan Year form through the Requests tab no later than one month prior to the start of your new plan year.
  3. Submit your completed Beneficial Ownership Certification Form through the Requests tab no later than one month prior to the start of your new plan year.
  4. Submit your Debit Card Co-pay Template through the Requests tab no later than one month prior to the start of your new plan year (if applicable).
  5. Submit your new plan year LSA enrollments no later than one month prior to the start of your new plan year.

LSA Plan Design Review

Please review the HRA/LSA New Plan Year form located in Tools > Resources on the Alerus employer website. This form is also available to enrolled participants within the participant website under Tools & Support.

If there are any changes to your LSA plan design, please contact Alerus through the Requests tab of the employer website. Please contact us no later than two months prior to the start of your new plan year with any changes.

If there are no changes to your LSA plan design, please sign and send Alerus the HRA/LSA New Plan Year form located in Tools > Resources. Submit the form to Alerus through the Requests tab on the employer website. Once this form is received, we will be able to set up your new plan year.

*Any New Plan Year forms received after the 1st day of the new plan year will be considered late and charged a mid-year plan change fee.

Beneficial Ownership Certification Form

All Lifestyle Spending Accounts must complete the Beneficial Ownership Certification Form. You may find this form in your employer website under Tools & Support>Forms. Once completed please submit this form to Alerus through the Requests Section of the employer website.

Other Benefits

If Alerus administrates other benefits for you as well (FSA, HRA, HSA, etc.), please ensure to review the other applicable Open Enrollment benefit sections on the Open Enrollment resource center and submit all of your required benefit Action items to Alerus for each benefit by the applicable due date.

Plan Document Updates

If there are any changes to your LSA plan design, the plan will need to be updated accordingly. If Alerus administrates the plan document for your LSA, we will update it to reflect any changes to your new plan year. Applicable fees may apply. Reach out to Alerus to learn more.

If Alerus created your LSA plan document, these are located online for easy access. With the Alerus employer website, it can be found under the Resources tab; with the participant website, it can be found under Tools & Support.

Adding and Updating Participants Online

You have the ability to enroll new participants on our employer portal website. If you would like to use this option to enter new LSA participants:

  1. Submit your HRA/Lifestyle New Plan Year Form confirming your new LSA plan design.
  2. Once this form is received, Alerus will create your plan and notify you when it is ready.
  3. Go online to enter new enrollees and modify or terminate coverage for existing participants as needed for the new plan year (directions for entering/changing participants online can be found in the Employer Portal Election Change communication located within the Resources tab).

TIP: You can add or terminate participants’ LSA coverage anytime throughout the plan year on the employer website. There is no need to complete a form or email your account manager when these changes are made online.

TIP: If you need to reference the current plan year’s LSA enrollment, review your most recent Account Summary Report. This is available under Reports on the employer website.

Enrollment Verification Report

Once all your enrollments have been entered, you will need to run the enrollment verification report. Review this report to ensure that all participants are enrolled in the correct benefits at the correct coverage level.

  1. Log into your account at alerusrb.com.
  2. Click on Reports
  3. Click on +New Report (top left)
  4. Click on Enrollment
  5. Choose what File type you want for the report from the drop down
  6. Time needs to be as of the first day of the new plan year or your report will be blank
  7. Choose Plan Year you wish to generate report for
  8. Choose whether you want to group the report by division (if this applies to you)
  9. Choose Detail for the Type
  10. Select “Email me when the report is available”. Once you receive this email, the report will be available under the Reports tab.

Alerus Health Benefits Card (if applicable)

Participants who currently have an Alerus Health Benefits card will keep the same card for the new plan year. New cards for those scheduled to expire will be mailed approximately 30-60 days before expiration. Detailed information about using the debit card can be found in Resources.

Employees not interested in using the debit card can destroy the card without activating it.

To ensure new participant debit cards are in hand by that start of the new plan year, their enrollments must be entered no later than one month prior to the start of the new plan year.

Debit Card Co-pays (if applicable)

Purchases made with the Alerus Health Benefits card that are for co-pays can be set up to automatically adjudicate, and participants would not be required to submit documentation for those purchases. If you could provide us with your company co-pays for the below expenses, we will get them created for any new plan year debit card transactions. Please use the Debit Card Co-pay Template available under the Resources tab and submit them to us through the Requests tab within the employer website.

  • Office Visit Co-pays
  • Pharmacy Co-pays
  • Dental Co-pays
  • Vision Co-pays

Key Items to Know

  • Election, Reimbursement, and Status Change/Termination forms can be found under the Resources tab of the employer website.
  • If your scheduled reimbursement date falls on a holiday, it will process the following business day and the reimbursements will appear on your next regularly scheduled payment report.
  • If you are not renewing your LSA benefits with Alerus, please let Alerus know at least 2 ½ months prior to plan year end.

Data Integration

  • Do not submit enrollment termination dates to Alerus as of the end of the plan year for active participants, either through your file integration or through the employer website. Doing so will cause issues with your benefit program. Alerus automatically tracks the end of your plan year for claim eligibility.
  • If you have file integration with Alerus, and are submitting an open enrollment file, please format your open enrollment file using the following file naming convention: “CompanyCode_PT_EN_DATE_OE”.

If you are interested in setting up data integration between your vendor and Alerus, submit a request through the Alerus Employer Website.

  1. Log into Employer Access.
  2. Select Requests from the left side menu, then click New Request.
  3. From the dropdown, choose Other and click Next.
  4. Enter Request Details:
    • Name of Vendor
    • Vendor Contact Name
    • Vendor Contact Email
    • Type of File Feeds: Demographic, Enrollment, and/or Contribution (Payroll)
  5. Click Submit. You will receive a confirmation email when the information has been received.