HRA Open Enrollment

Please review the HRA 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 HRA plan design, please contact Alerus through the Requests tab in 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 HRA plan design, please sign and send Alerus the HRA 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 set up your new plan year and you can begin uploading dependent enrollments.

Any NEW Plan Year forms received after the 1st day of the new plan year will be charged a $500 mid-year plan change fee.

If your HRA is stacked with an HSA, there is a minimum amount of deductible which must be satisfied before the HRA can begin reimbursing expenses. This amount is determined by the IRS on an annual basis. For plan years beginning January 1, 2023, the minimum deductible requirement for HSA-compatible plans is $1,500/single and $3,000/family.

If Alerus administrates your HRA and FSA benefits, please submit to Alerus no later than one month prior to the start of your new plan year, if there are any changes to your new HRA plan year. If we do not have this information, we cannot guarantee new enrollees debit cards (where applicable) in hand by the start of your new plan year.

We now accept claims file feeds from your insurance carrier. Files from your insurance carrier can be dropped into our software monthly and file a HRA claim for processing on behalf of the participant. Alerus does not charge a fee to set this up, however, contact your insurance carrier/broker for their fee information. Fees apply for custom requests. Feeds can be set up anytime during the plan year. Contact Alerus through the Requests tab if you would like to learn more.

If there are any changes to your HRA plan design (including IRS minimum deductible requirements), the plan will need to be updated accordingly. If Alerus administrates your plan document, 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 HRA 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.

Since your HRA is considered a self-funded group health plan, you are required to distribute an SBC to all eligible employees. Alerus can create an SBC for your new HRA plan year benefit. The fee to create an SBC is $50 per SBC requested. Please contact Alerus if you wish to have us create one for you.

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

1. Submit your HRA New Plan Year form confirming your new HRA 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’ HRA 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 HRA enrollment, review your most recent Account Summary Report. This is available under Reports on the employer website.

In an effort to ensure accuracy of claims payments, Alerus will now require plan sponsors to provide covered spouse and dependent data for all participants in the HRA so that this information can be verified when claims are substantiated. Previously, Alerus relied on the participant’s verification that expenses claimed under the HRA were incurred by an eligible, covered dependent.

Even though participants have the ability to enter and update dependent information on the website, only the dependents submitted by the employer will be linked to the participant’s HRA coverage. This will ensure claims are only reimbursed for family members who are covered under the employer’s group medical plan. This will also help ensure HRA coverage is promptly updated for participants who change coverage levels mid-year.

Please complete the HRA Annual Dependent Enrollment template (in Tools and then Resources within the employer website) with the information for spouses and/or dependents covered by the HRA. Upload your HRA Annual Dependent Enrollment through the employer website. Visit Importing Files for instructions.

TIP: This data should match the dependents covered under your group medical plan.

In addition to providing current covered dependent data, we also ask that you notify us when a participant’s dependents change. You can send these changes through the Requests tab on the employer website.

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.

Once report is available for you to review, please make sure all applicable employees are enrolled and any applicable spouse/dependents of employee. Please review to make sure employee is in the correct benefit type (Single vs. Family etc. where applicable). If any adjustments are needed please review the Key Items to Know second bullet below.

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.

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

All HRAs are now required to comply with Medicare Secondary Payer (Section 111) reporting. More information about Medicare Secondary Payer reporting is available on the HRA Medicare Reporting form found on the Resources tab on the employer website. For Alerus to comply with this reporting, please complete the HRA Medicare Reporting form and submit it through the Requests tab no later than one month prior to the start of the new plan year.

• This enrollment communication is for HRA benefits. Contact your HSA administrator for any HSA enrollment questions.
• 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 HRA benefits with Alerus, please let us know 2 ½ months prior to plan year end to ensure expired debit cards are not reissued.
• HRA elections rollover from year to year, so please make appropriate changes to elections for new year.

• 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.