GPA Offers Unique Liability Assurance Program
Self-funded employers transfer the fiduciary responsibility of making final benefit determination decisions for compliance, savings and peace of mind

September 13, 2005 (Richardson, TX) Group & Pension Administrators, Inc., (GPA) one of the largest third-party benefit administrators in the Southwestern United States, today announced that in the first year of its offering, more than 60 GPA clients are enrolled in the ERISA Liability Assurance Program (ELAP).

GPA partners with ELAP, Inc. so that employers may choose to transfer the responsibility and liability for making final benefit determination decisions -- at the final level of appeal. This helps employers comply with federal law, provide fair benefit assessments to their employees, save money and achieve peace of mind. ELAP is available in Texas exclusively through GPA.

“Final benefit determination decisions can be challenging for an employer, especially when they involve the legal interpretation of plan language and the analysis of appropriate medical treatments,” said GPA Chief Operating Officer Kathy Enochs. In addition, laws governing health plans – ERISA and DOL regulations – place short timeframes on plan fiduciaries, require them to act with an undivided loyalty to plan participants, and make them liable for benefit determination decisions. Employers often lack the time or the medical or legal resources to satisfy these requirements.

Given the option, many employers will elect to transfer a portion of their fiduciary responsibility. “More than 60 of our employer-clients have made that choice,” said Enochs. “With ELAP, our clients have access to an independent, unbiased fiduciary professional and specialized legal counsel, and ELAP assumes$1,000,000 liability for each of its decisions, giving our employers the assurance they need when they need it most.”

About Group & Pension Administrators, Inc.

Group & Pension Administrators, Inc. (GPA) (www.gpatpa.com) is a third-party administrator (TPA), providing highest-quality administrative, customer support, claims processing, claim management, and plan development and review services to self-insured employers. Since its founding 35 years ago, Group & Pension Administrators (GPA) has combined industry-leading technology and tools with a philosophy of “high-touch” patient care to lower the financial risk and improve the quality of clients’ healthcare benefits.

About the ERISA Liability Assurance Program

ELAP, Inc. (www.elapinc.com) protects employers who sponsor self-funded health plans and supports the TPA’s that administer them. For a per-employee per-month fee, plan administrators can consult with experienced legal counsel on any matter relative to their health plan; they gain access to independent medical review; and they transfer the responsibility and liability for making final benefit determination decisions.

About ERISA & DOL

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) is a federal law that governs most benefit plans that are sponsored by employers in private industry. Passed by Congress to protect individual plan participants, a primary focus of ERISA is to set standards of behavior for those who control plan-related functions. Such parties are called fiduciaries, and their actions must be reasonable, prudent, diligent, and unbiased.

The Department of Labor (DOL) is the federal agency that enforces ERISA, and the DOL often sets its own regulations. The DOL enacted a new claims-handling and appeal regulation on July 1, 2002. It requires all benefit determinations to be made within strict timeframes, and those with a medical component must be made in consultation with an appropriate medical professional.

Contact Information:

Kathy Enochs
GPA
972.744.2445

Woody Waters
ELAP
770.254.8382