If you’re a total rewards leader who’s just hearing about an individual coverage health reimbursement arrangement (ICHRA), it’s likely because the option has only been around for the last five years.

It may also be because this type of benefit—which allows employers to offer pre-tax dollars so employees can purchase their own individual health plan, rather than elect coverage through a group plan—is not currently the predominant form of employer-sponsored healthcare. Just 4% of firms offering health benefits gave workers funds to purchase non-group health insurance in 2024, according to a KFF survey.

Still, this option may be of interest to small employers that wouldn’t otherwise be able to offer health coverage to their workers, or businesses with specific employee populations. Here are three questions for HR teams considering offering an ICHRA, according to industry experts.

For more on how to decide if an ICHRA is right for your company, keep reading here.—CV

It’s time for some workplace rules to go—especially the unwritten ones.

That’s according to Hanna Hasl-Kelchner, founder and CEO of consulting firm Business M.O. and author of Seeking Fairness at Work: Cracking the New Code of Greater Employee Engagement, Retention and Satisfaction. All too often, she said, they can create stress for employees.

Hasl-Kelchner shared with HR Brew insights from her book.

For more from our conversation with Hasl-Kelchner, keep reading here.—MC

As some in the medical field know too well, it can be hard to leave a healthcare job. Sure, patient relationships and coworker bonds are difficult to sever, but one of the top things keeping many from branching off on their own just might be their contracts.

Between 37% to 45% of US physicians are in employer agreements that limit where they can work after they leave or how long they must stay in their current position, according to professional group the American Medical Association (AMA), compared to about 18% of the overall workforce nationwide, per a 2021 article in the Journal of Law and Economics.

On Sept. 10, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced it had sent warning letters to several healthcare and staffing companies with potentially “unreasonable noncompete agreements in employment contracts.” A few days earlier, it had asked for public comment to inform “case-by-case” enforcement of noncompetes going forward. This comes shortly after the commission announced Sept. 5 it’s officially abandoning attempts to defend a ban on all noncompetes that it passed in April 2024.

It’s all left providers and hospitals alike asking: What’s next for noncompetes?

For more on the future of noncompete agreements, keep reading on Healthcare Brew.—CC

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