What Is An HRA?
A Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) is a health benefit alternative for small businesses that cannot afford, or simply don’t want to offer traditional group health insurance policies. In a health reimbursement arrangement, employers are able to reimburse employees for qualified expenses using tax-free, or tax-advantaged money.
There are a few different types of HRAs, each of which solves different needs for employers and employees. Small dental practices will typically want to choose between the Qualified Small Employer HRA (QSEHRA), the Individual Coverage HRA (ICHRA).
See the list of eligible expenses HERE.
HRA benefits for dental practices
1. Budget control
A primary benefit that HRA administrators enjoy is the ability to control the maximum reimbursement allowance for each month. This provides employees with clear expectations for how much they can be reimbursed for, and it gives you the ability to know what your maximum expenses will be. And best of all, you are guaranteed to never exceed your allowance limit.
With PeopleKeep, you can change the allowance at any time. If budgets change in the middle of a month, on a Tuesday, or in the middle of the night, allowances can be adjusted in order to keep your budget on track.
2. Attract and retain employees
HRAs allow dental professionals to attract and retain top talent for a few different reasons. With an HRA, businesses can offer tax-free money to their employees for health expenses and give freedom to employees to find a plan that meets their needs.
What does this mean for employee retention? Not only can you provide a top-tier benefits package to your hygienists and assistants, you can also adjust your allowable reimbursement limits to better meet the needs of your employees and stay in line with the standards of the job market. That means if one of your competitors improves their benefits package, you don’t have to get left behind.
3. Improve office efficiency
When it comes to running a business, many dental professionals feel they already wear a hundred different hats and have to solve a thousand pressing problems, each and every day. That’s where the magic of the PeopleKeep benefit automation software comes into play.
On average, PeopleKeep customers spend just five minutes managing their company’s HRA benefits every month. This provides a significant improvement for employees without adding to a business manager’s workload.