Newest TravisCobra Release Planned for June, 2005, to Coincide with New DOL HIPAA Coverage Cert Regulations

Having just released Version 7.25 of the TravisCobra software system in January, 2005 to help our users meet U.S. Department of Labor regulations effective in the new year, Travis Software Corp. is now developing another new release of TravisCobra which will be distributed to customers in June, 2005 to meet even newer DOL/IRS/HHS regulations issued December 30, 2004, which radically modify the language required in the HIPAA Certificate of Creditable Coverage!

The new regulations come in two parts -- Final Regulations and new, Proposed Regulations. The Final Regs clarify much of the confusion about the pre-existing condition exclusion periods described in the original HIPAA law. They also add a requirement that a "Statement of HIPAA Portability Rights" should be added to each Certificate of Creditable Coverage, or "Coverage Cert" as used in the TravisCobra system.

The new Regs are effective "as of the first Plan Anniversary Date on or after June 30, 2005." The new version of TravisCobra will be made available to users in June, 2005, and will contain the new wording added to the Coverage Cert.

The Proposed Regulations issued December 30th, among other things, posed that the 63-day "break in coverage" period for precluding employers, carriers and/or plan sponsors from disregarding prior creditable coverage begins on the day their Coverage Cert is printed, rather than the day they lost coverage. The DOL asked for comment from benefits professionals concerning this regulation, and we will update the TravisCobra system to include disclosures about the length of that creditable coverage period if those regulations become final and further changes are made.

The new version of TravisCobra scheduled for June, 2005, which will be called Release 7.3, will also include a new Qualifying Event for USERRA, the Federal law that requires those called into military service and their dependents to be offered continuation via their group health plan. The new Event Code for USERRA qualification will accommodate the specific USERRA requirements for enrollment and premium payment periods.

We at Travis don't like to "over-update" our customers. While it is important that the system be maintained properly, we are sensitive that having to implement a new release every few months can be an inconvenience to our users. However, in cases such as these where mandatory requirements are issued by governmental agencies, we must make the new releases available within the regulatory schedule. Therefore, Release 7.3 of TravisCobra will be made available in June, 2005.

One good thing about Release 7.3 of TravisCobra -- it will require that users be on the current version of TravisCobra, Release 7.25, in order to upgrade. So the time you or your IT people have spent upgrading to 7.25 during the past couple of months has not been wasted, as you will need to be on that release in order to migrate to the 7.3 release when it comes out.

We will keep you informed about TravisCobra Release 7.3's availability, and will certainly let you know as soon as it is ready for installation. We will also let you know, as soon as we know, about what further changes may need to be made to TravisCobra should the proposed HIPAA regulations about Coverage Cert's "printing date" be finalized.