The review and implementation path
Understand the structure before you decide what to do with it.
SIMERP touches benefits, payroll, and tax treatment. The process should make each part visible before an employer makes a decision.
Three steps from fit to rollout.
Confirm that the program may be a fit
Begin with a brief discussion with NW Business Advisors about your W-2 headcount, payroll setup, current benefits, and what you want to accomplish. The purpose is simply to decide whether a closer look makes sense.
Meet with the SIMERP Care team
If the initial facts suggest a fit, NW Business Advisors makes the introduction. On a discovery call, the SIMERP Care team reviews your situation, answers employer-specific questions, and explains the numbers and program structure.
Set up and deploy the program
If you choose to proceed, the SIMERP Care team works with your organization on plan materials, payroll instructions, and employee onboarding. Your team supplies the necessary information and coordinates the limited internal steps; the specialists do most of the heavy lifting.
What SIMERP is and isn't
It is a medical reimbursement plan, not insurance.
SIMERP is an employer-sponsored self-insured medical expense reimbursement plan. It reimburses employees for medical care. It isn't insurance, and it doesn't replace your existing major medical plan or broker relationship.
It sits alongside the coverage you already offer. The first question is whether that additional layer makes sense for your team and your business.
Medical care isn't an add-on
The care is what the plan is built to reimburse.
Some programs promise payroll-tax savings while treating the medical side as an afterthought. Others pay cash or incentives whether medical care takes place. The IRS has warned employers about that kind of arrangement.
SIMERP works differently. Reimbursements are tied to actual medical care, and medical interactions are recorded with CPT and ICD codes. The care isn't a side benefit attached to a payroll move. It's what the plan is built to reimburse.
The mechanism
Why employer payroll taxes may change.
Participating employees make a pre-tax election under Section 125. When the arrangement and reimbursements meet the applicable requirements, that election may reduce the wages subject to certain payroll taxes.
The lower wage base may reduce the employer's FICA expense. Part of the structure supports the medical services available to participating employees.
Technical review
Put the technical questions in front of the right people.
Before you decide whether to move forward, you'll have the current materials and the answers your company needs to review them. You can bring in the advisor whose questions need answering whenever that makes sense for your business.
Our job at NW Business Advisors is to help you decide if the specialist review is worth your time. We don't make technical determinations about SIMERP. But we'll help you get the right questions answered before you decide what to do.
Start at the beginning