Although 2012 is just getting started, many employers are already looking ahead to next year for a change in Form W-2 reporting.

Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), companies are required to report the value of their employer-sponsored health care coverage on employees' W-2s. This takes effect for most employers this year, meaning the values must be represented on the forms issued in 2013. Smaller employers -- those with fewer than 250 W-2s to distribute, are exempt until at least 2014.

The IRS has issued a series of notices to help employers handle this new task. The guidance, according to Michael R. Durnwald of the law firm Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, clarifies that:

• While the value of the plans must be reported, it does not affect the tax treatment of the health care coverage.
• Employers do not have to create a W-2 to satisfy this requirement for someone who normally would not receive a form (a retiree with health benefits, for instance).
• Employers can calculate the value in a number of ways, including using the COBRA premium.
• Flexible spending accounts, dental and vision plans should not be included in the value calculation.

The IRS added to that guidance shortly after the New Year's holiday, according to a report by Business Insurance. The IRS further clarified that employers can include contributions to health reimbursement arrangements in the calculation, but are not required to do so.

Also, costs related to wellness initiatives, employee assistance programs and on-site clinics do not need to be included as long as the employer doesn't charge premiums for them under COBRA.

Ultimately, however, the fate of this and other provisions of PPACA rests in the hands of the Supreme Court, which announced in December that it would start hearing oral arguments regarding the health care reform law in late March. A final ruling is expected in June, according to a Reuters report.

More employers are betting that health plans with higher deductibles will take some of the sting out of soaring health care costs.

New research by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) found that 8.4 million American adults, or 7 percent, now are covered by private consumer-driven health plans (CDHPs) with health savings accounts (HSAs) or health reimbursement arrangement (HRA), according to a report by CCH. Another 7.4 million are covered by high-deductible health plans without HSAs or HRAs, the report said.

Still, traditional plans continue to dominate the employee benefits scene. EBRI noted that 78 percent of Americans with private insurance in 2011 were covered by so-called "traditional" plans that had deductibles of less than $1,000 for an individual and $2,000 for a family, according to a report by the Kansas City Star.

The EBRI study noted a number of positive behaviors exhibited by people covered by CDHPs, including being more cost-conscious and more likely to check whether their plan covered specific medical expenses.

Wellness programs, however, were no more attractive to those under CDHPs than those in traditional plans. CDHP-covered respondents who had access to wellness plans said they did not participate because they could handle lifestyle changes on their own (60 percent), didn't have time (52 percent) or were already healthy (45 percent), according to the CCH report. However, 66 percent said they'd join up if the company sweetened the employer HSA contribution.

The apparent lack of enthusiasm for wellness can present a big challenge for employers with high-deductible options. While a beefier HSA would help workers pay for health care expenses that are already incurred, a CDHP expert notes that companies with high-deductible coverage must be proactive in helping employees improve their lifestyles to avoid future health-related costs.

Dr. Michael Parkinson, the senior medical director of health and productivity for UPMC Health Plan, said CDHPs work best when supported by a "health incentive account." Parkinson noted in an interview with SmartBusiness in Pittsburgh that companies would contribute money to this incentive account when employees displayed good behaviors, such as getting a flu shot or for preventive doctor visits. Workers could use this account to further cut their out-of-pocket medical expenses.

"The high-deductible component encourages employees to be active consumers of health care, while the healthy lifestyles reward component gives the opportunity to earn financial rewards for activities that have been designed to improve their health," Parkinson said.

Most employers say they understand the importance of benefit communications. Unfortunately, many struggle to translate that knowledge into actions.

Now more than ever, employers are turning to technology to make those communications easier and more effective.

A recent study by ADP found that 80 percent of polled employers said it is vital for employees to fully understand their benefit options, but only 60 percent of respondents said they were confident that their employees really get it, according to a PLANSPONSOR report.

Web portals have become a key tool in battling this gap, with 71 percent of midsize employers saying they have a devoted website for employee benefit communications, according to the ADP poll.

Emerging technologies, especially mobile devices, appear to be spurring interest in the use of technology-based benefit communications. The ADP survey found that participants estimated that about two in five employees use mobile devices in their work, and 39 percent of polled midsize companies said they provide mobile access to benefit information, according to the study.

Like mobile devices, social media tools and websites have seen an explosion of use over the past few years. As the social media phenomenon continues to blossom, so does its use as an internal communications tool by companies.

More than 60 percent of companies report that they make at least one social media tool available to some or all of their employees, according to new research by International Association of Business Communicators and Prescient Digital Media. The survey, published in Employee Benefit News, noted that among companies' corporate intranets, the most popular social media features were blogs (75 percent), discussion forums (65 percent) and instant messaging (63 percent).

Toby Ward, president of Prescient Digital Media, told EBN that companies need to make a real commitment to planning and technology if they want these kinds of communications to stick.

"While the popularity of social media tools . . . is rising, only about one-quarter of frontline employees and executives alike rate their intranet social media as good or very good," Ward said. "Without a proper plan, adequate investment and the requisite change management and communications, most intranet social media initiatives will fail."