Strategic Partners

Advanced Benefit Consulting

Advanced Benefit Consulting & Insurance Services, Inc. (ABC) is as full-service employee benefits consulting firm specializing in group health benefit programs and HIPAA compliance, with an emphasis in self insurance. In business since 1995, clients of ABC include single employers as well as third party administrators, general agencies, excess loss carriers, managing general underwriters, the U.S. Department of Labor, and public sector groups. In the privacy area, our clients also include private employers, insurance agencies, general agents, medical providers, church groups, child adoptive and foster care services and insurance carriers.

ABC specializes in HIPAA compliance, Privacy training and Implementations, large group employee benefit consulting, including self-insured health plans, Taft Hartley plans, and ERISA regulation. Our public sector affiliations also make us experts in the Public Health Service Act. ABC can also provide compliance assistance for COBRA, HIPAA, and other federal benefits-related laws. ABC is also familiar with state laws in the state of California. ABC published an employer HIPAA self-administration manual in the fall of 2000, with an ongoing update service. ABC recently developed a turnkey HIPAA medical records privacy system for their employer clients, much like ABC’s HIPAA manual. ABC offers full-day and half-day privacy training, including a 6-hour Employer Privacy Officer and Privacy Work Group Team Program, designed to meet the requirements of HIPAA under 45 CFR Sec. 164.530(a)(1)(i). ABC is prepared to offer client preparation and staff training for all medical records privacy training functions required by the new regulations, which went into effect on April 14, 2003 for large plans and April 14, 2004 for small plans.

Dorothy Cociu

Dorothy M. Cociu, RHU, REBC, GBA, RPA has 24 years experience in the sales and administration of employee benefit programs. Dorothy began her administrative experience began in the Taft-Hartley marketplace, then moved to self- funded administration, where she remained for 12 years. She left the TPA business in 1995 and formed Advanced Benefit Consultining, a health brokerage firm and employee benefits consulting firm specializing in self-insured health plans, HIPAA Compliance and educational seminars and materials. She is the author of The ABC’s of HIPAA Compliance; An Employer’s Simplified Administrative Guide to HIPAA Compliance, and all it’s updates.

Dorothy Cociu is a nationally recognized speaker on topics such as Self-insurance, HIPAA, COBRA, and ERISA. Her clients include fully insured and self-insured employers, third party administrators, excess loss carriers, general agencies, and health care networks. She is also frequently hired as an expert witness and consultant by the U.S. Department of Labor/Employee Benefit Security Administration. Ms. Cociu has had over 50 articles published on topics such as HIPAA, HIPAA Privacy, ERISA, Self Insurance, COBRA, Federal and State Health Care Reform, Managed Care Reform, and other topics. She has been an instructor for the Certified Employee Benefit Specialist Program of the Wharton School of Business, administered locally by the Insurance Educational Association, from 1994 to 1998. She completed her Registered Health Underwriter designation in 1995, and Registered Employee Benefit Consultant designation in 1996. She served as the NAHU Region 8 Vice President from 2002-2003, and is a Past President of the California Association of Health Underwriters (CAHU). She has been a member of the Self Insurance Institute of America (SIIA) for over 14 years. She has been a member of PIHRA since 2005.

Dorothy continues to be one of leading and most sought-after HIPAA Compliance Specialists on the west coast.