As health systems divide and conquer, health care professionals are fi nding themselves in new employment situation -- working for larger org anizations or supervising new groups of employees. With this change co mes a need to take a new look at the laws that affect employee benefit s -- including ERISA, group health plans, COBRA, and more. Here's a co ncise briefing on the legal issues involved in health care employee be nefits administration, with specific references to statutes and court rulings that are relevant in the health care setting. A practical over view of a complex legal area.