The ASA cost calculator for estimating staffing firm costs under the Affordable Care Act is now available on the ASA website, americanstaffing.net. Using the calculator is an essential first step in helping staffing firms understand the cost implications of the ACA on their business.

The calculator has been in development for months. It is based on the very latest government rules and guidance. It was expressly designed for staffing firms by industry experts and tested by staffing firm owners in various sectors of the industry. The calculator was introduced at a March 12 ASAPro webinar, which provided an overview of its functionality. Further programming refinements were made based on questions received during the webinar. The result is the most sophisticated and comprehensive tool available anywhere for analyzing staffing firms’ costs under the ACA.

The calculator allows ASA members to make a number of key calculations. For example, it calculates the cost per hour under both the “play” and “pay” options, the hourly cost for full-time employees only, or the hourly cost spread over all employees’ hours. It also computes the estimated cost as a percentage of payroll and shows the effect on bill rates based on various cost recapture scenarios.

For a comprehensive overview of all of the Affordable Care Act provisions of interest to staffing firms, answers to questions from the March 12 webinar, and other resources, go to americanstaffing.net. Because of the extraordinary resources committed to developing this unique product, it will be available only to staffing firms that are members of the American Staffing Association.