The Greater Mount Airy Chamber of Commerce is hosting a free Health Care Reform Seminar at Cross Creek Country Club on March 14 at 9 a.m.

Topics and issues discussed during the seminar include “how the health care reform act will affect your company” and “details about what businesses can expect” when the health care law goes into place in January.

Betty Ann Collins, chamber president, said that the seminar is open to the local business community, but it will specifically target businesses with “50 full-time or full-time equivalent” employees. According to Collins, the key point is the definition of the number of employees impacted by the Affordable Care Act, and she said that “full-time equivalent” means if you have “four part-time employees, each averaging 20 hours a week on a quarterly basis, then they would equal one full-time equivalent employee.”

The guest speaker for the seminar is Jason Cogdil from Winston-Salem, a corporate counsel and benefits attorney with ProBenefits Inc., as well as a compliance adviser for employers and advisers regarding health and welfare benefit plans.

Cogdil grew up in Buies Creek and was a graduate of the Wake Forest University School of Law. He was named as one of North Carolina Lawyers Weekly’s “In-House Leaders of the Law” in 2009.

Collins said that the chamber is “delighted to have Jason Cogdill as our speaker because of his expertise as a corporate counsel and benefits attorney.”

Although there is no cost to attend the seminar, prior registration is necessary in order to confirm the number of people in attendance prior to the event.

Collins added that the chamber would like to “encourage all businesses to attend or send a representative to this seminar so that their company will have a better understanding of what the health care reform act entails.” She also said that this is the “one of the most critical topics that our businesses are going to be facing since they have to be compliant at the beginning of 2014” and the chamber would like to offer more seminars about this topic in the future.

“We want to provide local businesses with a lot of information from some of the experts within the region that can help them make the best decisions as they move forward and try to adapt to the health care reform laws.”

The seminar is sponsored by the Surry County Economic Development Partnership, Inc. and BB&T Insurance Services.

Interested individuals and business representatives should register for the Health Care Reform Seminar by Marcy 12. For more information or to register, call Tanya Taylor at The Greater Mount Airy Chamber of Commerce at 786-6116, or by emailing membership@mtairyncchamber.org.