NY State of Health, the state’s official health plan marketplace, as experienced “overwhelming success” with New York’s Small Business Marketplace (SBM) following implementation of a simplified enrollment process and the addition of thousands of new plan options in April 2018, according to the Department of Health.
Since then, the number of small employers participating in the SBM has grown to 12,219, an increase of 465 percent, officials said. Greater plan choice and easier access to the federal Small Business Health Care Tax Credit have contributed to the rapid growth.

A regional economic initiative to bring biomedical innovations to market was awarded a $250,000 economic development grant from National Grid.
The Biomedical Acceleration and Commercialization Center (BACC) at Albany Medical College received a grant from National Grid to provide direct financial assistance to BACC biomedical start-up companies for commercialization needs and access to experts. It will also help support the BACC’s entrepreneurs in the arenas of clinical trials, prototype development, marketing and hiring consultants for regulatory needs, officials said.

Elliott Masie, an international learning analyst and curator, hosted 38 corporate leaders from around the world at his Learning Innovations LAB last week in Saratoga Springs.
As business and work changes, the format and style of workplace learning must innovate to leverage new technologies and methodologies to upskill employees, according to Masie.