DOL Issues Long Awaited Mental Health Parity Guidance

Plan sponsors, insurers, and third-party administrators should pay close attention to the new guidance to facilitate health plan compliance with complex nonquantitative treatment limitation comparative analyses requirements.

On July 25, 2023, the Department of Labor (DOL), Department of the Treasury (Treasury), and Health and Human Services (HHS) (the Departments) issued a proposed rule on how to comply with the nonquantitative treatment limitations (NQTL) comparative analyses requirements enacted under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA). The requirement for health plans to perform and document their comparative analyses of the design and application of NQTLs became effective February 10, 2021, and the DOL has been aggressively enforcing the requirement through extensive, multi-year health plan investigations over the last few years. In addition to the proposed rule, the new guidance issued also includes:

Continue reading “DOL Issues Long Awaited Mental Health Parity Guidance”

Mental Health Parity: Comparative Assessments Required for Certain Nonquantitative Treatment Limits in Group Health Plans

As noted in several recent blog posts, the year-end Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) included a number of employee benefits-related changes. One set of changes represents an effort to further strengthen protections under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA). These new provisions will require group health plans and health insurance issuers (collectively, “group health plans”) that provide both medical and surgical (M/S) benefits and mental health or substance use disorder (MH/SUD) benefits and that impose nonquantitative treatment limitations (NQTL) on MH/SUD benefits to perform comparative analyses to demonstrate compliance with mental health parity requirements. Plans will also be required to provide that comparative information to the DOL, HHS or applicable State authority upon request (DOL for ERISA-governed group health plans). These new requirements go into effect February 10, 2021 (45 days after enactment of the CAA).

Continue reading “Mental Health Parity: Comparative Assessments Required for Certain Nonquantitative Treatment Limits in Group Health Plans”

©2024 Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP. All Rights Reserved. Attorney Advertising.
Privacy Policy