On September 23, 2024, the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Treasury (collectively, the “Departments”) issued a final rule (“Final Rule”) implementing amendments made by the Consolidated...more
On September 23, 2024, the U.S. Departments of Labor, the Treasury, and Health and Human Services (collectively, the “Departments”) released final rules (the “Final Rules”) that implement requirements under the Mental Health...more
10/3/2024
/ Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Final Rules ,
Health and Welfare Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Mental Health ,
Mental Health Parity Rule ,
MHPAEA ,
NQTLs ,
U.S. Treasury
On September 9, 2024, the three federal departments responsible for regulating the health care benefits for more than 175 million Americans with private health insurance issued a final rule (the “Final Rule”) implementing...more
The U.S. Departments of Labor (DOL), Health and Human Services, and the Treasury (collectively, the “Tri-Departments”) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on August 3, 2023, to propose new regulations for the...more
8/23/2024
/ Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
Mental Health ,
Mental Health Parity Rule ,
MHPAEA ,
Plan Administrators ,
Substance Abuse
On January 18th, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a new demonstration model called the Innovation in Behavioral Health (IBH) Model, which is designed to improve outcomes for adults with mental...more
On November 15, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule titled Contract Year 2025 Policy and Technical Changes to the Medicare Advantage Program, Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit...more
12/13/2023
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Comment Period ,
Drug Pricing ,
Health Insurance ,
Health Plan Sponsors ,
Medicare ,
Medicare Advantage ,
Medicare Part D ,
Out-of-Pocket Expenses ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Proposed Rules
On February 24, 2023, the Drug Enforcement Agency (“DEA”) announced proposed permanent rules around prescribing controlled substances via telemedicine that expand the circumstances under which practitioners can prescribe...more
On January 25, 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”), Department of Health and Human Services, and Department of the Treasury (collectively, “Departments” or “Regulators”) released their 2022 Annual Report to Congress on...more
2/7/2022
/ Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Health Insurance ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Mental Health ,
Mental Health Parity Rule ,
MHPAEA ,
NQTLs ,
Substance Abuse ,
U.S. Treasury
In the clearest indication yet of the increased enforcement of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (“MHPAEA”) under the Biden-Harris administration, two settlement agreements filed on August 11 provide that...more
The Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury jointly released a set of frequently asked questions (“FAQs”) related to recent changes made to the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act effective...more
6/10/2021
/ Addiction Equity Act ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Enforcement Authority ,
Health Insurance ,
Health Plan Sponsors ,
Mental Health ,
Mental Health Parity Rule ,
NQTLs ,
Required Documentation ,
U.S. Treasury
The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (“MHPAEA”) and related state parity laws are some of the most complex and sweeping regulations ever imposed on the health insurance and managed care industry. Although MHPAEA...more
As infections of COVID-19 continue to increase throughout the nation, health care policymakers have focused primarily on increasing acute-care hospital bed capacity, promoting (and decreasing the regulatory requirements...more
As communities throughout the nation and world continue to grapple with the 2019 novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”) pandemic, health care providers and plans are struggling not only to maintain standard operations but also to...more
In an unexpectedly broad ruling issued December 14, 2018, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas declared the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) as unconstitutional in its entirety. This decision, if ultimately...more
12/19/2018
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Appointments Clause ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Biosimilars ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Declaratory Judgments ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Reform ,
HRA ,
Individual Mandate ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Kathleen Sebelius ,
Medicaid ,
Medicaid Expansion ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Popular ,
Severability Doctrine ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act