Changing Telehealth Rules
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Health Plan Transparency Requirements
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Group Health Plan Service Provider Compensation Disclosure Requirements
Podcast: What's New for Insurers in Mental Health Parity Compliance - Diagnosing Health Care
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Employee Retention Tax Credit Expansion
Department of Labor Imposes Additional Requirement on Employer-Provided Health Services
COVID-19 Relief in 2021: What Small Businesses Need to Know
On-Demand Webinar | Navigating Leave and Disability Protection Laws During COVID-19: A Practical Guide for California Employers
COVID-19 in the Workplace - PPP Update, COVID Plans from the Biden Transition Team, Higher Education Relief Package Provision, COVID WARN Act Developments
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - New Round of COVID-19 Relief Expands Assistance for Employers
Updated November 18, 2024 – The Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA), 2023 (Public Law 117-328), signed into law on December 29, 2022, extended certain key telehealth flexibilities instituted during the COVID-19 public...more
On November 1, 2024, CMS issued a final rule with updates to the Medicare payment rates for the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and the Medicare Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) Payment System for...more
Our Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Group discusses what health plan sponsors need to know about the final rule on nonquantitative treatment limitations (NQTLs) and NQTL comparative analysis under the Mental Health...more
Congress returned to Washington this week with just five weeks left in this year’s legislative calendar. With a Continuing Resolution (CR) that expires December 20, 2024, either a year-end spending package or a new Continuing...more
We are pleased to present our annual End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” Lists. This year, we present our “To Do” Lists in four separate SW Benefits Updates. This Part 1 covers year-end health and welfare plan issues. Parts 2,...more
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld regulations defining the qualifying payment amount (QPA). The QPA is a key factor in determining how much individuals and health plans must pay out-of-network providers in...more
The Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA), 2023 (Public Law 117-328), signed into law on December 29, 2022, extended certain key virtual care flexibilities instituted during the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) through...more
There is much that happens in Washington, D.C., and in the states in the 76 days between Election Day (November 5, 2024) and Inauguration Day (January 20, 2025). My last post identified some of the unfinished business the...more
The long-anticipated final rule under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) was published on September 9, 2024. The MHPAEA prohibits group health plans that provide mental health and substance use...more
If you are a state or local government that sponsors a “self-funded” employee group health plan instead of using an insurance provider, you had previously been allowed to “opt out” of compliance with the following four...more
On September 6, 2024, CMS released revised guidance regarding the process by which rural hospitals and outpatient facilities can participate in Medicare as a Rural Emergency Hospital (REH) rather than a Critical Access...more
The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act and its implementing regulations and guidance (MHPAEA) prohibit health insurance policies and group health plans that cover mental health and substance use disorder (MH/SUD)...more
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 Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed the invalidity of regulations governing the independent review process under the No Surprise Billing Rules....more
CMS's FY 2025 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) Final Rule (Final Rule) finalizes several noteworthy proposals related to graduate medical education (GME) payment opportunities. Below are the takeaways from the...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
On July 31, 2024, CMS published a final rule updating the Medicare rates and policies applicable to inpatient psychiatric facilities (IPFs) under the IPF Prospective Payment System (PPS) and the IPF Quality Reporting Program...more
This is an excerpt from a recent Manatt article published on State Health & Value Strategies. Click here to download insight. On July 23, 2024, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a State Health...more
On July 1, 2024, the US Department of Labor (DOL) submitted final regulations to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), implementing the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) as most recently amended by the...more
Statewide ballot referenda are not new to voters in the Badger State. There are four scenarios in which a question may be directly asked of voters: whether to amend the state’s constitution; ratification of a law extending...more
On June 26, 2024, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released draft guidance addressing use of diversity action plans (Plans) in the conduct of clinical research entitled “Diversity Action Plans to Improve Enrollment...more
On July 10, 2024, CMS issued a proposed rule with updates to the Medicare payment rates for the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and the Medicare Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) payment system for...more
During the next several weeks, we will publish a series of articles that dive deeply into “health plan hygiene” relating to health and welfare benefit plan fiduciary issues and how employers can protect themselves in this...more
The U.S. Departments of Labor (DOL), Health and Human Services (HHS), and Treasury, along with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), released FAQs about the implementation of Title I of Division BB of the Consolidated...more
On the eve of the effective date of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC’s) final Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) regulations (Final Rule), a federal court in Louisiana postponed the effective date of what...more