Helaine I. Fingold, Kevin J. Malone, David Shillcutt, and Bailey N. Wendzel, attorneys in the Health Care & Life Sciences practice, co-authored an article in the Benefits Law Journal, titled “2022 Mental Health Parity Report to Congress Highlights Increased Enforcement Efforts.”
Following is an excerpt (see below to download the full version in PDF format):
The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”), Department of Health and Human Services, and Department of the Treasury (collectively, “Departments” or “Regulators”) have released their 2022 Annual Report to Congress on the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (“MHPAEA”), titled “Realizing Parity, Reducing Stigma, and Raising Awareness: Increasing Access to Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Coverage” (“Report”).
The Report was issued to meet the statutory requirement that the Departments issue an annual report to Congress detailing their parity enforcement findings. MHPAEA was amended by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (“CAA”), to impose a requirement on group health plans and health insurance issuers that they perform and document comparative analyses of their use of non-quantitative treatment limitations (“NQTLs”) to affirmatively establish that they are implementing them in a non-discriminatory manner. The CAA amendments also gave the Departments the authority to request health plans and issuers to submit their NQTL comparative analyses and supporting documentation for review. The Departments used the Report – the first annual report since the passage of the CAA – to share their findings from recent investigations and to provide further guidance to plans and issuers on what they are expecting from an adequate comparability and stringency analysis. …