Mental health benefits Archives - EMPLOYEE BENEFITS BLOG

The Proposed MHPAEA Regulations’ ‘Meaning of Terms’ Part Two: Processes, Strategies, Evidentiary Standards and Other Factors

by Alden Bianchi | Oct 2, 2023 | Employee Benefits, Health and Welfare Plans, Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act

This post continues our investigation of proposed regulations under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) issued by the US Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and the Treasury (the Departments). Our previous MHPAEA content is available here. In Part One, we examined the proposed regulations’ definitions of “medical or surgical benefits,” “mental health benefits” and “substance use disorder benefits.” The proposed regulations would, if adopted, make minor (albeit important) clarifications to these terms, which were previously defined in the 2013 final MHPAEA regulations. This post explains other terms defined in the proposed regulations that, while used in the 2013 final rules, regulators did not previously define. MHPAEA generally requires parity between a group health plan’s and health insurance issuer’s financial requirements and treatment limitations applicable to mental health or substance use disorder (MH/SUD) and medical or surgical (M/S) benefits. Treatment limitations include nonquantitative treatment limitations (NQTLs). Under the 2013 final MHPAEA regulations, a group health plan (or health insurance coverage) must not impose an NQTL with respect to MH/SUD benefits in any classification unless:

Any processes, strategies, evidentiary standards or other factors used in applying the NQTL to MH/SUB benefits in the classification are comparable to the processes, strategies, evidentiary standards or other factors used in applying the limitation with respect to M/S benefits in the same classification.

(“Classifications” for this purpose include inpatient, in-network, inpatient, out-of-network, outpatient, in-network, outpatient, out-of-network, emergency care and prescription drugs.) The proposed regulations retain this rule, relabeling it as the “design and application” requirement. The 2013 final MHPAEA regulations use—but do not define—the terms, “processes,” “strategies,” “evidentiary standards” or “other factors.” Citing the need to “provide clarity to plans and issuers” and to help them properly apply the law’s rules governing NQTL requirements, the Departments now propose to define these other terms as follows:

Processes: Processes are actions, steps or procedures that a group health plan uses to apply an NQTL. This includes actions, steps or procedures established by the plan as requirements for a participant or beneficiary to access benefits, such as through actions by a participant’s or beneficiary’s authorized representative or a provider or facility. Examples include:
- Procedures to submit information to authorize coverage for an item or service prior to receiving the benefit or while treatment is ongoing (including requirements for peer or expert clinical review of that information);
- Provider referral requirements; and
- The development and approval of a treatment plan.

Strategies: Strategies are practices, methods or internal metrics that a plan considers, reviews or uses to design an NQTL. Examples include:
- The development of the clinical rationale used in approving or denying benefits;
- Deviation from generally accepted standards of care;
- The selection of information deemed reasonably necessary to make a medical necessity determination;
- Reliance on treatment guidelines or guidelines provided by third-party organizations; and
- Rationales used in selecting and adopting certain threshold amounts, [...]
  
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The Proposed MHPAEA Regulations’ ‘Meaning of Terms’ Part One: Benefits

by Alden Bianchi | Sep 26, 2023 | Employee Benefits, Health and Welfare Plans, Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act

This post continues our investigation of proposed regulations under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) issued by the US Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and the Treasury (the Departments). Our previous MHPAEA content is available here.

The purpose of MHPAEA is to ensure that participants and beneficiaries in a group health plan or in group health insurance coverage that includes mental health or substance use disorder benefits are not subject to greater restrictions when seeking these benefits than when they seek medical/surgical benefits under the terms of the plan or coverage. Thus, how the terms “medical or surgical benefits,” “mental health benefits” and “substance use disorder benefits” are defined is of paramount importance. Under current law, any condition defined by the plan or coverage as being or as not being a medical/surgical condition, mental health condition or substance use disorder, respectively, must be defined to be consistent with generally recognized independent standards of current medical practice. These standards include the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the most current version of the International Classification of Diseases or state guidelines.

In the preamble to the proposed regulations, the Departments cite two problems with the existing definitions:

There appears to be some confusion about what it means for a definition of a mental health condition or substance use disorder to be ‘‘consistent with’’ generally recognized independent standards of current medical practice.
Plans and issuers sometimes rely on state law standards that may not be applicable to the plan or coverage at issue to classify a condition as medical or surgical in nature, which is more properly treated as a mental health or substance use disorder benefit. For example, a self-funded plan may seek to rely on state insurance law definition despite the fact that state insurance does not apply to self-funded plans.

According to the Departments, some plans had classified applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy for the treatment of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as a medical or surgical benefit. Noting that ABA therapy is now considered one of the primary treatments for children with ASD, the proposed regulations make clear that ASD is a mental health condition. The Departments also point to nutrition counseling as one of the primary treatments for eating disorders, which Congress previously identified as mental health conditions in the 21st Century Cures Act.

What constitutes medical or surgical benefits, mental health benefits and substance use disorder benefits is important both for substantive compliance and for purposes of preparing the nonquantitative treatment limitation (NQTL) comparative analyses. Among other things, comparative analyses must identify “all mental health or substance use disorder benefits and medical/surgical benefits to which the [NQTL] applies,” including a list of which benefits are considered mental health or substance use disorder benefits and which benefits are considered medical/surgical benefits.

Consolidated Appropriations Act: Health and Welfare Benefits Provisions

by Jacob Mattinson and Sarah Raaii | Jan 20, 2021 | Employee Benefits, Health and Welfare Plans

The Consolidated Appropriations Act (the Act) was signed into law by the president on December 27, 2020, and includes significant health and welfare benefits provisions that affect group health plans and health insurance issuers. The Act is the most comprehensive single piece of legislation to impact group health plans since the Affordable Care Act.

Access the article.

Virus Stokes Telemedicine, Mental Health Benefits’ Popularity

by Jacob Mattinson | Jan 19, 2021 | Employee Benefits, Health and Welfare Plans, Retirement Plans

The COVID-19 pandemic that ravaged 2020 spurred workers to take advantage of telemedicine and mental health benefits more frequently, and demand for those services isn’t expected to wane in the near future, experts say.

A recent article in Law360 examined three ways the pandemic had an impact on employee benefits over the past year, with McDermott partner Jacob Mattinson weighing in.

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4 Tips to Help Benefits Plans Achieve Mental Health Parity

by McDermott Will & Emery | Nov 20, 2020 | Employee Benefits, Health and Welfare Plans

As federal benefits regulators turn their focus toward plans’ mental health offerings and California lawmakers expand plans’ obligations in that area, now is a great time for employers to ensure their plan approaches mental health treatment the same way as traditional medical care.

In a recent article by Law360, McDermott partner Judith Wethall helps explain the importance of mental health parity in benefits plans.

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Final Regulations on the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 and New Affordable Care Act FAQs

by McDermott Will & Emery | Nov 22, 2013 | Health and Welfare Plans

Final regulations have been issued implementing the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (Act). The Act generally requires group health plans (or health insurance coverage offered in connection with such a plan) to provide parity between medical and surgical benefits and mental health and/or substance use disorder benefits. Insurers and employers will be required to evaluate the design of their mental health and substance use disorder benefits to ensure that they comply with the final regulations.

To read the full article, click here.