Arkansas has become the first state in the nation to enact legislation, effective starting in 2026, prohibiting pharmacy benefit managers (PBM’s) from owning or operating actual pharmacies within the state. We take a look at...more
4/25/2025
/ Arkansas ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Drug Pricing ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Reform ,
New Legislation ,
Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) ,
Prescription Drugs ,
State and Local Government
On Monday, September 9, 2024, the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and Treasury (the “Departments”) issued their final rule regarding the nonquantitative treatment limitation (NQTL) comparative analysis...more
9/11/2024
/ Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Final Rules ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare ,
Mental Health ,
Mental Health Parity Rule ,
MHPAEA ,
NQTLs ,
Proposed Rules ,
U.S. Treasury
Seyfarth Synopsis: Fresh on the heels of the IRS Chief Counsel Memorandum on wellness and indemnity products, discussed in our prior post here, the agencies have weighed in with more formal and more expansive guidance...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (“CAA”) contains a requirement that that group health plans may not have agreements with service providers that would restrict certain information that the plan may...more
Synopsis: For years, employers have struggled to understand what level of incentives in wellness programs might be considered “voluntary” under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). ...more
Synopsis: Now that we have two approved vaccines (and several more on the horizon) employers are starting to explore whether they should require their employees to get vaccinated in order to report to work. ...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Recent changes to the federal rules governing confidentiality of substance use disorder (SUD) patient records may require updates to agreements between group health plans and their third-party vendors....more
1/31/2020
/ Confidential Information ,
Deadlines ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Medicaid ,
Medical Records ,
Medicare ,
PHI ,
SAMHSA ,
Service Agreements ,
Substance Abuse ,
Third-Party Relationships
On Tuesday, August 22, the US District Court for the District of Columbia ordered the EEOC to revisit its controversial rules placing certain limits on employer-sponsored wellness programs under the Americans with...more
8/30/2017
/ AARP ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Discrimination ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Genetic Discrimination ,
GINA ,
Health Insurance ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Non-Discrimination Rules ,
Wellness Programs
This is the one hundred and eighth issue in our series of alerts for employers on selected topics on health care reform. This series of Health Care Reform Management Alerts is designed to provide an in-depth analysis of...more
This is the one hundred and second issue in our series of alerts for employers on selected topics on health care reform. This series of Health Care Reform Management Alerts is designed to provide an in-depth analysis of...more
This is the ninety-eighth issue in our health care reform series of alerts for employers on selected topics in health care reform. This series of Health Care Reform Management Alerts is designed to provide a more in-depth...more
This is the ninety-first issue in our series of alerts for employers on selected topics in health care reform. This series of Health Care Reform Management Alerts is designed to provide an in-depth analysis of certain aspects...more