PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Gag Clause Prohibitions
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
The May Monthly Minute brings you up-to-date on mental health parity enforcement relief, as well as smoker surcharge and prohibited transaction litigation. Nonenforcement of 2024 Mental Health Parity Regulations - Earlier...more
The U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury have announced that they will pause enforcement of the 2024 Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) Final Rule (the “2024 Final Rule”) for...more
Under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA), as amended by the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA), 2021, group health plans and health insurance issuers must conduct comparative analyses to show that...more
A recent court filing offers a reprieve to health plan sponsors in their efforts to comply with final regulations issued last year under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA)....more
On December 18, 2024, a bipartisan group of four Senators on the Senate Finance Committee released draft legislation that would expand the total number of Medicare Graduate Medical Education (GME) full-time equivalent (FTE)...more
In the wake of an end of year filled with intense negotiations and political wrangling, Congress has successfully enacted the American Relief Act, 2025 ("the Budget Bill" or "legislation"), narrowly averting a government...more
As we bid farewell to 2024 and look ahead to the new year, we reflect on the many evolving compliance obligations that health and welfare plan sponsors tackle each year. Although this list is by no means exhaustive, it...more
The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) generally requires group health plans and health insurance issuers to ensure that financial requirements (such as copays and deductibles), quantitative treatment...more
During the COVID-19 pandemic, both federal and state governments enacted a host of laws and implemented flexibilities to ensure health care providers, hospitals, and health systems could move traditional brick-and-mortar care...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
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 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
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 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
On April 23, 2024, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published final rules setting forth Changes to the Medicare Advantage and the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Program for Contract Year 2024--Remaining...more
In connection with the federal Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, marriage & family therapists (“MFTs”) as well as licensed professional clinical counselors (“LPCCs”) are eligible to receive payment from the Medicare...more
It was a lively year for health benefits. Our Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Group unpacks 2023, from the end of the COVID-19 emergencies to the much-anticipated Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act...more
On November 2, 2023, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued its 2024 Physician Fee Schedule final rule (Final Rule) for calendar year 2024 that will, in part, implement some of the most important changes...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) requires group health plans and insurers to cover treatments for mental health and substance use disorders in a manner that is equitable to the...more
The Department of Labor (DOL), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Department of Treasury (collectively, the Departments) recently issued proposed Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA)...more
On July 31, 2023, CMS issued its final rule updating the rates and Medicare payment policies under the Skilled Nursing Facility Prospective Payment System (SNF PPS) for FY 2024 (the Final Rule). The Final Rule also includes...more