IN-PERSON / VIRTUAL

Unpacking the Final Mental Health Parity Regulations

Webinar

October 3, 2024

Event details

October 3, 2024

This event is in the past. See recordings and other materials from this event below.

Video: Unpacking the Final Mental Health Parity Regulations webinar, part of McDermott’s 2024 programming (runtime: 1h4m)

On September 9, 2024, the Biden administration issued much-anticipated final regulations under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA). The rules implement a host of complicated new compliance requirements for sponsors and issuers of health plans, instituting new obligations to collect and evaluate plan data, conduct comparative analyses, and act to address material differences in access to mental health and substance abuse benefits as compared to medical and surgical benefits.

McDermott lawyers Alden Bianchi, Jake Mattinson and Sarah Raaii provided a comprehensive overview of the new rules, including compliance deadlines and key takeaways for employers, plan sponsors, and issuers of group health plans. The speakers also addressed how the new rules might impact any ongoing US Department of Labor investigations.

Discussion topics included:

The rules governing the testing of nonquantitative treatment limitations (NQTLs), including the “design and application” and “data evaluation requirements”
The “meaningful benefits” standard that effectively imposes a new benefit mandate by requiring plans to provide “core” mental health and substance use disorder benefits in every benefit classification in which medical/surgical benefits are provided
The obligation to evaluate the impact of NQTLs and to prepare and make available on request a comparative analysis of a plan’s NQTLs
The requirement for fiduciaries to certify that they have engaged in a prudent selection and monitoring process for selecting a vendor to perform and document an NQTL comparative analysis
The definitions of key terms (including “medical/surgical benefits,” “mental health benefits,” and “substance use disorder benefits”)
The consequences of failing to comply with the NQTL substantive and comparative analysis requirement
Important deadlines for compliance with the new rules

To learn more about the final MHPAEA regulations, read our On the Subject, Landmark Mental Health Parity Final Rule: What Plan Sponsors and Insurers Need to Know.

Speakers

Sarah G. Raaii devotes her practice to issues impacting group health and welfare benefit plans by counseling employers, digital health and point solution clients, plan administrators, insurers, consultants and other health plan service providers.

Sarah advises her clients on healthcare reform issues; consumer-driven health benefits; self-funded and fully insured health plans; data privacy and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA); wellness programs; cafeteria plans; and regulatory, sub-regulatory and legal compliance. She provides guidance on the Affordable Care Act (ACA); the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA); health plan transparency; mental health parity; the No Surprises Act; the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA); flexible benefit plans; health reimbursement accounts (HRAs); health savings accounts (HSAs); plan network design; multiple employer welfare arrangements (MEWAs); association health plans; captive insurance arrangements; and other health benefits issues.

Sarah drafts and negotiates complex agreements between employers, health plans, third-party administrators, pharmacy benefit managers, carriers, consultants and other health plan service providers. She also counsels digital health, telehealth and point solution entities; third-party administrators; pharmacy benefit managers; and other benefit administrators on partnering with employers, group health plans and insurers. As co-chair of the Firm’s Post-Roe Working Group – a multidisciplinary team of lawyers providing clients with reproductive health guidance – Sarah has advised hundreds of health plans and benefit administrators on health benefits following the end of Roe v. Wade.

Additionally, Sarah routinely analyzes frequently changing health benefits laws and regulations and recommends risk mitigation strategies. She provides strategic due diligence and health benefits design, implementation and transition advice on issues arising from corporate and private equity mergers, acquisitions and other transactions.

Sarah frequently publishes and presents on health benefits trends and developments and has been quoted on health plan issues in prominent media outlets, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Law and Law360.

Prior to joining the firm, Sarah worked at the White House for the National Economic Council, where she implemented the ACA with leaders from the Executive Office of the President, the US Department of Labor, the US Department of Health and Human Services, and the US Department of the Treasury. She previously collaborated with in-house lawyers and federal and state government relations professionals in the leadership development program of a Fortune 500 global insurance and financial services corporation.