Health Plans Sweat Over Latest Mental Health Parity Regulations

The latest round of mental health care parity regulations would require health plans to detail members’ access to mental health care and the extent of behavioral health networks in much greater detail than before — and a recent federal report says that most plans were not in compliance with previous reporting standards. Experts say that the reporting requirements are a drastic change from previous standards, and plan sponsors and insurers have asked the Biden administration for more time to review the proposed rule. 

The Biden administration has made significant changes to regulators' mental health parity enforcement powers in the past, and the latest set may be the boldest yet. The latest proposed rules, issued July 25, include specific data reporting requirements around non-quantitative treatment limits (NQTLs) and more stringent network adequacy requirements. Indeed, insufficient network adequacy now could count as an NQTL for enforcement purposes.