The Department of Labor posted the pre-publication version and an associated fact sheet for its final rule entitled, “Requirements Related to the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act.” The rule is intended to ensure that people seeking coverage for mental health and substance use disorder care can access treatment as easily as people seeking coverage for other medical treatments.

Specifically, the rule would, among other things, clarify that the MHPAEA protects plan participants, beneficiaries and enrollees from facing greater restrictions on access to MH/SUD benefits, as compared to medical and surgical benefits; codify the requirement that plans and issuers conduct meaningful comparative analyses to measure the impact of nonquantitative treatment limitations – which establish the criteria that limit the scope or duration of benefits for services provided under health plans – on MH/SUD benefits; require plans and issuers to collect and evaluate outcomes data and take action to address material differences in access to MH/SUD benefits, as compared to M/S benefits, with a specific focus on ensuring that there are not any material differences in access as a result of the application of their network composition standards; and prohibit plans and issuers from using discriminatory information, evidence, sources or standards that systematically disfavor or are specifically designed to disfavor access to MH/SUD benefits, as compared to M/S benefits.

The DOL plans to host a virtual webinar on the rule through WebEx on Sept. 19 from 2-3:15 p.m. ET, with registration available by clicking “Register Here.” In addition, the DOL also released a frequently asked questions document for beneficiaries and participants; a frequently asked questions document for providers; a frequently asked questions document for health plans and issuers; a White House fact sheet and a new release from the DOL.