Mental Health Parity – Non-Enforcement of Final Rule 

Based on a May 9th court filing, the DOL and HHS have indicated they intend to publish a non-enforcement policy with respect to certain provisions of the Mental Health Parity & Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) final rule that were effective beginning in 2025 and 2026 pending a complete review of the final rule.

We are waiting on the formal non-enforcement language to get further clarity on exactly what portions of the final rule can be ignored, but we anticipate the new fiduciary certification requirement, certain new definitions, the “meaningful benefits” requirement, and the requirement to collect and analyze relevant data may no longer be required. These changes would be welcome as we anticipated these new standards would have added additional complexity and a burden on an already imperfect process. We described the Final Rule in detail in an article published last September.

The written comparative analysis for non-quantitative treatment limitations (NQTLs) is still required as it was added by Congress in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 along with a high-level description of the content that should be included. Employers are advised to continue compliance efforts until further clarification is provided by Congress or the agencies. We will continue to carefully monitor this situation.

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