Biden Administration Releases ‘Historic’ Final Rule on Behavioral Health-Physical Health Parity The Biden administration has released its final rule updating mental health parity compliance for group and individual health plans. The final rule updates how federal agencies oversee whether health plans treat behavioral health benefits differently than physical health benefits. In short, it requires and spells out how health plans are to analyze nonquantitative treatment limitations (NQTL) for both types of benefit and requires plans to remedy and disparity. The rules apply to group health plans with new plan years starting after Jan. 1, 2025, with other, more technical aspects of the rule going into effect a year later. The new final rule applies to individual health plans starting on Jan. 1, 2026. NQTLs are non-numerical limits of benefits and include things such as prior authorization and other medical management techniques. Behavioral health executives and advocates have long argued that they and their patients are mistreated by health plans. They often point to practices that make it harder to get and stay in treatment. On top of that, providers often maintain that they are underpaid by health plans when providing services that are equivalent to physical health services. |