New and Updated in Health and Welfare Plans (Q1 2023) | Practical Law
New from Practical Law Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation! A collection of the top Health and Welfare Plan resources we published or significantly updated during Q1 2023.
New from Practical Law Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation! A collection of the top Health and Welfare Plan resources we published or significantly updated during Q1 2023.
At Practical Law, we are constantly expanding and updating our Health and Welfare Plan resources to reflect the latest developments in employee benefits law. The following list reflects some of the most important Health and Welfare Plan resources we published or substantially revised during Q1 2023:
Contraceptives Coverage Under the ACA: Accommodations and Other Issues. This newly published practice note addresses the ACA's contraceptives mandate which, under Obama administration implementing guidance, includes an exemption for religious employers and accommodations (now optional) for other organizations with religious objections to providing contraceptives coverage.
Gag Clause Prohibitions Under the CAA-21. This entirely new practice note addresses restrictions on "gag clauses" regarding price and quality information in agreements between group health plans/insurers and health providers, TPAs, or other service providers. Among other compliance considerations, this resource addresses an annual gag clause-related attestation requirement for plans and insurers.
HIPAA Business Associate Policy. We updated this standard document to reflect recent HHS guidance on tracking technology vendors (TTVs) and telecommunications service providers (TSPs) as HIPAA business associates.
Post-Dobbs Proposals Would Expand Access to ACA Contraceptives. This new article addresses proposed regulations issued by the federal administrative agencies in February 2023 that would remove a moral objections exemption under Trump-era contraceptives regulations and add an individual contraceptives arrangement (ICA) option involving health providers and insurers.
SPD Language, Coordination of Benefits. We updated this standard clause to address a recent Supreme Court ruling that resolved a circuit court split over whether the Medicare Secondary Payer Act (MSPA) permits disparate impact theory claims involving coverage of treatments for end-stage renal dialysis.
SPD Language, Restriction on Venue. We revised this standard clause to reflect recent litigation involving ERISA's venue provision, including several cases involving motions to transfer in the context of mental health parity (MHPAEA) disputes (see also Mental Health Parity (MHPAEA) Toolkit).