ASAM Provides Comments to Proposed Rule and Technical Release for Parity in Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder (MH/SUD) Services

On October 13th, ASAM provided comments to the proposed rule, Requirements Related To the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, promulgated by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Employee Benefits Security Administration, and Internal Revenue Service ("2023 Proposed Rule"). On October 17th, ASAM also signed a stakeholder letter that provided comments to the 2023 Proposed Rule led by the Mental Health Liaison Group (MHLG). Finally, on October 17th, ASAM signed a letter that provided comments to such agencies' accompanying technical release, led by the Kennedy Forum and partners (Technical Release 2023-01P, Request for Comment on Proposed Relevant Data Requirements for Nonquantitive Treatment Limitations (NQTLs) Related to Network Composition and Enforcement Safe Harbor for Group Health Plans and Health Insurance Issuers Subject to the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act). 

In general, the comments provided strongly support the overarching goal of the 2023 Proposed Rule to increase access to MH/SUD treatment by addressing treatment limitations, which place greater burden on participants or beneficiaries' access to MH/SUD treatment than to medical/surgical (M/S) treatment. The comments provided are also especially supportive of the stated purpose of the regulations and law and corresponding requirement for health plans to analyze the impact of nonquantitative treatment limitation (NQTL) on access to MH/SUD services as part of the comparative analysis. However, the comments provided note that to realize the promise of the 2023 Proposed Rules' many strong provisions, the Departments must eliminate the proposed exceptions relating to "independent professional medical or clinical standards" and "fraud, waste, and abuse."

Read ASAM's letter with comments to the proposed parity rule here.

Read MHLG's letter with comments to the proposed parity rule here.

Read the Kennedy Forum and Partners' comments to the accompanying Technical Release here.