As rising health care costs drive employers toward self-insured and level-funded health plans, critical compliance responsibilities shift from insurers to employer plan sponsors. One of the most significant: compliance with the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA). What Employers Need to Know • Employers with 50+ employees must ensure mental health and substance use disorder benefits are comparable to medical and surgical benefits • MHPAEA enforcement is a top U.S. Department of Labor priority, with required annual audits of group health plans • Compliance requires a detailed comparative analysis meeting complex federal regulations • Comparative analyses must be produced within 10 days of a regulator request or 30 days of a participant request • These reports cannot be created on short notice and must be prepared and maintained in advance • Penalties for noncompliance can be severe—up to $110 per day per affected participant How Bowles Rice Can Help Our employee benefits attorneys work proactively to ensure your plan’s analysis is current, compliant, and ready when needed. We assist plan sponsors with: • Obtaining and analyzing data from third-party administrators and service providers • Preparing compliant MHPAEA comparative analyses • Maintaining defensible documentation ready for audit or disclosure Contact us to ensure your self-funded health plan is protected. CHARLESTON, WV • MARTINSBURG, WV • MORGANTOWN, WV • PARKERSBURG, WV • SOUTHPOINTE, PA • WINCHESTER, VA 600 Quarrier Street • Charleston, WV 25301 Responsible Attorney: Marc Monteleone bowlesrice.com Employers Sponsoring Self-Funded Health Plans: Does Your Plan Comply with Mental Health Parity Requirements? Lesley Russo | 304.347.1717 lesley.russo@bowlesrice.com Ben Thomas | 304.347.1121 bthomas@bowlesrice.com Grant Shuman | 304.347.1150 grant.shuman@bowlesrice.com Gabriele Wohl | 304.347.1137 gwohl@bowlesrice.com
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