CMS Proposes Mental Health Parity Rule For Medicaid & CHIP Plans

On April 6, 2015,  the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a proposed rule that applies the provisions of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA) to Medicaid managed care organizations (MCO), Medicaid alternative benefit plans, and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) plans. The goal is to align as much as possible with the approach taken in the final MHPAEA regulation to create consistency between the commercial and Medicaid markets. The MHPAEA requires that health plans provide behavioral health benefits at parity with medical/surgical benefits of the same class. Treatment limitations . . .