On September 8, 2026, the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (“EBSA”) issued Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2026-03 (the “FAB”), outlining a new set of guiding principles for enforcing the nonquantitative treatment limitation (“NQTL”) requirements under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (“MHPAEA”), as amended by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (“CAA, 2021”). As described below, the FAB states that EBSA will narrow the focus of its NQTL comparative analysis enforcement efforts to three priority categories: (1) separate treatment limitations, including blanket exclusions of mental health/substance use disorder (“MH/SUD”) benefits; (2) medical necessity standards and review processes; and (3) network adequacy standards, including network admission standards and provider reimbursement methodologies. However, the FAB notes that EBSA may still investigate other categories of NQTLs where appropriate.
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