Employee Benefits Security Administration November 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents
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Registration Requirements for Pooled Plan Providers
This final regulation establishes the requirements for registering with the Department of Labor as a ``pooled plan provider'' for ``pooled employer plans'' under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA). The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (SECURE Act) provides that newly permitted pooled plan providers can begin offering pooled employer plans on January 1, 2021, but requires such persons to register with the Secretary of Labor before beginning operations. This final regulation also establishes a new formEBSA Form PR (Pooled Plan Provider Registration)as the required filing format for pooled plan provider registrations. The Form PR must be filed electronically with the Department of Labor. Filing the Form PR with the Department of Labor also satisfies the SECURE Act requirement to register with the Department of the Treasury. This final regulation affects persons wishing to serve as pooled plan providers, defined contribution pension benefit plans that are operated as pooled employer plans, employers participating in such plans, and participants and beneficiaries covered by such plans.
Financial Factors in Selecting Plan Investments
The Department of Labor (Department) is adopting amendments to the ``investment duties'' regulation under Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA). The amendments require plan fiduciaries to select investments and investment courses of action based solely on financial considerations relevant to the risk-adjusted economic value of a particular investment or investment course of action.
Transparency in Coverage
The final rules set forth requirements for group health plans and health insurance issuers in the individual and group markets to disclose cost-sharing information upon request to a participant, beneficiary, or enrollee (or his or her authorized representative), including an estimate of the individual's cost-sharing liability for covered items or services furnished by a particular provider. Under the final rules, plans and issuers are required to make this information available on an internet website and, if requested, in paper form, thereby allowing a participant, beneficiary, or enrollee (or his or her authorized representative) to obtain an estimate and understanding of the individual's out-of-pocket expenses and effectively shop for items and services. The final rules also require plans and issuers to disclose in-network provider negotiated rates, historical out-of- network allowed amounts, and drug pricing information through three machine-readable files posted on an internet website, thereby allowing the public to have access to health coverage information that can be used to understand health care pricing and potentially dampen the rise in health care spending. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) also finalizes amendments to its medical loss ratio (MLR) program rules to allow issuers offering group or individual health insurance coverage to receive credit in their MLR calculations for savings they share with enrollees that result from the enrollees shopping for, and receiving care from, lower-cost, higher-value providers.
Additional Policy and Regulatory Revisions in Response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency
This interim final rule with request for comments (IFC) discusses CMS's implementation of section 3713 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), which established Medicare Part B coverage and payment for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine and its administration. This IFC implements requirements in the CARES Act that providers of COVID-19 diagnostic tests make public their cash prices for those tests and establishes an enforcement scheme to enforce those requirements. This rule also establishes an add-on payment for cases involving the use of new COVID- 19 treatments under the Medicare Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS). This IFC provides for separate payment for new COVID-19 treatments under the Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) for the remainder of the PHE for COVID-19 when these treatments are provided at the same time as a Comprehensive Ambulatory Payment Classification (C-APC) service. This rule also interprets and implements the requirement to maintain Medicaid beneficiary enrollment in order to receive the temporary increase in Federal funding in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). This IFC modifies policies of the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) model and adds technical changes to accommodate these policy changes. Specifically, we are extending Performance Year (PY) 5 by adding 6 months, creating an episode-based extreme and uncontrollable circumstances COVID-19 policy, providing two reconciliation periods for PY 5, and adding DRGs 521 and 522 for hip and knee procedures. This rule also amends regulations regarding coverage of preventive health services to implement section 3203 of the CARES Act, which shortens the timeframe within which non-grandfathered group health plans and health insurance issuers offering non-grandfathered group or individual health insurance coverage must begin to cover without cost sharing qualifying coronavirus preventive services, including recommended COVID-19 immunizations. This IFC also revises regulations to set forth flexibilities in the public notice requirements and post award public participation requirements for State Innovation Waivers under section 1332 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) during the public health emergency for COVID-19.
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