Insights

Washington – August 21, 2025: The 2026 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® has recognized 43 Crowell & Moring lawyers as Best Lawyers and 31 lawyers as Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch. The publication also named partner Jason Murray as Lawyer of the Year for Antitrust Law in Los Angeles.

Washington – August 15, 2024: The 2025 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® has recognized 42 Crowell & Moring lawyers as "Best Lawyers" and 29 lawyers as “Ones to Watch.”

Washington – August 17, 2023: The 2024 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® has recognized 47 firm lawyers as "Best Lawyers" and 41 lawyers as “Ones to Watch.”

The Departments of Labor (“DOL”), Health and Human Services (“HHS”), and Treasury (the “Tri-Agencies”) have signaled that changes may be coming to the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (“MHPAEA”) Final Rule issued on September 8, 2024. On May 9, 2025, the Tri-Agencies filed a Motion for Abeyance in a lawsuit brought by the ERISA Industry Committee (“ERIC”) challenging the 2024 final MHPAEA regulations in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.[1] The Motion, which was granted by the Court, indicated that the Tri-Agencies intend to “reconsider” the Final Rule, including “whether to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking rescinding or modifying the Final Rule.” Yesterday, on May 15, 2025, the Tri-Agencies issued a notice of non-enforcement stating that they “will not enforce the 2024 Final Rule or otherwise pursue enforcement actions, based on a failure to comply that occurs prior to a final decision in the litigation, plus an additional 18 months.”

On January 17, 2025, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury (the “Tri-Agencies”) released the 2024 Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (“MHPAEA”) Report to Congress (the “Report”). The Report is the third report made by the Tri-Agencies to Congress in accordance with the mandate set forth in the 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act (“CAA”). The CAA requires that, each year starting in 2021, the Tri-Agencies submit a report to Congress summarizing their activity in the prior year to collect comparative analyses from plans and issuers and any findings made with respect to noncompliance with MHPAEA.[1] Under the CAA, the Report is due by October 1 of each year. This year’s version was published on the last working day of the Biden Administration.

On Monday, September 8, 2024, the United States Department of the Treasury, Department of Labor, and Department of Health and Human Services (collectively, the “Tri-Agencies”) issued a final rule (“the Final Rule”) implementing new regulations applicable to nonquantitative treatment limitations (“NQTLs”) under the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (“MHPAEA”). The Final Rule codifies many of the requirements set forth in the (the “Proposed Rule”), while pulling back on some of the Tri-Agencies’ more controversial proposals. 

Join us for this year’s Health Care Ounce of Prevention Seminar (HOOPS), a webinar series where our experienced practitioners will provide insight into a number of exciting topics. This year’s seminar will focus on topics such as Remote Health Care and Telemedicine, Mental Health Parity, Health Care Litigation, and Health Care Trends for 2022. 

As part of Crowell & Moring’s ongoing effort to keep clients informed about the most significant developments stemming from the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (“MHPAEA”), please join us on November 18th at 12PM ET for the New Regulations and Enforcement Activity for MHPAEA: What You Need to Know webinar. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (“CAA”) amended MHPAEA by adding a requirement for plans and issuers to perform and document comparative analyses of non-quantitative treatment limitation (“NQTL”) comparative analyses. Since this amendment, federal regulators have issued numerous requests for documentation to national and regional group health plan sponsors and health insurance issuers, follow-up requests, and some determinations of non-compliance. In the meantime, state departments of insurance have initiated a multitude of market conduct examinations relating to parity compliance. The federal Department of Labor continues to pursue audits and inquiries examining MHPAEA compliance, particularly with respect to NQTLs. In addition to the enforcement activities by regulators, private litigants have been actively suing plans and issuers, alleging MHPAEA violations and seeking damages. Crowell & Moring has been on the vanguard, helping health insurance issuers respond to government inquiries and defend against lawsuits.