While all companies must take measures to safeguard the privacy and integrity of their electronic data, covered entities and their business associates subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of...more
Two state privacy laws that pose unique applicability concerns went into effect July 1, 2024: the Oregon Consumer Privacy Act (the “OCPA”) and the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act (the “TDPSA”). Generally following the...more
In a blog post dated May 10, 2024, we discussed the Form 5330, an excise tax return used by certain employers and individuals to pay penalty taxes with respect to employee benefit plans, must be filed electronically for...more
On April 4, 2024, the United States Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (“CISA”) released for public comment its long-awaited proposed rules to implement the Cyber Incident...more
The Form 5330, an excise tax return used by certain employers and individuals to pay penalty taxes, must be filed electronically for taxable years ending on or after December 31, 2023. As described below, this may create...more
On April 22, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a Final Rule modifying the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Rule to...more
Effective July 1, 2024, Texas will join California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Iowa, Montana, New Jersey, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia, with a new, general consumer privacy statute the Texas Data...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) in coordination with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (“SAMHSA”) issued a Final Rule on February 16, 2024 (effective April 16, 2024) to...more
On August 25, 2023, the IRS provided long-awaited guidance related to the SECURE 2.0 requirement that catch-up contributions for high-income participants in 401(k), 403(b), and governmental 457(b) plans be made as Roth...more
Washington state recently enacted the My Health, My Data Act (House Bill 1155) (the “MHMD Act”), which aggressively requires all entities that collect, share, or sell consumer health data in Washington to comply with very...more
After passing the Texas Senate on May 10, 2023, the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act (the “TDPSA”) was reconciled by the conference committee between the Texas Senate and House and awaits final approval from Governor Greg...more
On February 23, 2023, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury(collectively the “Departments”) released guidance to initiate the enforcement provisions related to the “gag clause” prohibitions...more
On April 24, 2023, the SEC extended, for a short time, the deadline for the effectiveness of stock exchange listing requirements under the Dodd Frank Act that will require listed companies to adopt clawback policies for...more
The public comment period for the new NYSE and Nasdaq listing standards requiring public companies to have expanded clawback policies ended on April 3, 2023. The new standards will require listed companies to have clawback...more
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on December 2, 2022 proposed a substantial revision of the regulations governing the confidentiality of Substance Use Disorder records. These changes could mean less...more
On October 27, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) began the process needed to implement a much anticipated rule regarding section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act by releasing an outline providing initial...more
Last year, Congress enacted an amendment to the HITECH Act in January 2021 (“HITECH Amendment”) to require that the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) consider whether a covered entity or business associate has...more
In Revenue Procedure 2022-40, the IRS recently expanded the determination letter program to allow applications by individually-designed 403(b) plans. This expansion will allow 403(b) plan sponsors to request a determination...more
The SEC adopted long-awaited final rules that require the recovery of erroneously awarded incentive-based compensation of executive officers, as required by the Dodd-Frank Act. Under Rule 10D-1, each exchange must adopt...more
Employers may consider offering medical travel and lodging reimbursement to enable employees who live in a state where abortion is no longer legal to travel out of state for such services. There are a number of ways to...more
In the wake of the disruptive ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline in early May 2021, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (“TSA”) issued two security directives to the pipeline industry. The first, Security...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) recently issued guidance on best practices for maintaining cybersecurity directed to plan sponsors, fiduciaries, record-keepers and participants of employee benefit plans governed by the...more
More than six million unemployment claims have been filed in Texas since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, the significant number of claims has also created an opportunity for fraudsters to try to sneak under...more
On April 2, 2021, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury (the “Departments”) issued Frequently Asked Questions (“FAQs”) related to the implementation of the mental health and substance use disorder...more
4/12/2021
/ Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Health Insurance ,
Mental Health ,
Mental Health Parity Rule ,
MHPAEA ,
NQTLs ,
Substance Abuse ,
U.S. Treasury
Anti-assignment clauses in ERISA health plans are useful to plan sponsors in fending off lawsuits by out-of-network providers. Federal courts have consistently upheld anti-assignment provisions contained in the plan document...more