This month, Pennsylvania Gov. Shapiro announced a new requirement that all commercial insurers in Pennsylvania provide coverage for autism benefits starting on Jan. 1, 2024, in compliance with mental health parity laws. This follows a notice issued by the Pennsylvania Insurance Department in the PA Bulletin last week. While most commercial carriers operating in Pennsylvania already treat autism as a mental health condition, this action seeks to make that standard universal.

Read the full article here: Shapiro Administration Directs Insurers to Meet Obligations for Autism Coverage Under Mental Health Parity Laws, Removing Barriers to Care and Expanding Access to Services for Pennsylvanians

November 8th, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) began displaying the Birthing-Friendly icon on CMS’s online tool, Care Compare. This new designation identifies hospitals and health systems that participate in a statewide or national perinatal quality improvement program and that implement evidence-based care to improve maternal health. Along with the Care Compare tool, the public can use an interactive map to find the Birthing-Friendly designation at a hospital or health system nearby.  With growing closures of obstetric units in rural hospitals, finding high quality care in rural areas has become increasingly important.

Read the full article here: Biden-Harris Administration Launches ‘Birthing-Friendly’ Designation on Web-Based Care Compare Tool

Last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued a proposed rule outlining new policies for Medicare Advantage (MA) and Prescription Drug (Part D) plans for Contract Year 2025.  The proposals would set guidelines on compensation for agents and brokers, add a range of behavioral health providers to the current list that MA plans must contract with, require plans to notify enrollees mid-year of any supplemental benefits that are available to them but have not been used yet, conduct annual health equity analyses of prior authorization policies, and offer more enrollment opportunities in plans that integrate Medicare and Medicaid for dually eligible managed care enrollees.  Enrollment in MA has been growing in recent years, especially in rural areas where 45.1 percent of beneficiaries were enrolled in MA plans as of January 2023.

Read the full article: Contract Year 2025 Policy and Technical Changes to the Medicare Advantage Plan Program, Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Program, Medicare Cost Plan Program, and Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly, and Health Information Technology Standards

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health have joined with two philanthropic organizations with experience in minority communities – Well-being and Equity (WE) in the World and Well Being In the Nation (WIN) Network – to collaborate on guidelines for what it will take to bring health equity to rural areas.

See the Rural Health Equity Roadmap