# Coverage of Certain Preventive Services Under the Affordable Care Act

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URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/fr%3A2013-15866

## Record

- **Collection:** Federal Register
- **Document type:** Rule
- **Published:** July 2, 2013
- **Citation:** 78 FR 39870

## Text

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
Internal Revenue Service
26 CFR Part 54
[TD-9624]
RIN 1545-BJ60
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Employee Benefits Security Administration
29 CFR Parts 2510 and 2590
RIN 1210-AB44
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
45 CFR Parts 147 and 156
[CMS-9968-F]
RIN 0938-AR42
Coverage of Certain Preventive Services Under the Affordable Care Act

AGENCIES:

Internal Revenue Service, Department of the Treasury; Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of Labor; Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Department of Health and Human Services.

ACTION:

Final rules.

SUMMARY:

This document contains final regulations regarding coverage of certain preventive services under section 2713 of the Public Health Service Act (PHS Act), added by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended, and incorporated into the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and the Internal Revenue Code. Section 2713 of the PHS Act requires coverage without cost sharing of certain preventive health services by non-grandfathered group health plans and health insurance coverage. Among these services are women's preventive health services, as specified in guidelines supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). As authorized by the current regulations, and consistent with the HRSA guidelines, group health plans established or maintained by certain religious employers (and group health insurance coverage provided in connection with such plans) are exempt from the otherwise applicable requirement to cover certain contraceptive services. These final regulations simplify and clarify the religious employer exemption. These final regulations also establish accommodations with respect to the contraceptive coverage requirement for group health plans established or maintained by eligible organizations (and group health insurance coverage provided in connection with such plans), as well as student health insurance coverage arranged by eligible organizations that are institutions of higher education. These regulations also finalize related amendments to regulations concerning Affordable Insurance Exchanges.

DATES:

Effective date:
These final regulations are effective on August 1, 2013.
Applicability date:
With the exception of the amendments to the religious employer exemption, which apply to group health plans and health insurance issuers for plan years beginning on or after August 1, 2013, these final regulations apply to group health plans and health insurance issuers for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2014.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

For inquiries related to the religious employer exemption and eligible organization accommodations: Jacob Ackerman, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), at (410) 786-1565; Amy Turner or Beth Baum, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), Department of Labor, at (202) 693-8335; Karen Levin, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Department of the Treasury, at (202) 927-9639.

For matters related to the Federally-facilitated Exchange user fee adjustment: Ariel Novick, CMS, HHS, at (301) 492-4309.

Customer Service Information:
Individuals interested in obtaining information from the Department of Labor concerning employment-based health coverage laws may call the EBSA Toll-Free Hotline at 1-866-444-EBSA (3272) or visit the Department of Labor's Web site (
www.dol.gov/ebsa
). Information from HHS on private health insurance coverage can be found on CMS's Web site (
www.cms.gov/cciio
), and information on health care reform can be found at
www.HealthCare.gov
.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Pub. L. 111-148) was enacted on March 23, 2010. The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111-152) was enacted on March 30, 2010. These statutes are collectively known as the Affordable Care Act. The Affordable Care Act reorganizes, amends, and adds to the provisions of part A of title XXVII of the Public Health Service Act (PHS Act) relating to group health plans and health insurance issuers in the group and individual markets. The Affordable Care Act adds section 715(a)(1) to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and section 9815(a)(1) to the Internal Revenue Code (Code) to incorporate the provisions of part A of title XXVII of the PHS Act into ERISA and the Code, and to make them applicable to group health plans and health insurance issuers providing health insurance coverage in connection with group health plans. The sections of the PHS Act incorporated into ERISA and the Code are sections 2701 through 2728.

Section 2713(a)(4) of the PHS Act, as added by the Affordable Care Act and incorporated into ERISA and the Code, requires that non-grandfathered group health plans and health insurance issuers offering non-grandfathered group or individual health insurance coverage provide benefits for certain women's preventive health services without cost sharing, as provided for in comprehensive guidelines supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). On August 1, 2011, HRSA adopted and released guidelines for women's preventive health services (HRSA Guidelines) based on recommendations of the independent Institute of Medicine. As relevant here, the HRSA Guidelines include all Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved contraceptive methods, sterilization procedures, and patient education and counseling for women with reproductive capacity, as prescribed by a health care provider (collectively, contraceptive services).
1

Except as discussed later in this section, non-grandfathered group health plans and health insurance coverage are required to provide coverage consistent with the HRSA Guidelines without cost sharing for plan years (in the individual market, policy years) beginning on or after August 1, 2012.
2

1
The HRSA Guidelines exclude services relating to a man's reproductive capacity, such as vasectomies and condoms.

2
Interim final regulations published by the Departments on July 19, 2010, generally provide that plans and issuers must cover a newly recommended preventive service starting with the first plan year (in the individual market, policy year) that begins on or after the date that is one year after the date on which the new recommendation is issued. 26 CFR 54.9815-2713T(b)(1); 29 CFR 2590.715-2713(b)(1); 45 CFR 147.130(b)(1).

Interim final regulations implementing section 2713 of the PHS Act were published on July 19, 2010 (75 FR 41726) (2010 interim final

regulations). On August 1, 2011, the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Labor, and the Treasury (collectively, the Departments) amended the 2010 interim final regulations to provide HRSA with authority that would effectively exempt group health plans established or maintained by certain religious employers (and group health insurance coverage provided in connection with such plans) from the requirement to cover contraceptive services consistent with the HRSA Guidelines (76 FR 46621) (2011 amended interim final regulations), and, on the same date, HRSA exercised this authority in the HRSA Guidelines such that group health plans established or maintained by these religious employers (and group health insurance coverage provided in connection with such plans) are exempt from the requirement to cover contraceptive services.
3

The 2011 amended interim final regulations specified that, for purposes of this exemption, a religious employer is one that: (1) Has the inculcation of religious values as its purpose; (2) primarily employs persons who share its religious tenets; (3) primarily serves persons who share its religious tenets; and (4) is a nonprofit organization described in section 6033(a)(1) and (a)(3)(A)(i) or (iii) of the Code. Section 6033(a)(3)(A)(i) and (iii) of the Code refers to churches, their integrated auxiliaries, and conventions or associations of churches, as well as to the exclusively religious activities of any religious order. Final regulations issued on February 10, 2012, adopted the definition of religious employer in the 2011 amended interim final regulations without modification (2012 final regulations).
4

3
The 2011 amended interim final regulations were issued and effective on August 1, 2011, and published on August 3, 2011(76 FR 46621).

4
The 2012 final regulations were published on February 15, 2012 (77 FR 8725).

Contemporaneous with the issuance of the 2012 final regulations, HHS, with the agreement of the Departments of Labor and the Treasury, issued guidance establishing a temporary safe harbor from enforcement of the contraceptive coverage requirement by the Departments for group health plans established or maintained by certain nonprofit organizations with religious objections to contraceptive coverage (and group health insurance coverage provided in connection with such plans).
5

The guidance provided that the temporary enforcement safe harbor would remain in effect until the first plan year beginning on or after August 1, 2013. The Departments committed to rulemaking during the 1-year safe harbor period to ensure more women broad access to recommended preventive services, including contraceptive services, without cost sharing, while simultaneously protecting certain additional nonprofit religious organizations with religious objections to contraceptive coverage from having to contract, arrange, pay, or refer for such coverage.

5
Guidance on the Temporary Enforcement Safe Harbor for Certain Employers, Group Health Plans, and Group Health Insurance Issuers with Respect to the Requirement to Cover Contraceptive Services Without Cost Sharing Under Section 2713 of the Public Health Service Act, Section 715(a)(1) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, and Section 9815(a)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code, issued on February 10, 2012, and reissued on August 15, 2012. Available at:
http://www.cms.gov/CCIIO/Resources/Files/Downloads/prev-services-guidance-08152012.pdf
. The guidance, as reissued on August 15, 2012, clarifies, among other things, that plans that took some action before February 10, 2012, to try, without success, to exclude or limit contraceptive coverage are not precluded from eligibility for the safe harbor. The temporary enforcement safe harbor is also available to insured student health insurance coverage arranged by nonprofit institutions of higher education with religious objections to contraceptive coverage that meet the conditions set forth in the guidance.
See
final rule entitled “Student Health Insurance Coverage” published March 21, 2012 (77 FR 16457).

On March 21, 2012, the Departments published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) that described and solicited comments on possible approaches to achieve these goals (77 FR 16501).

On February 6, 2013, following review of the comments on the ANPRM, the Departments published proposed regulations at 78 FR 8456 (proposed regulations). The regulations proposed to simplify and clarify the definition of religious employer for purposes of the religious employer exemption. The regulations also proposed accommodations for health coverage established or maintained or arranged by certain nonprofit religious organizations with religious objections to contraceptive coverage. These organizations were referred to as eligible organizations.

The regulations proposed that, in the case of an insured group health plan established or maintained by an eligible organization, the health insurance issuer providing group health insurance coverage in connection with the plan would be required to assume sole responsibility, independent of the eligible organization and its plan, for providing contraceptive coverage to plan participants and beneficiaries without cost sharing, premium, fee, or other charge to plan participants or beneficiaries or to the eligible organization or its plan. The Departments proposed a comparable accommodation with respect to insured student health insurance coverage arranged by eligible organizations that are institutions of higher education.

In the case of a self-insured group health plan established or maintained by an eligible organization, the proposed regulations presented potential approaches under which the third party administrator of the plan would arrange for a health insurance issuer to provide contraceptive coverage to plan participants and beneficiaries without cost sharing, premium, fee, or other charge to plan participants or beneficiaries or to the eligible organization or its plan. An issuer (or its affiliate) would be able to offset the costs incurred by the third party administrator and the issuer in the course of arranging and providing such coverage by claiming an adjustment in the Federally-facilitated Exchange (FFE) user fee.

The Departments received over 400,000 comments (many of them standardized form letters) in response to the proposed regulations. After consideration of the comments, the Departments are publishing these final regulations. With the exception of the amendments to the religious employer exemption, which apply to group health plans and group health insurance issuers for plan years beginning on or after August 1, 2013, these final regulations apply to group health plans and health insurance issuers for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2014, which is when the majority of plan years begin.
6 7

Contemporaneously issued amendments to the HRSA Guidelines implementing the simplified and clarified religious employer exemption authorized by 45 CFR 147.131(a) of these final regulations will be effective on August 1, 2013.

6
Section 2713(b) of the PHS Act and the companion provisions of ERISA and the Code provide that the Secretary shall establish an interval of not less than one year between when new recommendations or guidelines under PHS Act section 2713(a) are issued and the first plan year (in the individual market, policy year) for which coverage of services addressed in such recommendations or guidelines must be in effect. Under the 2010 interim final regulations, the requirement on a non-exempt, non-grandfathered group health plan or group or individual health insurance policy to cover a newly recommended preventive service without cost sharing takes effect starting with the first plan year (in the individual market, policy year) that begins on or after the date that is one year after the new recommendation is issued. 26 CFR 54.9815-2713T(b)(1); 29 CFR 2590.715-2713(b)(1); 45 CFR 147.130(b)(1). In the case of contraceptive services, this 1-year period ended on August 1, 2012, because the HRSA Guidelines including such services were issued on August 1, 2011. These final regulations do not alter this effective date.

7
This estimate is based on the Department of Labor's analysis of Form 5500 data.

Two additional guidance documents are being issued contemporaneously with these final regulations. First, HHS is issuing guidance extending the temporary safe harbor from enforcement of the contraceptive coverage requirement by the Departments to encompass plan years beginning on or after August 1, 2013, and before January 1, 2014. This guidance continues to include a form to be used by an organization during this temporary period to self-certify that its plan qualifies for the temporary enforcement safe harbor. Second, as described in more detail later in this preamble, HHS and DOL are also issuing a self-certification form to be executed by an organization seeking to be treated as an eligible organization for purposes of an accommodation under these final regulations. This self-certification form is applicable in conjunction with the accommodations under these final regulations (that is, for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2014), after the expiration of the temporary enforcement safe harbor.

II. Overview of the Final Regulations

These final regulations promote two important policy goals. First, the regulations provide women with access to contraceptive coverage without cost sharing, thereby advancing the compelling government interests in safeguarding public health and ensuring that women have equal access to health care. Second, the regulations advance these interests in a narrowly tailored fashion that protects certain nonprofit religious organizations with religious objections to providing contraceptive coverage from having to contract, arrange, pay, or refer for such coverage. The regulations finalize the general approach described in the proposed regulations, with modifications in response to comments that are intended primarily to simplify administration of the policy.

Section 2713 of the PHS Act reflects a determination by Congress that coverage of recommended preventive services without cost sharing by non-grandfathered group health plans and health insurance coverage is necessary to achieve access to basic health care for more Americans. Individuals are more likely to use preventive services if they do not have to satisfy cost-sharing requirements (such as a copayment, coinsurance, or a deductible). Use of preventive services results in a healthier population and reduces health care costs by helping individuals avoid preventable conditions and receive treatment earlier.
8

Further, Congress, by amending the Affordable Care Act during Senate consideration of the bill to ensure that recommended preventive services for women would be covered adequately by non-grandfathered group health plans and health insurance coverage, recognized that women have unique health care needs.
9

Such needs include contraceptive services.
10

8
Institute of Medicine,
Clinical Preventive Services for Women: Closing the Gaps, Washington,
DC: National Academy Press, 2011, at p. 16.

9
S.Amdt. 2791 to S.Amdt. 2786 to H.R. 3590 (Service Members Home Ownership Tax Act of 2009), December 3, 2009.

10
Institute of Medicine,
Clinical Preventive Services for Women: Closing the Gaps,
Washington. DC: National Academy. Press, 2011, at p. 9;
see also
Sonfield, A., The Case for Insurance Coverage of Contraceptive Services and Supplies Without Cost Sharing, 14
Guttmacher Policy Review.
10 (2011), available at
www.guttmacher.org/pubs/gpr/14/1/gpr140107.html. See also Congressional Record,
S12025 (Dec. 1, 2009), S12114, S12271, S12277 (December 3, 2009) (statements of Senators B. Boxer, D. Feinstein, A. Franken, and B. Nelson, respectively).

Some commenters asserted that contraceptive services should not be considered preventive health services, arguing that they do not prevent disease and have been shown by some studies to be harmful to women's health. The HRSA Guidelines are based on recommendations of the independent Institute of Medicine (IOM), which undertook a review of the scientific and medical evidence on women's preventive services. As documented in the IOM report, “Clinical Preventive Services for Women: Closing the Gaps,” women experiencing an unintended pregnancy may not immediately be aware that they are pregnant, and thus delay prenatal care. They also may be less motivated to cease behaviors during pregnancy, such as smoking and consumption of alcohol, that pose pregnancy-related risks. Studies show a greater risk of preterm birth and low birth weight among unintended pregnancies.
11

In addition, contraceptive use helps women improve birth spacing and therefore avoid the increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes that comes with pregnancies that are too closely spaced. Short interpregnancy intervals in particular have been associated with low birth weight, prematurity, and small-for-gestational age births.
12

Contraceptives also have medical benefits for women who are contraindicated for pregnancy, and there are demonstrated preventive health benefits from contraceptives relating to conditions other than pregnancy (for example, prevention of certain cancers, menstrual disorders, and acne).
13

In addition, by reducing the number of unintended pregnancies, contraceptives reduce the number of women seeking abortions.
14

It is for a woman and her health care provider in each particular case to weigh any risks against the benefits in deciding whether to use contraceptive services in general or any particular contraceptive service.

11
Gipson, J.D.,
et al.,
The Effects of Unintended Pregnancy on Infant, Child and Parental Health: A Review of the Literature,
Studies on Family Planning,
2008, 39(1):18-38.

12
Conde-Aguledo, A.,
et al.,
Birth Spacing and Risk of Adverse Perinatal Outcomes—A Meta-Analysis,
Journal of the American Medical Association,
295(15):1809-1823 (2006);
see also
Zhu, B., Effect of Interpregnancy Interval on Birth Outcomes: Findings from Recent U.S. Studies,
International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics,
89:S25-S33 (2005); Fuentes-Afflick, E., & Hessol, N., Interpregnancy Interval and the Risk of Premature Infants,
Obstetrics & Gynecology,
95(3):383-390 (2000).

13
Institute of Medicine,
Clinical Preventive Services for Women: Closing the Gaps,
Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 2011, at p. 107.

14
Institute of Medicine,
Clinical Preventive Services for Women: Closing the Gaps, Washington,
DC: National Academy Press, 2011, at p. 105.
See also,
Peipert, J.,
et al.,
Preventing Unintended Pregnancies by Providing No-Cost Contraception,
Obstetrics & Gynecology,
120(6): 1291-1297 (2012);
see also
Bongaarts, J., & Westoff, C., The Potential Role of Contraception in Reducing Abortion,
Studies in Family Planning,
31(3): 193-202 (2000).

Covering contraceptives also yields significant cost savings. A 2000 study estimated that it would cost 15 to 17 percent more not to provide contraceptive coverage in employee health plans than to provide such coverage, after accounting for both the direct medical costs of pregnancy and the indirect costs, such as employee absence.
15

Consistent with this finding, when contraceptive coverage was added to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, premiums did not increase because there was no resulting net health care cost increase.
16

Specific to public financing of contraceptive services, a 2010 analysis projected that expanding access to family planning services under Medicaid saves $4.26 for every $1 spent.
17

Additional research

arrived at a similar conclusion and found that, in total, services provided at publicly funded family planning centers saved $5.1 billion in 2008.
18

15
Testimony of Guttmacher Inst., submitted to the Comm. on Preventive Servs. for Women, Institute of Medicine, January 12, 2012, p. 11, citing Bonoan, R. & Gonen, J.S., Promoting Healthy Pregnancies: Counseling and Contraception as the First Step, Washington Business Group on Health, Family Health in Brief, Issue No. 3. August 2000;
see also
Sonfield, A., The Case for Insurance Coverage of Contraceptive Services and Supplies Without Cost Sharing, 14
Guttmacher Pol'y Rev.
10 (2011); Mavranezouli, I., Health Economics of Contraception, 23
Best Practice & Res. Clinical Obstetrics & Gynecology
187-198 (2009); Trussell, J.,
et al.,
Cost Effectiveness of Contraceptives in the United States, 79
Contraception
5-14 (2009); Trussell, J., The Cost of Unintended Pregnancy in the United States, 75
Contraception
168-170 (2007).

16
Dailard, C., Special Analysis: The Cost of Contraceptive Insurance Coverage,
Guttmacher Rep. on Public Policy
(March 2003).

17
Sawhill, R.,
et al.,
An Ounce of Prevention: Policy Prescriptions to Reduce the Prevalence of Fragile Families,
Future of Children,
20(2):133-155.

18
Frost, J.,
et al.,
Contraceptive Needs and Services, National and State Data, 2008 Update, New York: Guttmacher Institute (2010).

Further, the importance of covering contraceptive services has been recognized by many states, issuers, and employers. Twenty-eight states now have laws requiring health insurance issuers to cover contraceptives.
19

A 2002 study found that more than 89 percent of insured plans covered contraceptives.
20

And a 2010 survey of employers revealed that 85 percent of large employers and 62 percent of small employers offered coverage of FDA-approved contraceptives, with another 32 percent of small employers reporting that they did not know whether they did so.
21

19
Sonfield, A.,
et al.,
U.S. Insurance Coverage of Contraceptives and the Impact of Contraceptive Coverage Mandates,
Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health
36(2):72-79, 2002.

20
Sonfield, A.,
et al.,
U.S. Insurance Coverage of Contraceptives and the Impact of Contraceptive Coverage Mandates,
Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health
36(2):72-79, 2002.

21
Claxton, G.,
et al., Employer Health Benefits: 2010 Annual Survey,
Menlo Park, Cal.: Kaiser Family Found. & Chicago, Illinois: Health Research & Education Trust, 2010. While many employers included contraceptive coverage in their group health plans prior to the Affordable Care Act, the Departments note that the contraceptive coverage requirement promotes the government's interests with respect to even these plans' participants and beneficiaries by ensuring that these plans cover contraceptive services without cost sharing, a significant financial barrier to such services that was prevalent before the contraceptive coverage requirement. Institute of Medicine,
Clinical Preventive Services for Women: Closing the Gaps,
Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 2011, at p. 107.
See also
Postlethwaite, D.,
et al.,
A Comparison of Contraceptive Procurement Pre- and Post-Benefit Change, 76
Contraception
360 (2007).

Furthermore, in directing non-grandfathered group health plans and health insurance coverage to cover preventive services and screenings for women described in HRSA Guidelines without cost sharing, the statute acknowledges that both existing health coverage and existing preventive services recommendations often did not adequately serve the unique health needs of women. This disparity placed women in the workforce at a disadvantage compared to their male coworkers. Research shows that access to contraception improves the social and economic status of women.
22

Research also shows that cost sharing can be a significant barrier to access to contraception.
23

As IOM noted, women use preventive services more than men, generating significant out-of-pocket expenses for women.
24

Thus, eliminating cost sharing is particularly critical to addressing the gender disparity of concern here.

22
Testimony of Guttmacher Institute, submitted to the Comm. on Preventive Services for Women, Institute of Medicine, January 12, 2012, p. 6, citing Goldin, C. & Katz, L., Career and Marriage in the Age of the Pill,
American Economic Review,
2000, 90(2):461-465; Goldin, C. & Katz, L.F., The Power of the Pill: Oral Contraceptives and Women's Career and Marriage Decisions,
Journal of Political Economy,
2002, 110(4):730-770; Bailey, M.J., More Power to the Pill: The Impact of Contraceptive Freedom on Women's Life Cycle Labor Supply,
Quarterly Journal of Economics,
2006, 121(1):289-320.

23
Postlethwaite, D.,
et al.,
A Comparison of Contraceptive Procurement Pre- and Post-Benefit Change, 76
Contraception
360 (2007).

24
Institute of Medicine,
Clinical Preventive Services for Women: Closing the Gaps,
Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 2011, p. 19.

The Departments aim to advance these compelling public health and gender equity interests by providing more women broad access to recommended preventive services, including contraceptive services, without cost sharing, while simultaneously protecting certain nonprofit religious organizations with religious objections to contraceptive coverage from having to contract, arrange, pay, or refer for such coverage, as described in these final regulations. Moreover, through these final regulations, the Departments seek to achieve these goals in ways that take into account the responsibilities imposed on health insurance issuers and third party administrators.

A. Amendments to Coverage of Recommended Preventive Health Services—26 CFR 54.9815-2713, 29 CFR 2590.715-2713, 45 CFR 147.130

These sections of the final regulations finalize technical amendments to the existing preventive services coverage regulations as proposed. The final regulations amend paragraph (a) of the existing regulations so that the general requirement to provide coverage for recommended preventive services without cost sharing is subject to the religious employer exemption and eligible organization accommodations discussed later in this section.

The regulations also finalize proposed amendments to paragraph (a)(1)(iv) of the existing regulations. As amended, the authorization for HRSA to exempt religious employers from the contraceptive coverage requirement and the definition of religious employer are now located in new 45 CFR 147.131(a) of the HHS regulation and incorporated by reference in the regulations of the Departments of Labor and the Treasury.

There are no other changes to the provisions of the 2010 interim final regulations related to providing coverage for recommended preventive services without cost sharing. Accordingly, consistent with the general rules for the provision of coverage for recommended preventive services without cost sharing set forth in the 2010 interim final regulations, nothing prevents a plan or issuer from using reasonable medical management techniques to determine the frequency, method, treatment, or setting for an item or service to the extent not specified in a recommendation or guideline and nothing requires a plan or issuer that has a network of health care providers to provide benefits or eliminate cost sharing for items or services that are delivered out-of-network.
25

25

See
26 CFR 54.9815-2713T(a)(3) and (4); 29 CFR 2590.715-2713(a)(3) and (4); 45 CFR 147.130(a)(3) and (4). Note, however, if a plan or issuer does not have in its network a provider who can provide the particular service, then the plan or issuer must cover the item or service when performed by an out-of-network provider and not impose cost sharing with respect to the item or service.
See
FAQs About Affordable Care Act Implementation (Part XII), Q3 (February 20, 2013), available at:
http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq-aca12.html.

B. Religious Employer Exemption and Accommodations for Health Coverage Established or Maintained or Arranged by Eligible Organizations—26 CFR 54.9815-2713A, 29 CFR 2590.715-2713A, 45 CFR 147.131

These sections of the final regulations simplify and clarify the criteria for the religious employer exemption from the contraceptive coverage requirement. These sections also establish accommodations with respect to the contraceptive coverage requirement for group health plans established or maintained by eligible organizations (and group health insurance coverage provided in connection with such plans), as well as student health insurance coverage arranged by eligible organizations that are institutions of higher education.

1. Religious Employer Exemption

Under the 2012 final regulations, HRSA has the authority to issue guidelines in a manner that exempts group health plans established or maintained by religious employers (and group health insurance coverage provided in connection with such plans) from any requirement to cover contraceptive services consistent with the HRSA Guidelines that would otherwise apply. A religious employer was defined for this purpose as one that: (1) Has the inculcation of religious values as its purpose; (2) primarily employs persons who share its religious tenets; (3) primarily serves persons who

share its religious tenets; and (4) is a nonprofit organization described in section 6033(a)(1) and 6033(a)(3)(A)(i) or (iii) of the Code. Section 6033(a)(3)(A)(i) and (iii) of the Code refers to churches, their integrated auxiliaries, and conventions or associations of churches, as well as to the exclusively religious activities of any religious order.

The Departments proposed to simplify and clarify the definition of religious employer by eliminating the first three prongs and clarifying the fourth prong of the definition. Under this proposal, an employer that is organized and operates as a nonprofit entity and is referred to in section 6033(a)(3)(A)(i) or (iii) of the Code would be considered a religious employer for purposes of the religious employer exemption. These proposed amendments were intended to eliminate any question as to whether group health plans of houses of worship that provide educational, charitable, or social services to their communities qualify for the exemption. Specifically, they were intended to ensure that an otherwise exempt plan is not disqualified because the employer's purposes extend beyond the inculcation of religious values or because the employer hires or serves people of different religious faiths. The Departments also proposed to clarify that, for purposes of the religious employer exemption, an employer that is organized and operates as a nonprofit entity is not limited to any particular form of entity under state law. The Departments reiterate that, under this standard, it is not necessary to determine the federal tax-exempt status of the nonprofit entity in determining whether the religious employer exemption applies.
26

26
Similarly, whether a nonprofit entity is a religious employer is determined under this definition without regard to whether the entity files Form 990 with the IRS.

The Departments received numerous comments addressing the definition of religious employer. Some commenters stated that the proposed definition of religious employer was too narrow and should be broadened to include all employers, both nonprofit and for-profit, that have a religious objection to providing contraceptive coverage in their group health plan. Some commenters requested that the definition of religious employer be expanded to exempt not only churches and other houses of worship, but also religiously affiliated hospitals and other health care organizations and other religiously affiliated ministries using the concepts of Code section 414(e). Other commenters recommended that the requirement to cover contraceptive services be rescinded altogether.

Some commenters stated that the exemption for religious employers should be eliminated and that religious employers should instead be subject to the accommodations for eligible organizations so that their employees may also receive alternative contraceptive coverage without cost sharing. Other commenters opposed eliminating the first three prongs of the definition of religious employer, stating that only churches and other houses of worship that meet the criteria of all of the prongs should be subject to the exemption. Many commenters agreed with the Departments that the proposed definition of religious employer would not materially expand the universe of religious employers, but others felt that the proposed definition would unduly broaden it.

Based on their review of these comments, the Departments are finalizing without change the definition of religious employer in the proposed regulations. As indicated in the preamble to the proposed regulations (78 FR 8461), the simplified and clarified definition of religious employer does not expand the universe of religious employers that qualify for the exemption beyond that which was intended in the 2012 final regulations, but only eliminates any perceived potential disincentive for religious employers to provide educational, charitable, and social services to their communities. The Departments believe that the simplified and clarified definition of religious employer continues to respect the religious interests of houses of worship and their integrated auxiliaries in a way that does not undermine the governmental interests furthered by the contraceptive coverage requirement. Houses of worship and their integrated auxiliaries that object to contraceptive coverage on religious grounds are more likely than other employers to employ people of the same faith who share the same objection, and who would therefore be less likely than other people to use contraceptive services even if such services were covered under their plan.

Contemporaneous with the issuance of these final regulations, HRSA is issuing amended guidelines implementing the simplified and clarified religious employer exemption authorized by 45 CFR 147.131(a) of these final regulations (and incorporated by reference in 26 CFR 54.9815-2713(a)(1)(iv) and 29 CFR 2590.715-2713(a)(1)(iv)). The amendments to the guidelines will become effective beginning August 1, 2013.

2. Accommodations for Health Coverage Established or Maintained or Arranged by Eligible Organizations

In addition to simplifying and clarifying the definition of religious employer, these final regulations establish accommodations with respect to the contraceptive coverage requirement for health coverage established or maintained or arranged by eligible organizations, as defined in these final regulations. After meeting a self-certification standard, as described in more detail in this preamble, nonprofit religious organizations that qualify for these accommodations are not required to contract, arrange, pay, or refer for contraceptive coverage; however, plan participants and beneficiaries (or student enrollees and their covered dependents) will still benefit from separate payments for contraceptive services without cost sharing or other charge in accordance with section 2713 of the PHS Act and the companion provisions of ERISA and the Code. As discussed later in this section, the accommodations established under these final regulations do not require the issuance of a separate excepted benefits individual health insurance policy covering contraceptive services, as set forth in the proposed regulations, but instead require a simpler method of providing direct payments for contraceptive services.

a. Definition of Eligible Organization

The final regulations retain the definition of eligible organization set forth in the proposed regulations. Accordingly, under these final regulations, an eligible organization is an organization that: (1) Opposes providing coverage for some or all of the contraceptive services required to be covered under section 2713 of the PHS Act and the companion provisions of ERISA and the Code on account of religious objections; (2) is organized and operates as a nonprofit entity; (3) holds itself out as a religious organization; and (4) self-certifies that it satisfies the first three criteria (as discussed in more detail later in this section).

Some commenters requested that the definition of eligible organization be broadened to include nonprofit secular employers and for-profit employers with religious objections to contraceptive coverage. Other commenters urged that the definition not be extended to for-profit employers, arguing that for-profit employers should not be accommodated because their purposes are commercial, not religious. Additionally, several

commenters recommended clarifying how an eligible organization would show that it holds itself out as a religious organization. Specifically, commenters suggested clarifying that only organizations that prominently and consistently hold themselves out to the public as religious organizations may qualify for an accommodation.

The Departments decline to adopt these suggestions. The definition of eligible organization in these final regulations is the same as that in the proposed regulations, and is intended to allow health coverage established or maintained or arranged by various types of nonprofit religious organizations with religious objections to contraceptive coverage to qualify for an accommodation. Consistent with religious accommodations in related areas of federal law, such as the exemption for religious organizations under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the definition of eligible organization in these final regulations does not extend to for-profit organizations. The Departments are unaware of any court granting a religious exemption to a for-profit organization, and decline to expand the definition of eligible organization to include for-profit organizations.

b. Self-Certification

Each organization seeking to be treated as an eligible organization under the final regulations, to avoid contracting, arranging, paying, or referring for contraceptive coverage, is required to self-certify, prior to the beginning of the first plan year to which an accommodation is to apply, that it meets the definition of an eligible organization.
27

The self-certification (as described in these final regulations) needs to be executed once. A copy of the self-certification needs to be provided to a new health insurance issuer or a new third party administrator if the eligible organization changes issuers or third party administrators. Comments addressing this topic generally approved of the approach proposed by the Departments, but some commenters suggested that stronger protections were needed to promote oversight, enforcement, and transparency and to prevent abuse. For example, some commenters recommended requiring eligible organizations to file their self-certifications with the Departments and making such records available to the public. Other commenters argued that the act of self-certification would infringe on the First Amendment right of free speech.

27
Although not required to do so by these final regulations, nothing in these final regulations prevents a religious employer from drafting and executing a self-certification regarding its status as a religious employer and sharing the self-certification with issuers, plan service providers, plan participants or beneficiaries, or others.

The final regulations do not require the self-certification to be submitted to any of the Departments. An eligible organization must simply maintain the self-certification (executed by an authorized representative of the organization) in its records, in a manner consistent with the record retention requirements under section 107 of ERISA, and make the self-certification available for examination upon request. The Departments believe that the requirement to make the self-certification available for examination upon request appropriately balances regulators', issuers', third party administrators', and plan participants and beneficiaries' (and student enrollees and their covered dependents') interest in verifying compliance and eligible organizations' interest in avoiding undue inquiry into their character, mission, or practices. Further, the Departments do not believe that the self-certification standard infringes on freedom of speech.

The proposed regulations provided that the self-certification would specify the contraceptive services for which the organization will not establish, maintain, administer, or fund coverage. The final regulations eliminate this requirement, pursuant to the standard exclusion policy discussed later in this section. Further, the final regulations provide that, if an organization seeks to be treated as an eligible organization under the final regulations, an issuer or third party administrator may not require any documentation from the organization beyond its self-certification as to its status as an eligible organization. The form to be used for the self-certification is being finalized contemporaneous with the issuance of these final regulations through the process provided for under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

As discussed previously, the self-certification form is applicable in conjunction with the accommodations under these final regulations (that is, for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2014), after the expiration of the temporary enforcement safe harbor. The self-certification standard referenced in these final regulations (and the form to be executed by an eligible organization to make such self-certification, which is being issued contemporaneously with these final regulations) are different from the standard (and the form) associated with the guidance regarding the extension of the temporary enforcement safe harbor, which is also being issued contemporaneously with these final regulations.

c. Separate Payments for Contraceptive Services for Participants and Beneficiaries in Insured Group Health Plans

The proposed regulations provided, in the case of an insured group health plan established or maintained by an eligible organization, that the health insurance issuer providing group coverage in connection with the plan be required to assume sole responsibility, independent of the eligible organization and its plan, for providing separate individual health insurance policies covering contraceptive services for plan participants and beneficiaries without cost sharing, premium, fee, or other charge to plan participants or beneficiaries or to the eligible organization or its plan. Under this proposal, an organization seeking to be treated as an eligible organization would need only to meet the self-certification standard. The issuer, in turn, would automatically enroll plan participants and beneficiaries in separate individual health insurance policies that cover contraceptive services (and notify them of such enrollment) without the imposition of any cost-sharing requirement (such as a copayment, coinsurance, or a deductible), premium, fee, or other charge on plan participants or beneficiaries or on the eligible organization or its plan.

Some commenters stated that the Departments should not provide a tailored accommodation for an eligible organization that objects to only some types of contraceptive services. These commenters said that customizing individual contraceptive policies for participants and beneficiaries (or students enrollees and their covered dependents) in plans of eligible organizations based on the differing religious objections to contraceptive coverage of each eligible organization would create an administrative burden for issuers and confuse plan participants and beneficiaries (or student enrollees and their covered dependents). Some commenters also noted that requiring coordination of benefits might not be feasible, because many states prohibit coordination between individual and group health insurance coverage.

In response to these comments, the final regulations provide that an issuer providing payments for contraceptive services in accordance with these final regulations may use a standard exclusion from a group health insurance policy that encompasses all recommended contraceptive services

and not violate PHS Act section 2713 and the companion provisions of ERISA and the Code with respect to the requirement to cover contraceptive services. While issuers may, at their option, choose to offer customized exclusions from group health insurance policies based on the differing religious objections to contraceptive coverage of each eligible organization (or offer several different but standardized exclusions from group health insurance policies from which eligible organizations may choose), they are not required to do so under these final regulations. Regardless of whether an issuer uses a standard or customized exclusion from a group health insurance policy, plan participants and beneficiaries (and student enrollees and their covered dependents) are assured that the issuer will make payments for any recommended contraceptive services excluded from the group health insurance policy (or student health insurance coverage).

Some commenters noted that the proposed individual health insurance policies covering contraceptive services might not be viewed as enforceable contracts under state contract law because there would be no premium associated with the coverage and no ability for an individual to decline coverage. Commenters suggested that states would need to develop new regulatory processes for reviewing forms and rates for such policies, and noted that the inability to charge a premium for such policies could raise actuarial soundness and financial reserve concerns. Commenters also noted that state laws would prevent issuers licensed to issue group health insurance policies in one state from issuing individual health insurance policies to employees of an eligible organization residing in other states, and expressed concern about the cost and administrative complexity of issuing and administering individual contraceptive coverage policies.

These final regulations achieve the same end by requiring that a health insurance issuer providing group health insurance coverage in connection with a group health plan established or maintained by an eligible organization assume sole responsibility for providing separate payments for contraceptive services directly for plan participants and beneficiaries, without cost sharing, premium, fee, or other charge to plan participants or beneficiaries or to the eligible organization or its plan. The requirement that, for plan participants and beneficiaries, issuers provide payments for contraceptive services, in lieu of individual health insurance policies that cover contraceptive services, represents a simpler approach and responds to concerns raised by commenters, while still ensuring that eligible organizations and their plans do not contract, arrange, pay, or refer for such coverage, and that contraceptive coverage is expressly excluded from the group health insurance coverage.

Under these final regulations, as under the proposed regulations, the eligible organization need only meet the self-certification standard and provide to the issuer a copy of its self-certification. The issuer that receives the copy of the self-certification from the eligible organization must expressly exclude contraceptive coverage—either all contraceptive coverage or coverage of specific contraceptive services if the issuer chooses to customize the exclusion—from the group health insurance coverage of the eligible organization. The issuer must also notify plan participants and beneficiaries, contemporaneous with (to the extent possible) but separate from any application materials distributed in connection with enrollment (or re-enrollment) in group health coverage that is effective beginning on the first day of each applicable plan year, that the issuer provides payments for contraceptive services at no cost separate from the group health plan for so long as the participant or beneficiary remains enrolled in the plan, as discussed later in this section. Unlike under the proposed regulations, the issuer is not required to issue to plan participants and beneficiaries individual health insurance policies covering contraceptive services, and, thus, there is no need to consider such coverage excepted benefits, as proposed. Instead, under these final regulations, the issuer must, as a federal regulatory requirement, provide payments for contraceptive services for plan participants and beneficiaries, separate from the group health plan, without the imposition of cost sharing, premium, fee, or other charge on plan participants or beneficiaries or on the eligible organization or its plan. Under this simplified approach, issuers will not incur the associated administrative costs of issuing individual contraceptive coverage policies.

This simpler approach to the accommodation for insured coverage does not trigger certain aspects of state insurance law. As the payments at issue derive solely from a federal regulatory requirement, not a health insurance policy, they do not implicate issues such as issuer licensing and product approval requirements under state law, and they minimize cost and administrative complexity for issuers. At the same time, because the payments for contraceptive services are not a group health plan benefit under this approach, this policy ensures that eligible organizations and their plans do not contract, arrange, pay, or refer for contraceptive coverage, and that such coverage is expressly excluded from their group health insurance policies. This approach also minimizes barriers in access to care because plan participants and beneficiaries (and their health care providers) do not have to have two separate health insurance policies (that is, the group health insurance policy and the individual contraceptive coverage policy). Furthermore, Small Business Health Insurance Options Programs (SHOPs) (the small group market Exchanges) do not need to make operational changes as a result of the accommodation. Small employers that are eligible organizations purchasing coverage through a SHOP can simply provide a copy of their self-certification to the issuer (rather than provide it to the SHOP) to ensure that their small group market policy is provided in a manner consistent with these final regulations.

Although these payments for contraceptive services are not benefits under a health insurance policy, to fulfill an issuer's responsibilities under section 2713 of the PHS Act and the companion provisions of ERISA and the Code and consistent with the proposed regulations, an issuer must make them available in a way that meets minimum standards for consumer protection, which would ordinarily accompany coverage of recommended preventive health services without cost sharing under section 2713 of the PHS Act and the companion provisions of ERISA and the Code. Thus, issuers, in order to satisfy their regulatory obligations under these final regulations, must make these payments for contraceptive services in a manner consistent with the requirements under the following provisions of the PHS Act and the companion provisions of ERISA and the Code (and their implementing regulations): PHS Act sections 2706 (non-discrimination in health care), 2709 (coverage for individuals participating in approved clinical trials), 2711 (no lifetime or annual limits), 2713 (coverage of preventive health services), 2719 (appeals process), and 2719A (patient protections), as incorporated by reference into ERISA section 715 and Code section 9815.
28

Consistent with

these standards and as described in the 2010 interim final regulations, an issuer may apply reasonable medical management techniques and may require that contraceptive services be obtained in-network (if an issuer has a network of providers) in order for plan participants and beneficiaries to obtain such services without cost sharing.
29

28
With respect to the accommodation for self-insured coverage of eligible organizations under these final regulations, a comparable requirement to

provide separate payments for contraceptive services consistent with these consumer protections is not explicitly placed on the third party administrator. This is because, as the plan administrator for contraceptive coverage, the third party administrator is already required to comply with these consumer protections, as well as all other provisions of ERISA that are applicable to group health plans, including ERISA sections 104 and 503, and the requirements of Part 7 of ERISA.

29

See
26 CFR 54.9815-2713T(a)(3) and (4); 29 CFR 2590.715-2713(a)(3) and (4); 45 CFR 147.130(a)(3) and (4).

Issuers are prohibited from charging any premium, fee, or other charge to eligible organizations or their plans, or to plan participants or beneficiaries, for making payments for contraceptive services, and must segregate the premium revenue collected from eligible organizations from the monies they use to make such payments. In making such payments, the issuer must ensure that it does not use any premiums collected from eligible organizations. Issuers have flexibility in how to structure these payments, provided that the payments in no way involve the eligible organization, and provided that issuers are able to account for this segregation of funds in accordance with applicable, generally accepted accounting and auditing standards.

The Departments stated in the preamble of the proposed regulations that issuers would find that providing contraceptive coverage is at least cost neutral because they would be insuring the same set of individuals under both the group health insurance policies and the separate individual contraceptive coverage policies and, as a result, would experience lower costs from improvements in women's health, healthier timing and spacing of pregnancies, and fewer unplanned pregnancies. The Departments continue to believe, and have evidence to support, that, with respect to the accommodation for insured coverage established under these final regulations, providing payments for contraceptive services is cost neutral for issuers. Several studies have estimated that the costs of providing contraceptive coverage are balanced by cost savings from lower pregnancy-related costs and from improvements in women's health.
30 31

The Departments are unaware of any studies to the contrary.
32

30
Bertko, J., Glied, S.,
et al.
The Cost of Covering Contraceptives Through Health Insurance (February 9, 2012),
http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/2012/contraceptives/ib.shtml;
Washington Business Group on Health, Promoting Healthy Pregnancies: Counseling and Contraception as the First Step, Report of a Consultation with Business and Health Leader (September 20, 2000),
http://www.businessgrouphealth.org/pdfs/healthypregnancy.pdf;
Campbell, K.P., Investing in Maternal and Child Health: An Employer's Toolkit, National Business Group on Health
http://www.businessgrouphealth.org/healthtopics/maternalchild/investing/docs/mch_toolkit.pdf;
Trussell, J.,
et al.
The Economic Value of Contraception: A Comparison of 15 Methods, American Journal Public Health, 1995; 85(4):494-503, Revenues of H.R. 3162, the Children's Health and Medicare Protection Act, for the Rules Committee (August 1, 2007)
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/85xx/doc8519/HR3162.pdf.

31
The Departments believe that these same cost savings found by issuers of group health insurance would also be found by issuers of student health insurance coverage.

32
One commenter cited two studies disputing the cost effectiveness of preventive health services, but these studies are not specific to contraceptive services. Further, these studies find that preventive care is not cost effective when a large population receives the preventive service but only a small fraction of that population would have developed the condition being prevented, a circumstance not presented here.
See
Cohen, J.,
et al.,
New England Journal of Medicine. 2008, 358:661-663 (February 14, 2008)
http://www.nejm.org/toc/nejm/358/7;
CBO Letter to Congressman Nathan Deal, (August 7, 2009).
http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/ftpdocs/104xx/doc10492/08-07-prevention.pdf.

Some commenters raised specific premium rating and accounting issues related to the proposed regulations' approach to the cost neutrality of issuers providing contraceptive coverage. These commenters generally asserted that the cost savings due to lower pregnancy-related costs and improvements in women's health would flow to employers through reduced premiums, thereby leaving issuers uncompensated for the cost of providing contraceptive coverage. Further, commenters stated that, in the case of a group health insurance policy in the small group market, the small employer's reduced claims experience attributable to contraceptive coverage (not including the issuer's direct costs of contraceptive coverage) would be spread across the issuer's single risk pool for the entire small group market in a state and result in a lower index rate for pricing all of the issuer's small group market products. Thus, according to these commenters, in both the large and small group markets, issuers would not reap the cost savings attributable to contraceptive coverage, and would need to fund the costs of a free-standing contraceptive coverage policy from some other source.

One commenter suggested that it would be possible to view the provision of contraceptive coverage as cost neutral if an issuer were to set the premium otherwise charged to an eligible organization as though plan participants and beneficiaries did not have separate contraceptive coverage. Other commenters argued that the rationale for providing Federally-facilitated Exchange (FFE) user fee adjustments in connection with the accommodation for self-insured group health plans of eligible organizations was equally applicable in the context of insured group health plans of eligible organizations and recommended that issuers be permitted to charge a premium or otherwise be compensated for providing contraceptive coverage.

In response to these comments, the Departments continue to believe that issuers have various options for achieving cost neutrality, notwithstanding that they must make payments for contraceptive services without cost sharing, premium, fee, or other charge to the eligible organization, the group health plan, or plan participants or beneficiaries.

Issuers of large group insured products have an option by which they can ensure that they accrue the cost savings from reduced pregnancy-related expenses and other health care costs. For large group market products, issuers base premiums on an employer's prior year claims cost (that is, experience rating) and other factors.
33

Some commenters asserted that this rating practice means that any cost savings from fewer pregnancies and childbirths and improvements in women's health will be passed to the employer in the large group insured market. Given that there appears to be no legal requirement that issuers use this particular rating practice, and that this practice often entails adding costs to premiums that are not based solely on the experience of the employer's group,
34

issuers reasonably could set the premium for an eligible organization's large group policy as if no payments for contraceptive services had been provided to plan participants and beneficiaries—reflecting the actual terms of the group policy, which expressly excludes contraceptive coverage. This approach would be consistent with pricing methodologies currently used in the health insurance industry.

33

http://www.nahu.org/consumer/GroupInsurance.cfm.

34

http://www.actuary.org/files/Draft_Large_Group_Medical_Business_Practice_Note_Jan_2013.pdf.

Another option is to treat the cost of payments for contraceptive services for women enrolled in insured group health plans established or maintained by eligible organizations as an administrative cost that is spread across the issuer's entire risk pool, excluding plans established or maintained by eligible organizations given that issuers are prohibited from charging any premium, fee, or other charge to eligible organizations or their plans for providing payments for contraceptive services. In the small group market, issuers are required beginning in 2014 to treat all of their non-grandfathered business within a state as a single risk pool, and administrative costs may be spread evenly across all plans in the single risk pool (although issuers are permitted to apply them on a plan basis). In the large group market, while there is no single risk pool requirement, issuers generally spread administrative costs across their entire book of business.
35

In 2011, health insurance issuers earned approximately $290 billion in premiums in the insured small and large group markets.
36

If the cost of providing payments for contraceptive services for participants and beneficiaries in insured group health plans established or maintained by eligible organizations were treated as an administrative cost spread across an issuer's entire book of business (excluding plans established or maintained by eligible organizations), the cost of providing such payments would result in an imperceptible increase in administrative load.
37

These changes in premiums would be negligible and effectively cost neutral to issuers, even before considering any reductions in claims costs that accrue to the issuer.

35
Bluhm, W., ed., Group Insurance, 5th Ed. 2007), 459-460.

36
2011 MLR-A data, submitted to CMS in July 2012.

37
Office of Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “Cost-Neutrality of Contraceptive Coverage.”

Under either option, after meeting the self-certification standard, the eligible organization would not contract, arrange, pay, or refer for contraceptive coverage.

HHS intends to clarify in guidance that an issuer of group health insurance coverage that makes payments for contraceptive services under these final regulations may treat those payments as an adjustment to claims costs for purposes of medical loss ratio and risk corridor program calculations.
38

This adjustment compensates for any increase in incurred claims associated with making payments for contraceptive services.

38
See 45 CFR Part 158 for standards related to the medical loss ratio and 45 CFR Part 153 Subpart F for standards related to the risk corridor program.

Several commenters expressed concern that participants and beneficiaries in plans of eligible organizations would be automatically enrolled in individual contraceptive coverage policies and recommended providing an opt-out for plan participants and beneficiaries who object to contraceptive coverage on religious grounds. Other commenters stated that allowing participants and beneficiaries to opt out of such contraceptive coverage would create an administrative burden on issuers and privacy concerns for individuals because the issuers would know which individuals opted in or opted out of such coverage. The simplified approach described in these final regulations eliminates this issue altogether, because issuers are not required to issue individual contraceptive coverage policies at all.
39

Rather, they are required only to provide payments for contraceptive services for those plan participants and beneficiaries who opt to use such services. Nothing in these final regulations compels any plan participant or beneficiary to use such services, and nothing causes participants or beneficiaries to be automatically enrolled in contraceptive coverage; therefore, these concerns are addressed without the need for an opt-out mechanism. Moreover, nothing in these final regulations precludes employers or others from expressing any opposition to the use of contraceptives or requires health care providers to prescribe or provide contraceptives, if doing so is against their religious beliefs.

39
The same is true with respect to the accommodation for self-insured coverage of eligible organizations under these final regulations, given that third party administrators similarly are not required to arrange for individual contraceptive coverage policies at all.

The Departments explained in the preamble of the proposed regulations that a health insurance issuer providing group health insurance coverage in connection with a group health plan established or maintained by an eligible organization would be held harmless if the issuer relied in good faith on a representation by the organization as to its eligibility for the accommodation and such representation was later determined to be incorrect. The Departments also explained that an eligible organization and its plan would be held harmless if the issuer were to fail to comply with the requirement to provide separate payments for contraceptive services for plan participants and beneficiaries at no cost. Some commenters requested that the Departments codify this policy in regulation text. Accordingly, this policy is now codified in paragraph (e) of 26 CFR 54.9815-2713A, 29 CFR 2590.715-2713A, and 45 CFR 147.131 of these final regulations.

To summarize, the following are the key elements of the accommodation that is being made for eligible organizations with insured group health plans:

• An organization seeking to be treated as an eligible organization needs only to self-certify that it is an eligible organization, provide the issuer with a copy of the self-certification, and satisfy the recordkeeping and inspection requirements of the self-certification standard.

• The issuer that receives a self-certification must then expressly exclude contraceptive coverage from the eligible organization's group health insurance coverage.

• The issuer must, contemporaneous with (to the extent possible), but separate from, any application materials distributed in connection with enrollment (or re-enrollment) in group health coverage that is effective beginning on the first day of each applicable plan year, notify plan participants and beneficiaries that the issuer provides separate payments for contraceptive services at no cost for so long as the participant or beneficiary remains enrolled in the plan.

• The issuer must segregate premium revenue collected from the eligible organization from the monies used to make payments for contraceptive services. When it makes payments for contraceptive services used by plan participants and beneficiaries, the issuer must do so without imposing any premium, fee, or other charge, or any portion thereof, directly or indirectly, on the eligible organization, its group health plan, or its plan participants or beneficiaries. In making such payments, the issuer must ensure that it does not use any premiums collected from eligible organizations. Issuers have flexibility in how to structure these payments, but must be able to account for this segregation of funds, subject to applicable, generally accepted accounting and auditing standards. Thus, an eligible organization need not contract, arrange, pay or refer for contraceptive coverage.

• Plan participants and beneficiaries may refuse to use contraceptive services.

• An eligible organization and its group health plan are considered to comply with the contraceptive coverage requirement even if the issuer fails to comply with the requirement to provide separate payments for contraceptive services for plan participants and beneficiaries at no cost.

d. Separate Payments for Contraceptive Services for Participants and Beneficiaries in Self-Insured Group Health Plans

Comments varied as to which of the three proposed approaches to providing separate contraceptive coverage without cost sharing for participants and beneficiaries in self-insured plans of eligible organizations should be finalized. Some commenters suggested that none of the proposed approaches would enable objecting employers to separate themselves completely from the administration of contraceptive coverage. These commenters requested an unqualified exemption from the contraceptive coverage requirement for such employers. Other commenters stated that none of the proposed approaches would sufficiently ensure that participants and beneficiaries in self-insured plans of eligible organizations would receive separate contraceptive coverage without cost sharing. These commenters requested that the final regulations require that objecting employers retain legal responsibility for any failure on the part of issuers or third party administrators to provide such coverage.

A number of commenters expressed concern about the responsibilities that one or more of the proposed approaches would impose on third party administrators. Some of these commenters suggested that the proposed requirement that third party administrators arrange for separate contraceptive-only coverage through an issuer would convert third party administrators into health insurance brokers. Others suggested that third party administrators would not be willing to assume the responsibility of arranging for separate contraceptive-only coverage. These commenters also suggested that, even if a third party administrator were willing to assume such responsibility, it would pass along the resultant increase in its administrative costs to the employer.

Other commenters expressed concern about an approach that would require third party administrators to become plan administrators and fiduciaries under section 3(16) of ERISA for the sole purpose of arranging contraceptive coverage. These commenters suggested that requiring third party administrators to serve as fiduciaries would increase their exposure to legal liability and also create conflicts of interest with their plan sponsor clients given that many agreements between third party administrators and plan sponsors prohibit third party administrators from serving as fiduciaries.

A number of commenters questioned the Department of Labor's legal authority to designate a third party administrator as the plan administrator for contraceptive coverage by virtue of the eligible organization providing a copy of its self-certification to the third party administrator. These commenters suggested that the self-certification of the eligibility of the organization for the accommodation would be insufficient to act as a designation under ERISA section 3(16)(A)(i), and questioned whether the self-certification could be defined as an instrument under which the plan is operated.

After reviewing the comments on the three proposed approaches, the Departments are finalizing the third approach under which the third party administrator becomes an ERISA section 3(16) plan administrator and claims administrator solely for the purpose of providing payments for contraceptive services for participants and beneficiaries in a self-insured plan of an eligible organization at no cost to plan participants or beneficiaries or to the eligible organization. The Departments have determined that the ERISA section 3(16) approach most effectively enables eligible organizations to avoid contracting, arranging, paying, or referring for contraceptive coverage after meeting the self-certification standard, while also creating the fewest barriers to or delays in plan participants and beneficiaries obtaining contraceptive services without cost sharing.

Under this approach, as set forth in these final regulations, with respect to the contraceptive coverage requirement, an eligible organization is considered to comply with section 2713 of the PHS Act and the companion provisions in ERISA and the Code if it provides to all third party administrators with which it or its plan has contracted a copy of its self-certification, consistent with the requirements of these final regulations.
40

The self-certification must: (1) State that the eligible organization will not act as the plan administrator or claims administrator with respect to contraceptive services or contribute to the funding of contraceptive services; and (2) cite 29 CFR 2510.3-16 and 26 CFR 54.9815-2713A and 29 CFR 2590.715-2713A, which explain the obligations of the third party administrator. Upon receipt of the copy of the self-certification, the third party administrator may decide not to enter into, or remain in, a contractual relationship with the eligible organization to provide administrative services for the plan.

40
Third party administrators are hired by plan sponsors to process claims and administer other administrative aspects of employee benefit plans. In some cases, a plan hires different third party administrator to administer claims for different classifications of benefits. (For example, one plan may contract with a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) to handle claims administration for prescription drugs and another third party administrator to handle claims for inpatient and outpatient medical/surgical benefits.) To the extent the plan hires more than one third party administrator, each third party administrator would become the section 3(16) plan administrator with respect to the types of claims it normally processes (that is, the PBM would continue to handle claims for prescription drugs and the other third party administrator would continue to handle claims for inpatient and outpatient medical/surgical benefits); each would do so in accordance with section 2713 of the PHS Act and the companion provisions of ERISA and the Code (even if plan terms might otherwise provide differently) as plan administration that may be funded in accordance with 45 CFR 156.50(d).

As relevant here, a plan administrator is defined in ERISA section 3(16)(A)(i) as “the person specifically so designated by the terms of the instrument under which the plan is operated.” As a document notifying the third party administrator(s) that the eligible organization will not provide, fund, or administer payments for contraceptive services, the self-certification is one of the instruments under which the employer's plan is operated under ERISA section 3(16)(A)(i). The self-certification will afford the third party administrator notice of obligations set forth in these final regulations, and will be treated as a designation of the third party administrator(s) as plan administrator and claims administrator for contraceptive benefits pursuant to section 3(16) of ERISA. Additional conditions the eligible organization must meet in order to be considered to comply with PHS Act section 2713 and the companion provisions in ERISA and the Code include prohibitions on: (1) Directly or indirectly interfering with a third party administrator's efforts to provide or arrange separate payments for contraceptive services for participants or beneficiaries in the plan and (2) directly or indirectly seeking to influence a third party administrator's

decision to provide or arrange such payments.
41

41
Nothing in these final regulations prohibits an eligible organization from expressing its opposition to the use of contraceptives.

A third party administrator that receives a copy of the self-certification and that agrees to enter into or remain in a contractual relationship with the eligible organization to provide administrative services for the plan must provide or arrange separate payments for contraceptive services for participants and beneficiaries in the plan without cost sharing, premium, fee, or other charge to plan participants or beneficiaries, or to the eligible organization or its plan. The third party administrator can provide such payments on its own, or it can arrange for an issuer or other entity to provide such payments. In either case, like the payments for contraceptive services under the accommodation for insured plans of eligible organizations discussed previously, the payments are not health insurance policies. Moreover, in either case, the third party administrator can make arrangements with an issuer offering coverage through an FFE to obtain reimbursement for its costs (including an allowance for administrative costs and margin). As discussed later in this section, the issuer offering coverage through the FFE can receive an adjustment to the FFE user fee, and the issuer is required to pass on a portion of that adjustment to the third party administrator to account for the costs of providing or arranging payments for contraceptive services. A third party administrator that provides or arranges the payments is entitled to retain reimbursement for its costs for the period during which it reasonably and in good faith relied on a representation by the eligible organization that it was eligible for the accommodation. This is so even if the organization's representation was later determined to be incorrect.

The third party administrator must provide plan participants and beneficiaries with notice of the availability of the separate payments for contraceptive services contemporaneous with (to the extent possible), but separate from, any application materials distributed in connection with enrollment (or re-enrollment) in coverage that is effective beginning on the first day of each applicable plan year (as discussed in more detail later in this section). Third party administrators must also take on the statutory responsibilities of a plan administrator under ERISA, including setting up and operating a claims procedure under ERISA section 503, providing plan participants and beneficiaries with disclosures required under ERISA section 104, and complying with the requirements of Part 7 of ERISA. The Departments note that there is no obligation for a third party administrator to enter into or remain in a contract with the eligible organization if it objects to any of these responsibilities.

The Departments believe that this approach most successfully addresses both the desire of some commenters for plan participants and beneficiaries to receive contraceptive coverage without cost sharing without delays or other barriers, and the desire of other commenters for objecting employers to be separated from contracting, arranging, paying, or referring for contraceptive coverage. The third party administrator serving as the plan administrator for contraceptive benefits ensures that there is a party with legal authority to arrange for payments for contraceptive services and administer claims in accordance with ERISA's protections for plan participants and beneficiaries. At the same time, the approach enables objecting employers, after providing third party administrators with a copy of the self-certification (as described previously), to separate themselves from contracting, arranging, paying, or referring for contraceptive coverage. Additionally, by substituting payments for contraceptive services for health insurance policies, this approach avoids the complications that would be presented by requiring the creation of a contraceptive-only health insurance product, and allows third party administrators to avoid potentially becoming health insurance brokers. Accordingly, while the Departments appreciate commenters' concerns about the responsibilities that third party administrators must assume under this accommodation, they believe that this approach best ensures that plan participants and beneficiaries receive contraceptive coverage without cost sharing, and without the objecting employers paying for or administering such coverage.

Moreover, none of the comments changed the Department of Labor's view that it has legal authority to require the third party administrator to become the plan administrator under ERISA section 3(16) for the sole purpose of providing payments for contraceptive services if the third party administrator agrees to enter into or remain in a contractual relationship with the eligible organization to provide administrative services for the plan. The Department of Labor has broad rulemaking authority under Title I of ERISA, which includes the ability to interpret the definition of plan administrator under ERISA section 3(16)(A)(i). The Department of Labor's interpretation of the self-certification described herein as one of the “instruments under which the plan is operated” is consistent with the plain meaning of the term because it identifies the limited set of plan benefits (that is, contraceptive coverage) that the employer refuses to provide and that the third party administrator must therefore provide or arrange for an issuer or another entity to provide.

e. Self-Insured Group Health Plans Without Third Party Administrators

Although some commenters addressed the solicitation for comments on whether and how to provide an accommodation for self-insured group health plans established or maintained by eligible organizations that do not use the services of a third party administrator, no comments indicated that such plans actually exist. Accordingly, the Departments continue to believe that there are no self-insured group health plans in this circumstance. However, to allow for the possibility that such a self-insured group health plan does exist, the Departments will provide any such plan with a safe harbor from enforcement of the contraceptive coverage requirement, contingent on: (1) the plan submitting to HHS information (as described later in this section) showing that it does not use the services of a third party administrator; and (2) if HHS agrees that the plan does not use the services of a third party administrator, the plan providing notice to plan participants and beneficiaries in any application materials distributed in connection with enrollment (or re-enrollment) in coverage that is effective beginning on the first day of each applicable plan year, indicating that it does not provide benefits for contraceptive services.

Such plans must submit to HHS at least 60 days prior to the first day of the first applicable plan year all of the following information:

• Identifying information for the plan, the eligible organization that acts as the plan sponsor, and an authorized representative of the organization, along with the authorized representative's telephone number and email address.

• A listing of the five most highly compensated non-clinical plan service providers (other than employees of the plan or plan sponsor), including contact information for each plan service provider, a concise description of the nature of the services provided by each service provider to the plan, and the annual amount of compensation paid to

each plan service provider (examples of plan services include claims processing and adjudication, appeals management, provider network development, and pharmacy benefit management).

• An attestation (executed by an authorized representative of the organization) that the plan is established or maintained by an eligible organization, and is operated in compliance with all applicable requirements of part A of title XXVII of the PHS Act, as incorporated into ERISA and the Code.

Such information must be submitted electronically to
marketreform@cms.hhs.gov.

If any such submission demonstrates that a self-insured group health plan established or maintained by an eligible organization does not use the services of a third party administrator, the Departments will provide a safe harbor from enforcement of the contraceptive coverage requirement while an additional accommodation is considered. If the Departments discover through any such submission that a self-insured group health plan established or maintained by an eligible organization does in fact use the services of a third party administrator, the eligible organization must either follow the procedures described in these final regulations to obtain an accommodation or otherwise comply with the contraceptive coverage requirement.

f. Notice of Availability of Separate Payments for Contraceptive Services

Consistent with the proposed regulations, the final regulations direct that, for any plan year to which an accommodation is to apply, a health insurance issuer providing separate payments for contraceptive services pursuant to the accommodation, or a third party administrator arranging or providing such payments (or its agent), must provide timely written notice about this fact to plan participants and beneficiaries in insured or self-insured group health plans (or student enrollees and their covered dependents in student health insurance coverage) of eligible organizations.

Under the proposed regulations, this notice would be provided by the issuer contemporaneous with (to the extent possible) but separate from any application materials distributed in connection with enrollment (or re-enrollment) in health coverage established or maintained or arranged by the eligible organization. Commenters noted that employers, not issuers, typically distribute plan enrollment (or re-enrollment) materials to employees and that providing this notice contemporaneous with plan enrollment (or re-enrollment) materials would not be possible because issuers typically do not receive enrollee information prior to enrollment.

Consistent with the simplified approach described previously, these final regulations provide that this notice must be provided by either the issuer providing separate payments for contraceptive services under the accommodation, or a third party administrator arranging or providing such payments (or its agent). The notice must be provided contemporaneous with (to the extent possible), but separate from, any application materials distributed in connection with enrollment (or re-enrollment) in coverage that is effective beginning on the first day of each plan year to which the accommodation applies, and it must indicate that the eligible organization does not fund or administer contraceptive benefits, but that the issuer or third party administrator will provide separate payments for contraceptive services at no cost. The Departments believe that the direction that the notice be provided contemporaneous with application materials “to the extent possible” provides sufficient flexibility to address the concerns raised by commenters about the timing of the notice.

The final regulations continue to provide model language that may be used to satisfy this notice requirement. Substantially similar language may also be used to satisfy the notice requirement. Some commenters suggested additions or modifications to the model language. Other commenters stated that the Departments should not allow the use of substantially similar language. Additionally, some commenters recommended the Departments set standards to ensure that the notice is accessible to persons with limited English proficiency and person with disabilities. The Departments believe that the model language in the final regulations, along with existing guidance concerning civil rights obligations, provide sufficient notice. The Departments also believe that the flexibility afforded by the final regulations to use substantially similar language is generally consistent with other federal notice requirements.

The notice must include contact information for the issuer or third party administrator in the event plan participants and beneficiaries (or student enrollees and their covered dependents) have questions or complaints. The Departments note that issuers and third party administrators may find it useful to provide additional written information concerning how to obtain reimbursement for contraceptive services, appeals procedures, provider and pharmacy networks, prescription drug formularies, medical management procedures, and similar issues.
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Furthermore, as discussed previously, with respect to self-insured coverage, third party administrators that are plan administrators must operate in accordance with Part 1 of ERISA, including ERISA section 104, which generally requires certain disclosures regarding plan benefits and limitations.

g. Student Health Insurance Coverage

Consistent with the HHS proposed regulation, paragraph (f) of the HHS final regulation provides that an accommodation applies to student health insurance coverage arranged by an eligible organization that is an institution of higher education in a manner comparable to that in which it applies to group health insurance coverage provided in connection with a group health plan established or maintained by an eligible organization that is an employer. For this purpose, any reference to plan participants and beneficiaries is a reference to student enrollees and their covered dependents.

Several commenters supported treating student health insurance like employer-sponsored group health insurance for purposes of these final regulations. Other commenters suggested that an accommodation should not extend to institutions of higher education that arrange student health insurance coverage, because student health insurance coverage is considered a type of individual rather than group health insurance coverage under federal law.
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One commenter recommended that issuers offering coverage through the Exchanges be required to provide separate contraceptive coverage at no cost to students enrolled in nonprofit religious institutions of higher education with religious objections to contraceptive coverage (and their dependents).

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45 CFR 147.147 (77 FR 16453).

Student health insurance coverage is administered differently than other individual health insurance coverage. Whereas most individual health insurance coverage is issued under a contract between an individual policyholder and a health insurance issuer, student health insurance coverage is available to student enrollees and their covered dependents pursuant to a written agreement between an institution of higher education and a health insurance issuer. Some religiously affiliated colleges and universities object to signing a written agreement or providing financial

assistance for student health insurance coverage that provides benefits for contraceptive services. For these reasons, HHS believes that it is appropriate to take into account religious objections to contraceptive coverage of eligible organizations that are institutions of higher education and is finalizing the provision applicable to student health insurance coverage as proposed. HHS notes that it does not have the authority to require issuers offering coverage through the Exchanges to provide separate contraceptive coverage at no cost to students (and their dependents).

The Departments note that any accommodation specific to a nonprofit religious institution of higher education is intended to accommodate the nonprofit religious institution of higher education only with respect to its arrangement of student health insurance coverage for its students and their covered dependents. With respect to the establishment or maintenance of a group health plan by a nonprofit religious institution of higher education for its employees and their dependents, the nonprofit religious institution of higher education is intended to be accommodated in the same manner as that in which any other eligible organization that has established or maintained a group health plan for its employees and their dependents is to be accommodated.

C. Adjustments of Federally-Facilitated Exchange User Fees—45 CFR 156.50(d) and 156.80(d)

These sections of the final HHS regulation set forth processes and standards to fund the payments for the contraceptive services that are provided for participants and beneficiaries in self-insured plans of eligible organizations under the accommodation described previously, at no cost to plan participants or beneficiaries, eligible organizations, third party administrators, or issuers, through an adjustment in the FFE user fee payable by an issuer participating in an FFE.
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The FFE user fee was established in the March 11, 2013 final rule entitled “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; HHS Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2014” (78 FR 15410) (2014 Payment Notice).

In response to the proposed regulations, some commenters questioned HHS's authority to establish the FFE user fee adjustment. Commenters also recommended that HHS ensure that the adjustments to user fee collections not undermine FFE operations. Commenters stated that the FFE user fee should not be increased to offset the user fee adjustment. Commenters further stated that the FFE user fee adjustment must be adequate to provide financial incentives to ensure that women in self-insured plans of eligible organizations receive contraceptive coverage at no cost. Commenters suggested that the FFE user fee adjustment may not be an adequate long-term funding source as more states establish Exchanges over time, reducing the number of FFEs and therefore available FFE user fee revenue.

Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular No. A-25R establishes federal policy regarding these types of user fees. Consistent with that Circular, the revised FFE user fee calculation (which will result in an adjustment of the FFE user fee) will facilitate the accommodation of self-insured plans established or maintained by eligible organizations by ensuring that plan participants and beneficiaries are provided contraceptive coverage at no cost so that eligible organizations are not required to administer or fund such coverage. By financing the accommodation for self-insured plans of eligible organizations through the FFE user fee adjustment, participants and beneficiaries in such plans can retain their existing coverage, while gaining access to separate payments for contraceptive services at no cost. HHS does not believe that the adjustment to FFE user fee collections, as contemplated under this final regulation, will materially undermine FFE operations.

HHS notes that it is not raising the FFE user fee finalized in the 2014 Payment Notice to offset the FFE user fee adjustments, and estimates that payments for contraceptive services will represent only a small portion of total FFE user fees.

The FFE user fee adjustments support many of the goals of the Affordable Care Act, including improving the health of the population, reducing health care costs, providing access to health coverage, encouraging eligible organizations to continue to offer health coverage, and ensuring access to affordable qualified health plans (QHPs) via efficiently operated Exchanges. Moreover, as described earlier in these final regulations, there are significant benefits associated with contraceptive coverage without cost sharing. Such coverage significantly furthers the governmental interests in promoting public health and gender equality, and promotes the underlying goals of the Exchanges and the Affordable Care Act more generally.

In § 156.50(d) of the proposed regulations, HHS specified that, if an issuer were to provide contraceptive coverage to participants and beneficiaries in self-insured plans of eligible organizations at no cost, and the issuer offers coverage through an FFE, the issuer would be able to seek an adjustment to the FFE user fee for the estimated cost of the contraceptive coverage. Moreover, HHS proposed that, if the issuer providing the contraceptive coverage did not offer coverage through an FFE—either because it was not a QHP issuer, or because it was a QHP issuer but operated in a state without an FFE—an issuer in the same issuer group that offered coverage through an FFE would have been able to seek an adjustment to the FFE user fee on behalf of the issuer providing the contraceptive coverage. HHS proposed to use the definition of issuer group in 45 CFR 156.20, that is, all entities treated under subsection (a) or (b) of section 52 of the Code as a member of the same controlled group of corporations as (or under common control with) a health insurance issuer, or issuers affiliated by the common use of a nationally licensed service mark. Several commenters expressed concern that not every issuer seeking to provide contraceptive coverage to participants and beneficiaries in self-insured plans of eligible organizations would be in the same issuer group as an issuer that offers coverage through an FFE. Commenters further noted that, even if the issuer providing the contraceptive coverage and the issuer offering coverage through an FFE were in the same issuer group, the issuers might incur significant administrative costs in establishing the necessary arrangements.

In response to these comments, and to account for the payments for contraceptive services for participants and beneficiaries in self-insured group health plans of eligible organizations under the accommodation described previously, HHS is finalizing a modification of the proposed policy. In § 156.50(d)(1), a participating issuer (defined at 45 CFR 156.50(a)
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) offering a plan through an FFE may qualify for an adjustment to the FFE user fee to the extent that the participating issuer either: (i) made payments for contraceptive services on behalf of a third party administrator pursuant to 26 CFR 54.9815-2713A(b)(2)(ii) or 29 CFR 2590.715-2713A(b)(2)(ii); or (ii) seeks an adjustment to the FFE user fee with respect to a third party administrator

that, following receipt of a copy of the self-certification referenced in 26 CFR 54.9815-2713A(a)(4) or 29 CFR 2590.715-2713A(a)(4), made or arranged for payments for contraceptive services pursuant to 26 CFR 54.9815-2713A(b)(2)(i) or (ii) or 29 CFR 2590.715-2713A(b)(2)(i) or (ii). Under the final regulation, neither the third party administrator, nor the participating issuer, nor any entity providing payments for contraceptive services (if neither the third party administrator nor the participating issuer is providing such payments) is required to be part of the same issuer group or otherwise affiliated. This modification allows greater flexibility in the arrangements among third party administrators, issuers, and other entities, while still ensuring that eligible organizations are not required to contract, arrange, pay, or refer for contraceptive coverage. Consistent with the proposed regulations, an allowance for administrative costs and margin in the FFE user fee adjustment accounts for the costs of arrangements among the third party administrator, the participating issuer, and any other entity providing payments for contraceptive services (if neither the third party administrator nor the participating issuer is providing such payments).

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Under 45 CFR 156.50(a), a participating issuer includes QHP issuers, issuers of multi-state plans, and issuers of stand-alone dental plans. We note that an issuer of a Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan (CO-OP) offered on an FFE is also considered to be a participating issuer for the purpose of the FFE user fee adjustment.

In § 156.50(d)(1) through (4) of the proposed regulations, HHS set forth a process through which an issuer seeking an FFE user fee adjustment would submit information to HHS to demonstrate the provision of contraceptive coverage and estimate the cost of such coverage. HHS further proposed that it would review this information and provide an adjustment to the issuer's monthly obligation to pay the FFE user fee in an amount equal to the approved estimated cost of the contraceptive coverage. HHS suggested that the cost of the contraceptive coverage, including administrative costs and margin, could be estimated on a per capita basis by either the issuer or HHS using either actuarial principles and methodologies or, for 2016 and beyond, previous experience. The per capita rate would then be multiplied by the monthly enrollment in the contraceptive coverage in order to calculate the total FFE user fee adjustment.

HHS sought comments on this proposed process for collecting information, calculating the cost of the contraceptive coverage, and applying the FFE user fee adjustment. HHS received several comments suggesting that issuers should be required to submit information only on an annual basis, rather than a monthly basis, to reduce the administrative burden. Commenters also noted that it would likely be difficult to estimate the cost of the contraceptive coverage accurately, particularly in the initial years, given that the prohibition on cost sharing could affect utilization. In addition, commenters noted that costs would likely vary considerably based on differences in utilization patterns and administrative processes.

In response to these comments, HHS is making certain modifications to the process described previously. Rather than using a monthly process, the final regulation at § 156.50(d)(2) requires a participating issuer seeking an FFE user fee adjustment to submit to HHS, in the year following the calendar year in which the contraceptive services for which payments were made under the accommodation described previously were provided, for each self-insured plan, the total dollar amount of the payments for contraceptive services that were provided during the applicable calendar year. The issuer will then receive an adjustment to its obligation to pay the FFE user fee equal to the cost of the contraceptive services that were provided during the previous year, plus an allowance, as specified by HHS, for administrative costs and margin. For example, HHS expects that issuers seeking an FFE user fee adjustment for payments for contraceptive services that were provided in calendar year 2014 will be required to submit to HHS by July 15, 2015, the total dollar amount of the payments. This timing will allow adequate time for claims run-out and data collection. The FFE user fee adjustment will be applied starting in October 2015. Although this approach delays the application of the FFE user fee adjustment, it significantly reduces the administrative burden on issuers, third party administrators, and HHS. HHS believes that tying the FFE user fee adjustment to the actual costs of payments for contraceptive services, plus an allowance for administrative costs and margin, will provide reasonable assurance that the adjustment is adequate to cover the full costs of the payments for contraceptive services, furthering the goal of providing contraceptive coverage without cost sharing, as required by PHS Act section 2713 and the companion provisions in ERISA and the Code.

As discussed later in this section, HHS is also directing third party administrators to submit to HHS a notification that the third party administrator intends for a participating issuer to seek an FFE user fee adjustment. This notification must be provided by the later of January 1, 2014, or the 60th calendar day following the date on which the third party administrator receives a copy of a self-certification from an eligible organization. The notification must be provided whether it is intended that the participating issuer will provide payments for contraceptive services on behalf of the third party administrator, or whether it is intended that the participating issuer will seek an adjustment to the FFE user fee with respect to such payments made or arranged for by the third party administrator. HHS will provide guidance on the manner of submission of the notification, as well as guidance on the application for the FFE user fee adjustment, through the process provided for under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

HHS is also modifying the standards proposed at § 156.50(d) to align with the final regulations regarding the accommodation for self-insured group health plans of eligible organizations. As discussed previously, under these final regulations, the third party administrator may make the payments for contraceptive services itself, or it may arrange for an issuer (including an issuer that does not offer coverage through an FFE) or another entity to make the payments on its behalf. Under either scenario, a third party administrator that seeks to offset the costs of such payments through an FFE user fee adjustment must enter into an arrangement with a participating issuer offering coverage through an FFE. The participating issuer and the third party administrator must each submit information to HHS, as described in § 156.50(d)(2) of the final regulation, to verify that the payments for contraceptive services were provided in accordance with these final regulations.

Specifically, in § 156.50(d)(2)(i), HHS finalizes submission standards for a participating issuer to receive the FFE user fee adjustment. The participating issuer must submit to HHS, in the manner and timeframe specified by HHS, in the year following the calendar year in which the contraceptive services were provided: (A) Identifying information for the participating issuer and each third party administrator that received a copy of the self-certification with respect to which the participating issuer seeks an adjustment in the FFE user fee (whether or not the participating issuer was the entity that made the payments for contraceptive services); (B) identifying information for each self-insured group health plan with respect to which a copy of the self-certification was received by a third party administrator and with respect to

which the participating issuer seeks an adjustment in the FFE user fee; and (C) for each such self-insured group health plan, the total dollar amount of the payments for contraceptive services that were provided during the applicable calendar year under the accommodation described previously. If such payments were made by the participating issuer directly, the total dollar amount should reflect the amount of the payments made by the participating issuer; if the third party administrator made or arranged for such payments, the total dollar amount should reflect the amount reported to the participating issuer by the third party administrator. Similarly, in § 156.50(d)(2)(ii) and (iii), HHS finalizes submission standards for the third party administrator with respect to which the participating issuer seeks an adjustment in the FFE user fee. In paragraph (d)(2)(ii), HHS finalizes a standard under which the third party administrator must notify HHS, by the later of January 1, 2014, or the 60th calendar day following the date on which it receives the applicable copy of the self-certification, that it intends to arrange for a participating issuer to seek an FFE user fee adjustment. HHS will provide guidance on the manner of this submission through the process provided for under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This notification is necessary to allow HHS to coordinate the development of the systems for administering the FFE user fee adjustment. In paragraphs (d)(2)(iii)(A) through (E), HHS specifies several other standards under which the third party administrator must submit to HHS, in the year following the calendar year in which the contraceptive services for which payments were made under the accommodation described previously were provided, the following information: (A) Identifying information for the third party administrator and the participating issuer; (B) identifying information for each self-insured group health plan with respect to which the participating issuer seeks an adjustment in the FFE user fee; (C) the total number of participants and beneficiaries in each self-insured group health plan during the applicable calendar year;
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(D) for each self-insured group health plan with respect to which the third party administrator made payments for contraceptive services, the total dollar amount of such payments that were provided during the applicable calendar year under the accommodation described previously (if such payments were made by the participating issuer directly, the total dollar amount should reflect the amount reported to the third party administrator by the participating issuer; if the third party administrator made or arranged for such payments, the total dollar amount should reflect the amount of the payments made by or on behalf of the third party administrator); and (E) an attestation that the payments for contraceptive services were made in compliance with 26 CFR 54.9815-2713A(b)(2) or 29 CFR 2590.715-2713A(b)(2). If the third party administrator does not meet these standards, the participating issuer may not receive an FFE user fee adjustment to offset the costs of the payments for contraceptive services incurred by or on behalf of the third party administrator. HHS believes that it is necessary to collect this information directly from the third party administrator that has the duty to ensure that the payments for contraceptive services are made to ensure the accuracy of the data provided, without requiring the participating issuer to attest to information to which it may not have access or over which it has little control.

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No personally identifiable information will be collected from participating issuers or third party administrators pursuant to § 156.50(d)(2).

In § 156.50(d)(3), HHS establishes the process by which a participating issuer will be provided a reduction in its obligation to pay the FFE user fee. As long as an authorizing exception under OMB Circular No. A-25R is in effect, the reduction will be calculated as the sum of the total dollar amount of the payments for contraceptive services submitted by the applicable third party administrators, as described in paragraph (d)(2)(iii)(D), and an allowance, specified by HHS, for administrative costs and margin. In the proposed regulations, HHS requested comments on the appropriate method for determining the administrative costs associated with providing the contraceptive coverage, as well as a margin to ensure that issuers receive appropriate compensation for providing the contraceptive coverage. Commenters agreed with the proposal to reimburse for administrative costs and to provide a margin. Commenters noted that administrative costs would be incurred because of the complexities inherent in arrangements between entities seeking the FFE user fee adjustment and entities providing the contraceptive coverage, particularly when the entities operate in different states. In addition, commenters stated that administrative costs incurred by the third party administrators could vary because of variations in billing processes.

As finalized in this regulation, for the initial years of this policy, HHS will specify an allowance for administrative costs and margin, which will be incorporated into the FFE user fee adjustment, rather than request the third party administrator or the participating issuer to submit to HHS an estimate of the third party administrator and the participating issuer's administrative costs. This approach is consistent with the general approach in these final regulations to simplify administration of the accommodations for eligible organizations, while still ensuring that no eligible organization is required to contract, arrange, pay, or refer for contraceptive coverage. HHS notes that it intends to review the methodology for determining reimbursement for administrative costs and margin in future years to ensure that HHS is accurately capturing these costs. HHS will establish the allowance as a percentage of the cost of the payments for contraceptive services because HHS believes that the majority of administrative costs will be related to processing of payments to providers for contraceptive services, and because HHS believes that it is reasonable to measure margin on this business as a percentage of the cost of the contraceptive services. HHS will establish the allowance at no less than ten percent of such cost, and will specify the allowance for a particular calendar year in the annual HHS notice of benefit and payment parameters. The specific allowance for the 2014 calendar year will be proposed for public comment in the HHS Notice of Payment and Benefit Parameters for 2015 (which is scheduled to be published in the fall of 2013). This approach will allow HHS to provide for a reasonable allowance for administrative expenses for the third party administrator, the participating issuer, and any other entity providing the payments for contraceptive services on behalf of the third party administrator, as well as a margin for each entity. HHS welcomes feedback from third party administrators, participating issuers, and other relevant stakeholders on the allowance for administrative costs and margin, including the appropriate percentage and alternative methods for future determination of the allowance for administrative costs and margin.

Section 156.50(d)(4) is similar to the corresponding proposed provision, and specifies that, as long as an exception under OMB Circular No. A-25R is in effect, if the amount of the reduction under paragraph (d)(3) is greater than the amount of the obligation to pay the FFE user fee in a particular month, the participating issuer will be provided a credit in succeeding months in the

amount of the excess. HHS notes that the likelihood of this occurring will depend on the relative magnitudes of the cost of payments for contraceptive services and the FFE user fee, the number of participants and beneficiaries in self-insured plans with respect to which the participating issuer seeks an adjustment in the FFE user fee, and the number of individuals enrolled in coverage offered by the issuer through the FFE. HHS also notes that it intends to provide a monthly report, for the initial month in which the FFE user fee adjustment for a particular calendar year is applied, and for succeeding months until the credit is fully applied, to issuers that receive an FFE user fee adjustment. HHS contemplates that this monthly report will include information on the issuer's user fee obligation for the month, its total adjustment for the applicable calendar year, the user fee adjustment applied to date, and the value of the adjustment to be credited to future months (so long as the exception under OMB Circular No. A-25R is in effect). Additionally, HHS intends to provide a monthly report to each applicable third party administrator detailing any FFE user fee adjustment that will be provided to a participating issuer with respect to the costs for contraceptive services incurred by or on behalf of the third party administrator, as well as the portion of the user fee adjustment applied to date.

Section 156.50(d)(5) specifies that, within 60 calendar days of receipt of any adjustment in the FFE user fee, a participating issuer must pay each third party administrator with respect to which it received any portion of such adjustment an amount no less than the portion of the adjustment attributable to the total dollar amount of the payments for contraceptive services submitted by the third party administrator, as described in paragraph (d)(2)(iii)(D). HHS expects that the participating issuer will also agree to pay each third party administrator a portion of such allowance (and that the apportionment will be negotiated between the entities); HHS does not specify such payment in this final regulation, as HHS expects the entities to work out an arrangement that best fits their situation. Finally, HHS notes that this provision does not apply if the participating issuer made the payments for contraceptive services on behalf of the third party administrator, as described in paragraph (d)(1)(i), or is in the same issuer group (as defined in 45 CFR 156.20) as the third party administrator.

In § 156.50(d)(6) and (7), HHS establishes standards relating to documentation and program integrity, similar to those proposed in § 156.50(d)(5), but modified slightly to align with the other changes in this final regulation. In paragraph (d)(6), HHS specifies that a participating issuer receiving an adjustment in the FFE user fee under this section for a particular calendar year must maintain for 10 years following that year, and make available upon request to HHS, the HHS Office of the Inspector General, the Comptroller General, and their designees, documentation demonstrating that it timely paid each third party administrator, with respect to which it received such adjustment, any amount required under paragraph (d)(5). In paragraph (d)(7), HHS specifies documentation standards for third party administrators with respect to which an FFE user fee adjustment is received under this section for a particular calendar year. Third party administrators must maintain for 10 years following the applicable calendar year, and make available upon request to HHS, the HHS Office of the Inspector General, the Comptroller General, and their designees, all of the following: (i) A copy of the self-certification provided by the eligible organization for each self-insured plan with respect to which an adjustment is received; (ii) documentation demonstrating that the payments for contraceptive services were made in compliance with 26 CFR 54.9815-2713A(b)(2) or 29 CFR 2590.715-2713A(b)(2); and (iii) documentation supporting the total dollar amount of the payments for contraceptive services submitted by the third party administrator, as described in paragraph (d)(2)(iii)(D). Although a co

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/fr%3A2013-15866. Public record. Not legal advice.