The Department of Labor gave employers an early Christmas gift last week by issuing a new set of FAQs related to the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) and specifically the new health plan reporting requirements.
On December, 23, 2022 the DOL issued a six-part Q&A related to enforcement of prescription drug and health care spending reporting requirements for 2020 and 2021 which was previously due on December 27, 2022. The following summarizes the key points:
1. Reporting Deadline Extended: While December 27th remains the initial 2020 and 2021 reporting deadline, the Department will allow submissions up to January 31, 2023 as considered timely.
2. Good Faith Effort: the DOL will not take enforcement action with respect to any plan or issuer that uses a good faith, reasonable interpretation of the regulations and the Prescription Drug Data Collection (RxDC) Reporting Instructions in making its submission. This is a huge relief for many employers who encountered challenging registering their accounts with the HIOS system or simply collecting the necessary data from their PBM and TPA in a timely manner.
3. Multiple Submissions by the Same Reporting Entity Allowed. Interim rules had required that plan sponsors should generally create only one submission in HIOS. The FAQ relaxes this provision to allow multiple submissions if necessary.
4. Submissions by Multiple Reporting Entities Allowed. Instead of collecting data from multiple sources and producing a single submission, the Department is allowing submissions from multiple reporting entities such as your PBM, TPA, Plan Sponsor, etc.
The FAQs provide much-desired relief for many plan sponsors especially given the relaxation of enforcement for those that apply a good faith effort.
Simpara will continue to monitor for additional updates. Should you have any questions related to the new CAA reporting provisions, you can reach out team at info@simparaHR.com
For the full DOL release please visit: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ebsa/about-ebsa/our-activities/resource-center/faqs/aca-part-56
