On May 30, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published its amended final rule covering health breach notifications (HBNs) in the Federal Register. The HBN rule requires vendors of personal health records (PHRs) and related entities that are not covered by HIPAA to notify individuals, the FTC, and, in some cases, the media of a breach of unsecured personally identifiable health data. 

On May 9, 2024, the IRS released Revenue Procedure 2024-25, which provides the 2025 inflation-adjusted limits for HSAs and HSA-qualifying HDHPs.

On April 29, 2024, the Fourth Circuit, sitting en banc, affirmed district court findings that coverage exclusions of gender-affirming care for the treatment of gender dysphoria violated both the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause and Section 1557 of the ACA, which in part prohibits discrimination in coverage based on sex. The Fourth Circuit’s decision regarded two cases. In the first, the trial court found in favor of transgender North Carolina and West Virginia state employees who sued those states’ health plans for their exclusions of “treatment or studies leading to or in connection.. 

On May 6, 2024, the Congressional Research Service published a report concerning the scope of ACA Section 1557 (the Section). Section 1557 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability, age, and sex in federally funded healthcare programs or activities. It is the source of intense regulatory and legal scrutiny. The report focuses on the federal government’s and the courts’ attempts to define the entities to which the Section applies and provides recommendations to Congress regarding the Section’s implementation.

On May 2, 2024, the IRS published the revised 2024 IRS Publication 15-B, the Employer's Tax Guide to Fringe Benefits, to correct the figures for HSA eligibility and employer contribution limits. The 2024 IRS Publication 15-B was originally published in January 2024 and was covered in the January 17, 2024, edition of Compliance Corner. This publication provides an overview of the taxation of fringe benefits and applicable exclusion, valuation, withholding, and reporting rules.

On April 26, 2024, the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that it published a final rule strengthening privacy protections for information relating to reproductive healthcare. The agency proposed the rule on April 23, 2023, which we covered in the April 27, 2023, edition of Compliance Corner.

On May 1, 2024, the DOL, HHS, and Treasury (the departments) issued an FAQ regarding implementation of the No Surprises Act in light of the August 24, 2023, decision in Texas Medical Association, et al. v. U.S. HHS, et al. (TMA III) (see our August 17, 2023, and October 26, 2023, editions of Compliance Corner for coverage of this case). Specifically, the FAQ extends enforcement relief related to calculating equivalent in-network rates for out-of-network services covered under No Surprises Act protections until November 1, 2024.

On April 29, 2024, the DOL announced a final rule to rescind the 2018 Association Health Plan (AHP) rule that created alternative criteria that could be used to determine whether a group or association of employers without a commonality of interest could establish an AHP for the primary purpose of providing benefits. We covered the DOL’s proposed rule in our January 3, 2024, edition of Compliance Corner.

HHS has published a final rule expanding protections under Section 1557 of the ACA, which prohibits discrimination in certain health programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability in any health program activity that receives federal financial assistance and other covered entities. The Section 1557 regulations that took effect in 2016 under the Obama administration expanded the scope of Section 1557 prohibitions by including discrimination based upon gender identity. The 2016 regulations also required entities covered by the rule to...

On April 11, 2024, in Ryan S. v UnitedHealth Group, Inc., et al., the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (Ninth Circuit) filed a decision reversing a Middle District of California District Court dismissal of a class action suit brought under ERISA by a beneficiary (Ryan S.) of a group health plan insured, managed, and administered by UnitedHealthcare (UHC). The lawsuit, which alleged a MHPAEA violation and breach of an ERISA fiduciary duty, was remanded for further proceedings.