As you know, HHS and the Departments of Treasury and Labor released interim final regulations for internal and external appeals in July, and the external review process procedures designed for employer plans were released in August. (Read more about the standards for internal claims and appeals processes in the August DataPath Voice Newsletter.)

After publication of the interim final regulations, plans and issuers stated more time is needed to implement policy procedures. In order to give employers and health coverage issuers more time to comply with the regulations, the Department of Labor has created an enforcement grace period until July 1, 2011 to help issuers and plans make the changes with respect to internal claims and appeals.

Click here to read Technical Release 2010-02.