The American Medical Association is calling on members of Congress to act on "repeated failures" of health insurers to comply with substance use and mental health parity regulations over the past 15 years.
The statement comes as congressional committees hold hearings on mental healthcare, according to a Feb. 1 news release.
The Labor Department has also been watching mental health parity enforcement, delivering a report to Congress of current enforcement failures and corrective efforts. The department aims to work with HHS to improve payer parity enforcement.
In the AMA's letter to Congress, the group supported four tenets outlined by the Labor Department's report, including allowing the department to fine payers for noncompliance, allowing plan members to recoup losses tied to parity denials, requiring insurers to submit parity compliance analyses and expanding telehealth access.
"This report underscores two simple facts: insurers will not change their behaviors without increased enforcement and accountability, and patients will continue to suffer until that happens," AMA CEO James Madara, MD, wrote in the letter.