Rhode Island General Laws Title 27. Insurance § 27-38.2-1. Coverage for treatment of mental health and substance use disorders

(a) A group health plan and an individual or group health insurance plan shall provide coverage for the treatment of mental-health and substance-use disorders under the same terms and conditions as that coverage is provided for other illnesses and diseases.

(b) Coverage for the treatment of mental-health and substance-use disorders shall not impose any annual or lifetime dollar limitation.

(c) Financial requirements and quantitative treatment limitations on coverage for the treatment of mental-health and substance-use disorders shall be no more restrictive than the predominant financial requirements applied to substantially all coverage for medical conditions in each treatment classification.

(d) Coverage shall not impose non-quantitative treatment limitations for the treatment of mental health and substance-use disorders unless the processes, strategies, evidentiary standards, or other factors used in applying the non-quantitative treatment limitation, as written and in operation, are comparable to, and are applied no more stringently than, the processes, strategies, evidentiary standards, or other factors used in applying the limitation with respect to medical/surgical benefits in the classification.

(e) The following classifications shall be used to apply the coverage requirements of this chapter: (1) Inpatient, in-network; (2) Inpatient, out-of-network; (3) Outpatient, in-network; (4) Outpatient, out-of-network; (5) Emergency care; and (6) Prescription drugs.

(f) Medication-assisted treatment or medication-assisted maintenance services of substance-use disorders, opioid overdoses, and chronic addiction, including methadone, buprenorphine, naltrexone, or other clinically appropriate medications, is included within the appropriate classification based on the site of the service.

(g) Payors shall rely upon the criteria of the American Society of Addiction Medicine when developing coverage for levels of care for substance-use disorder treatment.

(h) Patients with substance-use disorders shall have access to evidence-based, non-opioid treatment for pain, therefore coverage shall apply to medically necessary chiropractic care and osteopathic manipulative treatment performed by an individual licensed under § 5-37-2.

(i) Parity of cost-sharing requirements. Regardless of the professional license of the provider of care, if that care is consistent with the provider's scope of practice and the health plan's credentialing and contracting provisions, cost-sharing for behavioral health counseling visits and medication maintenance visits shall be consistent with the cost-sharing applied to primary care office visits.