Employee Benefits Accelerated Coverage for COVID-19 Preventive Services and Vaccines The ACA requires non-grandfathered group health plans and health insurance issuers to cover certain preventive health services without imposing cost-sharing requirements for the services. The recommended preventive care services covered by these requirements are: Evidence-based items or services that have in effect a rating of A or B in the current recommendations of the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF); Immunizations for routine use in children, adolescents, and adults that are currently recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and included on the CDC’s immunization schedules; Evidence-informed preventive care and screenings for infants, children, and adolescents—provided for in the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) guidelines; and Evidence-informed preventive care and screening for women—provided in guidelines supported by HRSA. In general, health plans and issuers are not required to cover a new preventive care recommendation or guideline until at least one year after the new recommendation or guideline goes into effect. The CARES Act shortens this deadline to ensure that health plans and issuers cover COVID-19 preventive services and vaccines without cost-sharing once they are approved and available. Under the CARES Act, health plans and issuers must cover COVID-19 preventive services and vaccinations without cost-sharing within 15 days after a recommendation from USPSTF or the CDC. For additional information, please contact the Curi Benefit Solutions team by calling 800-328-5532. News & Knowledge All Curi recommendations are based on current CDC criteria at the time of publication. CDC guidance for SARS-CoV-2 infection may, or may not, be adopted by state and local health departments to respond to rapidly changing local circumstances. Providers should always check with their local health department to see if the CDC’s guidance on any given topic has been modified (particularly if more restrictive) from the CDC’s recommended guidelines. Follow this link https://www.cdc.gov/publichealthgateway/healthdirectories/index.html for contact information to your state/local health department. If local recommendations vary from those of the CDC, and you are unsure what recommendations to follow, then it is safer to follow the more restrictive guidelines/recommendations.