The Biden administration on Tuesday announced a proposal to require health insurers to cover mental health and addiction care in the same way they cover treatment for physical health conditions, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from the District of Columbia, Tennessee, and Washington.

• District of Columbia: The Biden administration on Tuesday announced a proposal to require health insurers to cover mental health and addiction care in the same way they cover treatment for physical health conditions. The proposal, which will soon be published as a joint proposed rule from the Department of Treasury, Department of Labor, and HHS, will require insurers to evaluate their own networks to determine whether they're offering adequate coverage for mental health and addiction care and whether patients are accessing it. "This rule will ensure that we have true parity," said Neera Tanden, President Joe Biden's domestic policy advisor. "It will help ensure we finally fulfill the promise of mental health parity required under law, to ensure that mental health is covered just like physical health." (Facher, STAT, 7/25)
• Tennessee: American Physician Partners (APP), a physician staffing firm, will shut down at the end of the month, according to reports. APP has had ongoing financial issues, according to Bloomberg, and its inability to strike a deal with SCP Health recently contributed to the firm's shutdown. APP employs more than 2,500 physicians and advanced practice clinicians and works with more than 150 hospitals in 18 states. The American College of Emergency Physicians in a tweet said it's "deeply concerned about the announced closing of [APP] and the impact this disruption will have on thousands of emergency physicians, their families, patients, and communities." (Fiore, MedPage Today, 7/20)
• Washington: State health officials announced that three people have died and two others have been hospitalized following a listeria outbreak in recent months. All five of the patients became ill between Feb. 27 and June 30 and all were in their 60s or 70s with compromised immune systems. Officials said the source of the listeria hasn't been identified but was likely from a common source of food, adding that the state's health department is working with the patients and families to identify any common exposures. (Otis, Wall Street Journal, 7/23)