The DOL comment period closes April 15. What you’ve lived as a fiduciary matters more than any policy argument. Here’s why and how to put it on the record in 15 minutes.
The Department of Labor is not running a poll. It’s building an administrative record.
That distinction matters. A poll counts votes. An administrative record collects documented experience, legal analysis, and specific evidence regulators are legally required to consider and respond to before a rule becomes final.
Under the Administrative Procedure Act, agencies must give “reasoned consideration” to the substance of what’s submitted. Not the volume. The substance.
What that means for you: a two-sentence description of what happened when you asked your PBM for a straight answer about rebates or tried to invoke your audit rights carries more weight than a thousand form letters saying “we support transparency.”
The generic form letter goes in the pile. Your experience goes in the record.
The comment period on the DOL’s proposed PBM fee disclosure rule closes April 15. That’s Wednesday. If you’ve been on the fence about submitting, this is the issue to read before you decide. Use the DOL Comment Letter Assistant from Nautilus to make the process fast, easy, and effective.
What a Comment Actually Is
Most fiduciaries think of a regulatory comment as something lawyers and lobbyists write. Long. Technical. Requiring expertise they don’t have.
That’s a misreading of how notice-and-comment rule making works.
The Administrative Procedure Act requires agencies to consider all “relevant matter presented” and address those submissions when the final rule is published. The Supreme Court has characterized the duty to respond to significant, specific comments as a procedural obligation, not a discretionary courtesy. What triggers that obligation is not a law degree. It’s specificity. Documented experience. A comment grounded in what you have actually lived as a fiduciary.
One well-reasoned comment from an affected plan fiduciary carries more weight with regulators than a mass-mail campaign. That’s not advocacy. That’s how the process works.
You are an affected plan fiduciary. You have standing. And you have until Wednesday to find 15 minutes to submit your comments.
15 Minutes With the DOL Comment Letter Assistant from Nautilus
What Counts as Evidence
You don’t need a legal argument. You need an honest answer to one of these questions.
What happened the last time you asked your PBM for a clear accounting of what they earn from your plan? Did you get a straight answer, or did the numbers come back in a format you couldn’t verify or compare?
Have you ever tried to audit your PBM? Were there restrictions on your auditor’s access? Scope limitations? A clause requiring you to sign a release before they’d cooperate?
When you look at your current contract, does your PBM’s compensation depend on decisions that affect what your employees pay at the pharmacy counter?
If any of those questions brings a specific situation to mind, whether a conversation, a contract clause, a number you couldn’t pin down, that situation belongs in the record. You don’t need to resolve it legally. You need to describe it accurately. DOL reviewers will do the rest.
He’s not a benefits attorney. He’s not a PBM specialist. He’s a physician who understands the rule being written will affect what patients pay for the drugs their plans are supposed to cover.
Here’s how he described the experience:
“We probably all know how to write a letter but it can be hard to come up with the right words to hammer home an important point. Some good question and answer, like having a colleague to bounce ideas off, and then a final draft ready for prime time.”
Nick van Terheyden, MD
That’s what 15 minutes looks like. A colleague to bounce ideas off. A draft ready for your name.
If that’s the barrier, not knowing how to start, not knowing whether your experience is specific enough, not having the right words for what you’ve seen, the DOL Comment Letter Assistant from Nautilus is built for exactly that.
Not convinced? Well this is how Dave Chase described it:
One of the best uses of AI I’ve seen. Absolutely brilliant! Dave Chase, co-founder of Health Rosetta
The comment period closes Wednesday. What happens after that is up to DOL. What happens before that is up to you.
What to Do First Thing Monday
1. Submit before April 15.
Click on this link to access the DOL Comment Letter Assistant from Nautilus. Spend 15 minutes answering questions about what you’ve experienced as a plan fiduciary. The tool produces a letter ready for review and submission. Deadline is Wednesday.
2. Submit directly at regulations.gov. Search Docket No. 2026-01907, click Comment, and paste or upload your letter. The inline text field has a character limit and will cut off longer submissions without warning. If your letter runs longer than about 4,800 characters, upload it as a Word document or PDF.
3. Forward to your general counsel and CFO. They have standing to submit comments independently and may not know the deadline is Wednesday. A one-line heads-up is enough: “DOL comment period on PBM transparency closes April 15. Worth 15 minutes using this DOL Comment Letter Assistant if you have them.”
4. If you’ve already submitted, share the tool. Forward this DOL Comment Letter Assistant link to one other plan fiduciary. Ideally a peer at another organization who hasn’t used it yet. The more documented employer experiences on the record, the harder it is to ignore.
In Closing
The people who rely on you don’t need you to be a policy expert. They need you to describe what you’ve seen, accurately and on the record, before the window closes.
Nick van Terheyden, MD found 15 minutes this week. So did Dave Chase. If you haven’t yet, Monday morning is the time.
Here’s to clearer thinking, stronger plans, and better outcomes for the people who rely on us.
All the best,
P.S. After April 15, the regulatory window closes and the contract work begins. Next week: what fiduciaries can demand from their PBM right now regardless of what DOL does with the final rule. The proactive path doesn’t wait for regulations.
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A Note of Appreciation
Nick van Terheyden, MD, ACPA-C
Dr. Nick van Terheyden (Dr. Nick to friends and colleagues) is an independent expert and leader in Digital Healthcare, Technology, and Sustainable Innovation who brings a distinctive blend of medical practice and business strategy both national and international, to the realm of healthcare technology.
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