{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=2F0DCB42-7721-45A2-AC36-F9642F2A03BB", "Thune, Brown Push to Improve Prior Authorization in Medicare Advantage Plans", "2021-10-29", "2021", "2021-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio.) this week led a bipartisan group of senators in requesting an update on the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services\u2019 (CMS) efforts to streamline prior authorization protocols across programs, including Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. The senators are encouraging the Biden administration to take additional steps to strengthen prior authorization policies and make them more efficient for all Americans, including MA beneficiaries.\n\n\u201cWe support CMS\u2019s efforts to protect beneficiaries, increase transparency around prior authorization requirements, and streamline prior authorization processes for patients, providers, and health plans,\u201d the senators wrote. \u201cWe request an update on CMS\u2019s plans to revisit and advance policies to modernize and improve prior authorization for patients and providers.\u201d\n\nThune recently introduced the Improving Seniors\u2019 Timely Access to Care Act, bipartisan legislation that would improve timely access to quality care for seniors under MA. Specifically, the bill would modernize the way MA plans and health care providers use prior authorization. This legislation addresses the top administrative issue for physicians, and it would make the delivery of health care more patient- and doctor-friendly.\n\nThe letter was also signed by U.S. Senators Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Susan Collins (R-Maine.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.).\n\nFull letter below:\n\nThe Honorable Chiquita Brooks-LaSure\n\nAdministrator\n\nU.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services\n\n7500 Security Boulevard\n\nBaltimore, M.D. 21244\n\nDear Administrator Brooks-LaSure:\n\nWe write to thank you for your commitment to ensuring timely access to health care for all Americans, and to request an update on the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services\u2019 (CMS) efforts to streamline prior authorization protocols across programs. We encourage you to take additional steps to strengthen prior authorization policies and make them more efficient for all Americans, including Medicare Advantage (MA) beneficiaries.\n\nWe appreciate the recent actions CMS has taken related to prior authorization that attempt to strike a balance between program integrity and patient access to care. In December 2020, CMS issued a proposed rule to modernize processes related to prior authorization that would reduce significant burdens on health care providers and patients and improve patient outcomes.[1] This notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) would have made changes to streamline prior authorization processes across Medicaid, Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and federally-facilitated exchange (FFE) plans. To our disappointment, CMS formally withdrew these proposed changes to the prior authorization process in March 2021.\n\nMore recently, CMS issued a memorandum to MA plans, strongly encouraging all MA plans to waive or relax prior authorization requirements and utilization management processes related to COVID-19.[2] While we agree that prior authorization, when used appropriately, is an important tool for payers to manage costs and ensure program integrity, we support CMS\u2019s efforts to protect beneficiaries, increase transparency around prior authorization requirements, and streamline prior authorization processes for patients, providers, and health plans. We request an update on CMS\u2019s plans to revisit and advance policies to modernize and improve prior authorization for patients and providers.\n\nAs you have stated to Members of Congress, \u201cproviders and beneficiaries should not have to jump through unnecessary hoops for access to medically appropriate care.\u201d[3] The bipartisan, bicameral Improving Seniors\u2019 Timely Access to Care Act proposes a balanced approach to prior authorization in the MA program that would remove barriers to patients\u2019 timely access to care and allow providers to spend more time treating patients and less on paperwork hurdles.\n\nWe request an update on your recommended next steps for improving and streamlining prior authorization processes in a manner that benefits providers, health plans, and taxpayers, but especially beneficiaries \u2013 including MA enrollees. We urge you to build on CMS\u2019s prior work and use your regulatory authority to improve the prior authorization process across health plans, in line with the Improving Seniors\u2019 Timely Access to Care Act, by:\n\nestablishing an electronic, \u201creal-time\u201d prior authorization process across federal programs, including MA plans;\n\nreducing administrative burden for both providers and health plans;\n\nminimizing the use of prior authorization for routinely approved items and services;\n\nincreasing transparency around prior authorization requirements and clinical information needed to support decisions; and\n\nexpanding beneficiary protections.\n\nWe look forward to learning more about CMS\u2019s ongoing work to preserve timely access to medically necessary care, and we look forward to working together to streamline prior authorization protocols and implementing reforms that will improve the transparency and efficiency of prior authorization protocols in a manner that benefits beneficiaries.\n\nThank you again for your dedication to this matter.\n\nSincerely,", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:24:51Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=2F0DCB42-7721-45A2-AC36-F9642F2A03BB"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8734501898288727, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}