Premier Applauds House Committee Approval of Electronic Prior Authorization Bill

By Soumi Saha, Senior Vice President, Government Affairs

Premier applauds the House Ways and Means Committee approval of the Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act of 2022. Passage of the bill is a critical step towards reducing unnecessarily complex administrative barriers in our healthcare system that create friction for healthcare providers and Medicare Advantage beneficiaries. This friction impedes patients’ access to timely care and physicians’ ability to concentrate on what they do best: providing care to patients.

The current system of prior authorization, which often features an outdated overreliance on faxes, phone calls and a literal paper trail, is not serving the needs of patients and too often results in delayed care. This outmoded process requires providers to spend hours immersed in administrative tasks—time that should be spent delivering care and practicing medicine directly, a much-needed focus given record clinical labor shortages.

The Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act will help address these prior authorization issues in Medicare Advantage plans. A streamlined and tech-enabled process will help reduce the time that caregivers spend on no-value activities, like sitting on hold trying to secure prior authorizations, and will provide immediate benefit to patients.

Premier urges the House and Senate to swiftly pass the Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act.