Premier Urges Senate Committee to Address Private Payer Delays and Denials

Premier submitted a statement for a hearing the Senate Budget Committee convened to examine what actions Congress can take to reduce paperwork, cut costs and a alleviate administrative burdens in healthcare. In its statement, Premier underscored the urgency in Congress immediately addressing the issue of unnecessary payment denials and delays by Medicare Advantage plans. Premier cited the results of its recent survey of hospitals and health systems that revealed the rampant scope of the problem, the administrative and financial cost these private payer practices impose on providers and the impact on patients nationwide.

Premier outlined the policy recommendations that we and 118 of our member organizations provided to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to prevent these payment delays and denials and reviewed the response from CMS that sheds light on the scope and limitations of what the agency believes is its current statutory authority in this area. Premier plans to leverage CMS’ response to refine our policy recommendations on these key issues - including advocating for statutory change where needed.