Plans to test prior authorization in traditional Medicare are deeply troubling

In an op-ed published by STAT, Don Berwick and Andrea Ducas discuss a new program from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services called “WISeR” and how it would result in countless eligible seniors being denied coverage.

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For both patients and clinicians, one of the advantages of traditional Medicare is that it almost entirely lacks the onerous preauthorization reviews that plague the program’s privately administered Medicare Advantage option.

But under a new demonstration program recently announced by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, that’s about to change. Preauthorization is about to enter the lives of seniors who have chosen traditional Medicare over Medicare Advantage (MA).

The above excerpt was originally published in STAT. Click here to view the full article.

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Authors

Donald Berwick

Senior Fellow

Andrea Ducas

Former Vice President, Health Policy

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Plans to test prior authorization in traditional Medicare are deeply troubling