About 1,000 pages of federal records show that vendors in Medicare's assisted prior authorization pilot often missed the program's 72-hour response goal during its first months. According to one internal status report, a request went unanswered for 83 days.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which sued the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in March under the Freedom of Information Act, published the records on Sept. 8. The documents include contracts with technology companies, internal status reports, and provider complaints about the Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction (WISeR) model. The pilot began in January in Arizona, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, and Washington.
