Member News

AAPM&R is proud to announce that we joined the Regulatory Relief Coalition (RRC) in May 2022. The RRC is a group of national physician specialty organizations advocating for regulatory burden reduction in Medicare so that physicians can spend more time treating patients. RRC has focused on common sense reform to streamline the prior authorization program in Medicare Advantage (MA) plans.

The coalition has been leading advocacy on the Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act in the 116^th and 117^th Congresses. This bill (HR 3173/S 3018) establishes requirements and standards relating to prior authorization in MA plans, specifically that MA plans must:

1. Establish an electronic prior authorization program that meets specified standards, including the ability to provide real-time decisions in response to requests for items and services that are routinely approved;
2. Annually publish specified prior authorization information, including the percentage of requests approved and the average response time; and
3. Meet other standards, as set by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, relating to the quality and timeliness of prior authorization determinations.

The Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act currently has widespread, bi-partisan support in both the House and Senate with 290 co-sponsors in the House and 25 in the Senate.

AAPM&R has long been a supporter of this bill and of the RRC’s work to advance it in Congress. AAPM&R has included this bill in our priorities to our annual Hill Day Fly-Ins, participated in advocacy campaigns and led our membership to participate in grassroots campaigns.

Review the RRC’s website.