Addressing The Limits of the New CMS Prior Authorization Rules

The center for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) has recently brought in new rules to make the prior approval process in healthcare better. These updates aim to greatly boost how efficient and clear the system is for everyone involved, including both patients and healthcare providers. Despite progress made, some crucial issues remain unaddressed. This blog will explore key limitations of the recent CMS rules on pre-approval, such as the exclusion of medication, inapplicability to company health plans, oversight of insurer decisions, and the flaws in the appeal process. We’ll also talk about what’s next to make prior authorization better.

Prescription Drugs Excluded

One notable issue with the recent CMS rules on prior authorization is their exclusion of medication prescriptions. Requiring prior authorization for medications can create barriers to patient care, causing delays in treatment access, care disruption, and increased paperwork for healthcare providers and patients. This is especially problematic for patients with ongoing medical needs, as delays can harm health outcomes.

Impact on Patient Care

Individuals dealing with long-term health issues such as diabetes, high blood pressure, or mental health problems frequently need steady access to medications for effective condition management. If authorization for these medications is delayed, patients may suffer from worsening symptoms, complications, and potentially avoidable hospital stays. For instance, a diabetic patient who does not receive timely insulin could face severe health risks.

Administrative Burdens

Healthcare providers also shoulder a large administrative load because prescription drugs aren’t included in the new rules. Doctors and their teams must spend a lot of time on prior authorization for meds, taking resources away from patient care. As per a recent study by the American Medical Association, nearly 86% of doctors mentioned that the challenges linked to medication approval processes have intensified in the last five years. This situation has caused decreased work efficiency and heightened dissatisfaction among healthcare workers.

Future Considerations

The CMS has acknowledged issues with excluding prescription drugs and hinted at possible future changes to address this. It’s crucial for them to integrate prescription drugs into the reforms for pre-approval processes to ensure timely access to medicines and reduce paperwork. This could involve setting up consistent criteria and smoother procedures for medication approvals, similar to what’s planned for other healthcare services under the new rules.

Employer-Sponsored Plans

Another big issue with the new CMS rules on prior authorization is that they don’t cover most health plans sponsored by employers. These plans are used by many people, so lots of folks won’t get to benefit from the better processes and more openness these rules bring.

Coverage Gaps

The omission of plans sponsored by employers causes a gap in the healthcare system. This leads to some people having simpler authorization processes for medical treatments, while others face more complex hurdles. Such disparities affect access to healthcare and administrative burdens based on the type of insurance. For instance, employees under employer plans may experience delays in receiving necessary treatments, unlike those covered by Medicare or Medicaid.

Administrative Complexity

Companies and insurers offering work-based health plans often create their own rules and processes for prior approval, which can be very different. This variation makes it harder for healthcare providers who have to follow different rules and procedures based on the patient’s insurance. Making the prior approval processes the same for all health plans, including those from employers, could reduce these challenges and make healthcare delivery more efficient.

Legislative Action

To tackle this issue, lawmakers might need to pass new laws. One idea could be to expand the latest CMS rules on prior approval to also apply to health plans from employers. This could set up the same rules for all health plans, no matter how they get their money, and help the healthcare system be more fair and work better.

Plan Decision-Making Processes

The recent CMS rules don’t cover how health insurance plans choose which treatments need pre-approval or the criteria they use for these choices. This oversight might keep differences and possible inefficiencies in check-ups before okaying needed treatments, which might still bother doctors and patients alike.

Inconsistent Criteria

Insurance companies can decide which services need approval before they can be used and the exact rules they use to decide. This choice can make decisions seem unfair, where similar services need approval under one plan but not under another. These differences can make it hard for doctors and patients to get things done quickly.

Transparency and Accountability

The absence of set rules and clear decision methods weakens responsibility in the healthcare sector. Patients and healthcare providers often don’t know why certain services need approval in advance or why they get denied. More openness in health insurance decision-making is crucial to ensure fair and even enforcement of advance approval rules.

Proposed Solutions

To address these concerns, CMS might consider introducing additional rules requiring health plans to reveal the standards and reasons for their prior authorization decisions. This step would enhance transparency and help providers and patients manage the prior authorization process more effectively. Also, setting uniform criteria for services that require prior authorization could decrease differences and improve the healthcare system’s performance.

Appeals Process

The updated regulations mention reporting needs for appeals before approval, yet they lack complete details on the appeal process or results. It’s crucial to increase transparency and accessible info on appeals to help consumers navigate the system and ensure fair decisions.

Limited Information

Current rules make health plans report data on prior authorization requests and appeals, but they don’t need to share detailed info about how appeals work or their outcomes. This lack of complete data makes it hard to judge how well appeals work or find ways to make them better.

Patient and Provider Challenges

Patients and healthcare providers often encounter problems with navigating the appeals process. This can be complicated and take a lot of time. Not having enough details about how to appeal, the time limits, and the rules for reviewing appeals can stop people from fighting for their rights. This can mean patients don’t get the care they need and doctors struggle to help them effectively.

Enhancing Transparency

To make the appeals process better, CMS could require health plans to provide detailed information about how appeals work, like clear instructions, timelines, and criteria for review. Also, health plans should have to share complete data about what happens with appeals, including why they say no or yes. This data would help keep an eye on how appeals are going and find any problems that need fixing.

Looking Ahead

Despite some drawbacks, the latest CMS rules mark a forward move in enhancing prior approval procedures. They strive to cut down on paperwork, boost openness, and guarantee prompt access to essential healthcare. Yet, ongoing work is needed to handle outstanding issues and make sure all users gain from these upgrades.

Expanding Coverage

Future rule changes need to cover prescription meds and health plans from employers. This way, CMS can make sure more folks get easier prior auth and clear rules.

Standardizing Criteria

Setting the same rules for approving treatments in all health plans can make healthcare work better. This would also make sure everyone gets treated fairly and in the same way, which helps doctors and patients.

Enhancing Appeals

Enhancing clarity and making information about the appeals process more accessible are crucial to ensure decisions are fair. Requiring health plans to share detailed information about the appeals process and full data on how appeals are resolved can help people navigate the system better and stand up for their rights.

Collaborative Efforts

Dealing with the constraints of the recent CMS approval rules will need teamwork among policymakers, healthcare providers, insurers, and patient support groups. These groups must collaborate to find areas for improvement, come up with new solutions, and push for needed changes in rules and policies.

The recent changes to CMS rules about prior authorization are a big step towards making healthcare smoother and clearer. But, some big problems are still there. Prescription drugs aren’t covered, and neither are employer plans. Health plans make decisions without much oversight, and it’s hard to appeal. Fixing these problems needs everyone to work together. If CMS makes rules broader, criteria standard, things more open, and appeals better, it’ll cut paperwork and make sure everyone gets care on time.

At Practolytics, our goal is to support healthcare providers in adjusting to these changes and enhancing their management of revenue cycles to improve patient results and operational effectiveness

ALSO READ – The Impact of Prior Authorization on Patient Health Outcomes