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This Wednesday, September 14, 2022, the Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act is scheduled for a vote on the House floor.  The legislation would bring  much needed transparency and oversight to prior authorization in the Medicare Advantage (MA) program.

Spearheaded by the Powers-led Regulatory Relief Coalition (RRC), the legislation would help streamline & standardize prior authorization in the MA program so that physicians can spend more time treating patients and less time overcoming bureaucratic hurdles and barriers to medically necessary patient care.  The legislation was approved by voice vote of the House Ways and Means committee in July 2022.

The RRC is advancing this bipartisan, bicameral legislation to help protect patients from unnecessary delays in care by streamlining and standardizing prior authorization in the Medicare Advantage (MA) program. The bill is being championed in the House by Reps. Suzan DelBene (D-WA), Mike Kelly (R-PA), Ami Bera, MD (D-CA), and Larry Bucshon, MD (R-IN) and in the Senate by Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), John Thune (R-SD), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH).

Principal Peggy Tighe, who works closely with both the Healthcare and Government Relations & Public Policy teams at Powers, serves as the lead legislative counsel for the RRC and was instrumental in developing and advancing this legislation. Tighe works with Powers Partner Diane Millman, who served as regulatory counsel for the coalition. For RRC, the work meant intense negotiations to finalize the legislation and enlisting hundreds of House and Senate co-sponsors and organizational endorsements. RRC also created and maintained a comprehensive website for coalition members and the public to access information regarding the bill. The website also contains a mechanism for endorsing the bill.

For more information about healthcare policy and advocacy, Peggy Tighe can be reached at Peggy.Tighe@PowersLaw.com or 202-875-6752.

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