Medicare Update: Warning Over AI Delays Issued by Democrat
Summary
A new Medicare pilot program uses artificial intelligence (AI) to approve certain medical treatments but is causing long delays for seniors. Senator Maria Cantwell warned that the program is delaying care by weeks and asked the Department of Health and Human Services to review the issue.Key Facts
- The program is called the Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction (WISeR) Model and started in six states on January 1.
- WISeR uses AI to review if Medicare procedures should be approved before treatment.
- The pilot applies to 13 specific services like steroid injections and outpatient procedures.
- CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) promised to respond to routine claims within 72 hours and urgent claims within 24 hours.
- Many patients and providers are experiencing delays of 15 to 20 days or longer, sometimes up to 8 weeks.
- Some treatments are being denied without clear explanations.
- Senator Cantwell said AI is being used to deny coverage and warned about the risk to seniors’ access to care.
- HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the delays are unacceptable and promised to work on fixing them.
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