Prior authorization is the denial process I fight every day as a doctor. Patients deserve a yes-or-no on a timeframe that doesn't kill them while they wait.
What it does.
S. 1816 ends the prior-authorization backlog that keeps Kansas seniors waiting weeks for Medicare Advantage care a doctor has already prescribed. The bill puts 24- and 72-hour decision deadlines into law, mandates electronic submission and decision standards, and gives CMS the authority to set and tighten those timeframes over time.
Doc reintroduced the bill on May 20, 2025 as co-lead. It has 63 Senate cosponsors and is supported by every major patient-advocacy and provider organization in the space, including the AMA, AHA, MGMA, the Medicare Rights Center, and disease-specific groups. It is in the Senate Finance Committee awaiting action.
Doc has paired the statutory bill with the June 2025 HHS/CMS administrative prior-auth pledge: the pledge sets industry direction; the bill puts the timeframes into law so they survive a future administration.
Prior authorization is the friction layer between a Kansas senior and the care a doctor has already prescribed. For rural Kansans, where the specialist is two hours away, a delayed prior-auth approval is often the entire reason care doesn't happen.