The world of healthcare is in a constant state of flux, and as we venture into 2024, pivotal changes in Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D regulations are poised to reshape the landscape. The 2024 MA and Part D Final Rule, recently unveiled by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), shines a spotlight on critical areas such as marketing oversight, prescription drugs, and prior authorization processes. While the entire spectrum of changes is significant, the spotlight particularly falls on prior authorization reform—a long-awaited advancement that has garnered immense attention from providers and healthcare stakeholders alike.
Unveiling the Burdens of Prior Authorization
Prior authorization has been an enduring conundrum for healthcare providers, imposing substantial burdens and barriers to timely patient care. The urgency for reform has been underscored by data from the American Medical Association (AMA), revealing that physicians navigate a labyrinth of an average of 41 prior authorizations each week, collectively dedicating a staggering two business days to these processes.
The real impact of these authorization demands is further felt by patients, with a staggering 93 percent of physicians reporting that their patients encounter delays in accessing necessary treatments or services due to the time-consuming prior authorization requisites. In the wake of these delays, patients may even forsake treatment, raising concerns about their well-being.
The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) has cast a spotlight on prior authorizations, labeling them as the top regulatory burden for medical practices in recent years. In fact, last year itself in 2022 alone, nearly 89 percent of practices were compelled to allocate resources exclusively to tackle the challenges of prior authorizations. This unprecedented shift has led to widespread changes in practice dynamics, indicating the imperative nature of prior authorization reform.
Revolutionizing the Landscape: MA Prior Authorization Changes
The 2024 MA and Part D Final Rule introduces pivotal reforms in the prior authorization sphere, fostering a more streamlined and efficient process while safeguarding patient access to essential care. These reform measures encompass several key facets:
- Ensuring Parity with Traditional Medicare – In a bid to ensure that Medicare Advantage beneficiaries enjoy equitable access to care, the final rule necessitates that Medicare Advantage plans adhere to national coverage determinations, local coverage determinations, and the broader coverage and benefit conditions established in traditional Medicare regulations. This move serves to bridge the gap and fortify the continuity of care for beneficiaries.
- Streamlining Prior Authorization – CMS has embarked on a journey to streamline the prior authorization process, redrawing the boundaries of its application. Health plans will now only employ prior authorization to ascertain the presence of a diagnosis or other medical criteria, ensuring the medical necessity of specific treatments or services.
- Transition Period and Continuity of Care – To facilitate seamless transitions in care, coordinated care plans are mandated to provide beneficiaries with a robust 90-day transition window. During this period, beneficiaries undergoing treatment and migrating to a new Medicare Advantage plan are shielded from prior authorization demands, ensuring the continuity of their active treatment.
- Annual Utilization Management Review – The final rule introduces an annual review of utilization management policies for all Medicare Advantage plans, aligning these policies with the coverage guidelines established under traditional Medicare. This strategic alignment aims to enhance consistency and guarantee that beneficiaries receive consistent and comprehensive care across the Medicare Advantage spectrum.
- Validity of Prior Authorization Approvals – Emphasizing the importance of care continuity, the final rule enforces that prior authorization approvals remain valid for the duration of medical necessity, guided by relevant coverage criteria, a patient’s medical history, and the provider’s expert recommendations.
In essence, these modifications signify a concerted effort to strike a balance between ensuring beneficiaries’ access to essential care and streamlining prior authorization procedures, you surely need an expert to manage the prior auth confusion. With the constant evolving regulations and changing rules, an expert can not only help you with all your prior auth confusion but assist in managing it seamless.
Sunknowledge – the conclusion for seamless prior authorization:
Closing all your prior authorization gaps are closed efficiently, Sunknowledge today is a decade old authorization solution for many leading names in the industry. Improving your clinical validity of coverage criteria, increasing transparency of health plans’ prior authorization processes and reducing disruptions in prior authorization requirements, Sunknowledge further ensures an increase in authorization rate by 1.5 – 2x.
Reducing all your administrative burdens and harmonize Medicare Advantage regulations with those under traditional Medicare, Sunknowledge expert streamlined processes, and improved patient access to essential care in no time. With 100 % authorization submission on the same day and 99.9 % accuracy rate, the expert further guarantees highest productivity across the industry.
So if you are looking for expert solution to manage the complex nature of prior authorization or pre certification, call Sunknowledge now!