June 15, 2026- Vizient® submitted comments to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology on a proposed rule to streamline the prior authorization process for drugs. Vizient’s comments address several key areas, including support for expanding electronic prior authorization (ePA) requirements to help ease provider burden and enhance access and recommendations for prior authorization metrics to improve transparency.
In our comments, Vizient expressed support for CMS’s proposal to extend ePA requirements to drugs covered by several different types of payers, including Medicare Advantage organizations and Qualified Health Plan (QHP) issuers on the Federally Facilitated Exchanges (FFE). Vizient noted that standardized ePA processes and specific timelines for prior authorization decisions can reduce administrative complexity, improve consistency across payers, and help patients access medically necessary treatments more efficiently.
Vizient also encouraged CMS to strengthen transparency and reduce provider burden by requiring payers to provide more detailed information for resubmissions and appeals and more granular reporting of prior authorization metrics to help identify recurring access challenges for both drugs and non-drug items and services.
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