Maria Cantwell

Washington state hospitals say their Medicare patients are waiting two to four times longer in some cases for procedures that are now subject to prior authorization under a new Medicare program.

The report from Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) is among the first to document alleged patient harm stemming from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ new Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction, or WISeR, Model. Cantwell is one of several Democratic members of Congress who have been urging CMS to scrap the program, which launched Jan. 1.

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