U.S. Rep. Maggie Goodlander signed onto a letter alongside 41 other U.S. representatives asking Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and Abe Sutton, deputy administrator, to back away from a proposed change to traditional Medicare.

CMS announced in June it was adding prior authorization requirements to traditional Medicare as a pilot program. That means, for certain procedures, the federal government will partner with private companies to determine whether a patient on Medicare should receive care their doctor is requesting. The agency said it will use its “WISeR” model, a protocol officials say will allow them to root out waste, abuse, and fraud, and test artificial intelligence as a tool to expedite the prior authorizations.

Prior authorization is already a common requirement in Medicare Advantage, an alternative form of Medicare offered by government-approved private companies that eligible Americans can opt into. Prior authorization has been criticized by patients and advocates who say it creates too large of a bureaucratic burden and limits the number of providers willing to work with Medicare Advantage enrollees. A 2022 Department of Health and Human Services study shows that of the prior authorization requests that were denied, 13% should not have been.

“CMS is committed to crushing fraud, waste, and abuse, and the WISeR Model will help root out waste in Original Medicare,” Oz said in a release announcing the move. “Combining the speed of technology and the experienced clinicians, this new model helps bring Medicare into the 21st century by testing a streamlined prior authorization process, while protecting Medicare beneficiaries from being given unnecessary and often costly procedures.”

However, critics have argued the change simply keeps Medicare enrollees from receiving care they need. 

“The expansion of AI-fueled prior authorization will not improve program integrity in Traditional Medicare,” read the letter signed by Goodlander, which was also signed by Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of New York; Becca Balint, of Vermont; and James McGovern, of Massachusetts. “Giving private for-profit actors a veto over care provided to seniors and people with disabilities in Traditional Medicare, even as a pilot program, opens the door to further erosion of our Medicare system.”

The letter continued, “While strong guardrails are important to prevent fraudulent claims and the wasteful delivery of unnecessary medical services, prior authorization, which imposes an overly steep burden on patients and providers, is a poor tool for achieving these objectives.”