What We’re Reading: Health Insurers to Cut PA Process; Bipartisan Bill to Stop MA Overpayments; J&J Ends RSV Vaccine Work

Health Insurers Seek to Reduce Medical Paperwork Due to Prior Authorization

UnitedHealthcare, Cigna, and Aetna have announced new cuts to their use of the prior authorization process, according to The Wall Street Journal. These cuts would not only remove many procedures and medical devices that require signoffs but would remove many prior authorization requirements for doctors and hospitals whose requests are nearly always approved.

Bipartisan Bill Aims to Stop MA Up-coding Practices Leading to Overpayments

New legislation hopes to stop overpayments to Medicare Advantage (MA) plans after feuding with the CMS over risk adjustment, according to Fierce Healthcare. The bill aims to remove financial incentives for MA plans to no longer need to make risk adjustments to get higher Medicare payments. If signed, the bill would also remove diagnoses from chart reviews and health risk assessments when calculating a patient’s risk score.

J&J Ducks Out of Race for Approval of the World’s First RSV Vaccine

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) announced that it is backing out of the race for approval of the world’s first respiratory syndactyl virus (RSV) vaccine, according to CNBC. This decision came after rivals Pfizer and GSK made big strides toward approval of their vaccines, while J&J lagged behind. The company announced in a press release that it will stop working on its investigational RSV program and will discontinue its phase 3 trial testing shot.