The Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act (H.R. 3514 / S. 1816) was officially reintroduced May 20 by its champions: in the Senate by Sens. Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-KS) and Mark Warner (D-VA), and in the House by Reps. Mike Kelly (R-PA), Suzan DelBene (D-WA), Ami Bera, M.D. (D-CA), and John Joyce, M.D. (R-PA).

The legislation already has strong bipartisan support, with over 160 endorsing organizations and 47 senators and 73 House members signed on as original cosponsors. This bill is nearly identical (with some technical amendments made to the text) to legislation offered in the previous Congress that was not adopted in an end-of-the-year package in 2024, even though it received a Congressional Budget Office score of zero in October 2024.

The bill seeks to modernize the prior authorization process through standardization and electronic requests and responses. In addition, the bill codifies some important reporting requirements on prior authorization, both in aggregate but also at the item and service level. This information can provide some critical transparency on what items and services incur the greatest number of requests, the frequency with which they are approved or denied, and the outcomes of appeals.

The bill would also give the Department of Health and Human Services the authority to establish timeframes for e-prior authorization requests, including real-time decisions for routinely approved items and services. LeadingAge has leant its support to the legislation again this year.

LeadingAge members and state partners are encouraged to add their organization’s name to the list of endorsing organizations here.