Senate Democrats failed Thursday to kill an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven prior authorization demonstration program for traditional Medicare, but they say this isn't the end of the road.
"Democrats tried to stop AI prior authorization in Medicare," Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) wrote on X after the vote was taken. "Republicans blocked it -- apparently they agree with Trump that AI knows better when it comes to healthcare decisions for our seniors. This isn't the end. We'll keep fighting back."
In June 2025, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a new demonstration project in traditional Medicare: the Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction (WISeR) Model. Under the model, "CMS will partner with companies specializing in enhanced technologies to test ways to provide an improved and expedited prior authorization process" in traditional Medicare, the agency said in a press release, adding that the model will help "patients and providers avoid unnecessary or inappropriate care and [will safeguard] federal taxpayer dollars."
The WISeR model tests new technologies -- including AI -- to see whether they can expedite the prior authorization processes for certain items and services "that have been identified as particularly vulnerable to fraud, waste, and abuse, or inappropriate use," the press release noted. "These items and services include, but are not limited to, skin and tissue substitutes, electrical nerve stimulator implants, and knee arthroscopy for knee osteoarthritis."
