Medicare’s AI-assisted coverage review pilot hit early snags, documents show
A federal program testing whether artificial intelligence and other technologies can help Medicare reduce wasteful spending ran into problems after a rushed start, according to Freedom of Information Act documents the Electronic Frontier Foundation released Tuesday.
Technology companies have used AI in six states to help human clinicians determine whether Medicare will cover select services since the beginning of the year, when CMS launched the program known as the WISeR model. Services undergoing AI-assisted coverage reviews have included skin substitutes and electrical nerve stimulator implants.
Hospital groups and members of Congress have criticized the initiative for delaying medical care for seniors and burdening medical providers with extra paperwork.
But the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also raised concerns with the WISeR model, informing four of the program’s six vendors of issues earlier this year, per the newly released documents.
Three of the vendors — Genzeon Corporation, Virtix...
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