Leading tech companies support use of prior auths

WASHINGTON – Five leading employers – Amazon, Axon Enterprise, Google, Meta and Oracle – have signed a statement of support to make the technical improvements and other capabilities being developed through the 2025 Prior Authorization Pledge available to employers that sponsor self-funded health plans, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). “Prior authorization should help patients get the right care, not trap doctors and families in administrative delays,” said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. “Under President Trump, HHS is cutting unnecessary bureaucracy, modernizing how health plans make coverage decisions, and expanding these reforms to millions of Americans in self-funded plans. I thank these employers for helping us move faster toward a healthcare system that puts patients and doctors first.” HHS says the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) are working together to expand the benefits of prior authorization reform to the self-funded market. DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) works directly with the employer-sponsored benefits community, including self-funded health plans. HHS says this new employer commitment builds on the Trump Administration’s work to reduce administrative burden and modernize prior authorization across the health care system. In June 2025, CMS secured voluntary commitments from major health plans to standardize electronic prior authorization, reduce the volume of services subject to prior authorization, improve transparency and increase real-time responses. CMS’s Interoperability and Prior Authorization Final Rule also requires certain impacted payers to implement electronic prior authorization capabilities for medical items and services beginning Jan. 1, 2027, while the Health Tech Ecosystem’s Electronic Prior Authorization Acceleration initiative brings together providers, health systems, electronic health record developers, health information exchanges, and other organizations to address real-world implementation challenges.