Grassroots Action Center
Urge Your Representative to Support H.R. 3514/S.1816
H.R. 3514, the Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act of 2025, addresses a critical barrier facing Medicare Advantage beneficiaries and the mental health counselors who serve them: burdensome and opaque prior authorization (PA) processes that delay or deny needed care.
Why This Matters for Mental Health Care:
Prior authorization delays in Medicare Advantage plans routinely disrupt mental health treatment, forcing clients to wait for therapy sessions, delaying interventions, or interrupting care at critical moments. This legislation would create meaningful reform by:
- establishing electronic, standardized prior authorization across all Medicare Advantage plans, eliminating faxes and proprietary portals.
- requiring real-time decisions for routinely approved services and 24-hour decisions for emergent care.
- mandating transparency by requiring plans to publicly report approval/denial rates, PA policies, and use of artificial intelligence.
- ensuring qualified review by requiring PA decisions to be made by licensed physicians board certified in the relevant specialty.
- creating accountability through data collection and congressional reporting.
Impact on Your Practice:
For mental health counselors serving Medicare Advantage patients, these reforms would:
- reduce treatment delays and administrative burden.
- create more predictable authorization processes.
- provide visibility into plan requirements and approval patterns.
- allow more time for clinical care instead of paperwork.
Take Action:
Ask your representative to co-sponsor and support H.R. 3514/S.1816. Mental health treatment is time-sensitive—prior authorization processes should not create barriers that interrupt care and harm patient outcomes.
Your voice matters. Send your message today.
