Proposed legislation in Kentucky to create a gold carding program for prior authorization requests has failed, the Winchester Sun reported March 29.
“Unfortunately House Bill 317 looks like it's dead," state Rep. Kim Moser, the bill's sponsor, told the news outlet. “We tried in good faith to work out a compromise and we did not have the same reciprocation."
The bill would have allowed providers with a 90% or higher prior authorization approval rate over a period of six months to bypass the process for certain services. The legislation would have only applied to 450,000 individuals with state-regulated health plans.
The Kentucky Hospital Association and the Kentucky Medical Association were in favor of the legislation, while the Kentucky Association of Health Plans was not.
Nationally, the top three reasons insurers say they discontinue gold carding programs are because they are administratively difficult to implement, they reduce quality/patient safety, and they lead to higher costs.