Records reveal problems in Medicare's AI prior-auth experiment

The Electronic Frontier Foundation released about 1,000 pages (https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/09/new-records-reveal-problems-medicares-ai-prior-authorization-experiment) of CMS records from its FOIA lawsuit over WISeR. WISeR is the AI-driven prior-auth model Medicare launched in January across six states. The files show vendors get paid to deny requests, with low quality scores trimming pay by only 5 to 10 percent. Two vendors logged more than 20,000 denials in three months. Provider feedback in the release ties the delays to patients waiting in pain for procedures like kyphoplasty while needed surgeries were canceled.