(Des Moines) House File 303 is one of the many bills in the Iowa House this session aimed at improving access to quality healthcare in Iowa.
Iowa House District 18 Representative Tom Moore said the bill does this by addressing prior authorization. Prior authorization is a practice that requires insurance companies to approve a medical procedure or medication before it can be given to the patient. He said the goal of this practice is to control costs, but it can often result in delays in getting patients the care that they need. HF 303 aims to improve access to quality care in a number of ways…
- Insurance companies must respond to a request for prior authorization from a health care provider in 48 hours if it is an urgent request. A nonurgent request must be responded to in 10 days. The bill does allow 15 days to respond if it is a nonurgent request and a complex/unique situation, or when experiencing a high volume of requests.
- Insurance companies must review all health care services that require prior authorization every year and eliminate those that do not promote health care quality or reduce health care spending.
- Health insurers must implement a pilot program that exempts a subset of providers from certain prior authorizations. They must then submit a report on their pilot program to the Insurance Division by January 15th, 2026.
Moore said HF 303 will speed up Iowan’s access to the care they need and lower the administrative burden on health care providers, allowing them to spend more time with patients.
