Comment on CMS-2026-1255-0001
Essentia HealthSupportBusiness
Summary: Essentia Health, a healthcare organization, supports the proposed rule to expand interoperability and data transmission standards to prescription drugs to reduce administrative burden and improve transparency. They specifically advocate for the use of the TEFCA framework for security and suggest additional metrics to better capture the operational impact of prior authorization requests on providers.
On behalf of Essentia Health, we appreciate the opportunity to provide comments on the Interoperability Standards for Drugs proposed rule. The proposal builds on prior authorization policies previously finalized by CMS by extending key interoperability and data transmission standards to prescription drugs and establishing publicly available payer reporting requirements. Overall, Essentia Health supports many of the policies in this proposed rule and appreciates CMS’s continued efforts to reduce administrative burden, improve payer transparency, and advance more consistent prior authorization standards. Please see attached letter for our full comments.