EFF Sues CMS for Transparency on WISeR: Medicare's AI Prior Authorization Experiment Across Six States

Electronic Frontier Foundation·medium signal

The EFF filed a lawsuit against the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services demanding transparency about the WISeR (Wasteful and Inappropriate Services Reduction) program, which uses AI algorithms to assess prior authorization requests for Medicare beneficiaries across Arizona, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, and Washington through 2031. EFF Director of AI Legal Projects Kit Walsh warned that 'tasking an algorithm with making determinations about treatment can create unwarranted—and even discriminatory—delays or denials of necessary medical care.' The program was announced by CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz with virtually no public documentation of how the AI systems make decisions.