Newman, MSMS Applaud Marleau, Schuitmaker for Universal Prior Authorization Bills, Effort to Improve Patient Care

Common Sense Health Care Reform Legislation to Cut Red Tape, Bureaucracy, Empower Doctors to Spend More Time with Patients

LANSING -Michigan State Medical Society President Steven Newman, MD, today praised state Senators Jim Marleau (R-Lake Orion) and Tonya Schuitmaker (R-Lawton) for introducing bipartisan legislation responding to calls from Michigan physicians to improve patients' access to the best care by creating a universal prior authorization form for prescription drugs.  The bills will cut red tape and bureaucracy and will speed the delivery of health care.

"Michigan physicians and their staffs want to be in the exam room with patients, not chained to their desks sorting through hundreds of different versions of the same basic paperwork," said Newman.  "By creating a universal prior authorization form, legislators send a clear message that they want physicians to be able to spend time with their patients and not filling out redundant forms."

"We join families and physicians across Michigan in applauding Senators Marleau and  Schuitmaker for taking the critical first steps towards common sense health care reform that clears bureaucratic hurdles and red tape standing in the way of the best patient care."

The Michigan State Medical Society (MSMS) last month in Kalamazoo at their annual House of Delegates meeting passed a formal resolution calling for the creation of a universal prior authorization form to improve patients' access to the best care.

The bills, SB 429 and SB 430 ask Michigan's Insurance Commissioner to create a single universal prior authorization form to replace the hundreds of different forms physicians and their staffs currently sort through every day to accomplish the same task.  The bipartisan legislation preserves the right of insurance companies to choose which drugs they cover under each plan and is cosponsored by numerous other Republicans and Democrats.