A Medicare pilot program that uses artificial intelligence to make coverage decisions will continue to be used in Washington state for the time being.
The U.S. Senate on July 16 rejected a resolution that would have halted the Wasteful & Inappropriate Services, or WISeR, model being tested by the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services in a handful of states. Senate Republicans rallied to defeat the resolution, which was introduced by U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Washington.
“This model inserts a black box computer algorithm into the decisions that should be being made by a physician and the patient,” Cantwell said in a statement. “I’m asking my colleagues to please get educated on how devastating this can be for individual lives and ask yourselves if you believe in traditional Medicare and the doctor-patient relationship. If you do, I guarantee you we will force…
