Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services of the Department of Health and Human Services relating to "Medicare Program; Implementation of Prior Authorization for Select Services for the Wasteful and Inappropriate Services Reduction (WISeR) Model".

Core Policy Mechanism Top 1

CRA Disapproval of CMS WISeR Prior Authorization Rule

• Population Scope High The WISeR Model prior authorization requirements apply across the entire Medicare program, directly affecting tens of millions of Medicare beneficiaries who use select covered services, as well as the broad universe of healthcare providers who must navigate prior authorization processes under that program.
• Budgetary Magnitude Medium The resolution itself appropriates no funds and contains no spending mechanism, but nullifying a CMS prior authorization rule designed to reduce 'wasteful and inappropriate services' in Medicare carries significant indirect budgetary consequences — prior authorization programs are specifically intended to constrain Medicare expenditures, so voiding the rule removes those cost-control measures from a multi-trillion-dollar program, though no specific dollar figure is cited in the bill text.
• Legal / Regulatory Depth Medium While the resolution permanently voids the specific CMS WISeR rule (declaring it 'shall have no force or effect'), the Congressional Review Act mechanism it employs affects procedural and regulatory standing rather than enacting a new substantive statutory prohibition — it removes an agency rule from the books but does not itself create a new statutory mandate, private right, or binding legal standard governing Medicare prior authorization going forward, leaving CMS's underlying authority intact.
• Degree of Discretion Granted Low The resolution is a mandatory, non-discretionary disapproval vehicle — the single operative clause states Congress 'disapproves' the rule and declares it without force or effect, with no 'may' language, no delegated rulemaking authority, and no discretion granted to any agency or official in its implementation.
• Implementation & Enforcement Burden Low The resolution creates no new enforcement mechanism, imposes no penalties, and establishes no compliance requirements; its sole operative effect is to nullify the CMS WISeR rule, which itself relieves rather than adds to the compliance burden on providers and beneficiaries who would otherwise have been subject to the prior authorization process.
• Temporal Commitment High The resolution contains no sunset clause, expiration date, or mandatory review provision, and under the Congressional Review Act a disapproved rule may not be reissued in 'substantially the same form' without subsequent statutory authorization, making the nullification of the WISeR prior authorization rule a permanent, open-ended constraint binding future CMS action.