CVS Health’s Aetna health insurance unit said it will bundle cancer treatments into a single clinical review as the industry works to further simplify its controversial prior authorization processes.

Aetna’s effort unveiled Thursday by the nation’s third-largest health insurance company involves “bundling prior authorizations” within the health plan enrollee’s medical benefit so they only need a single prior authorization once diagnosed with a specific condition.

In this case, Aetna has expanded prior authorization bundles this month “across all cancer types” for health plan members enrolled in some of the company’s Medicaid plans for poor Americans. In 2027, the company said it will have a “full roll out across all Aetna businesses.”

Aetna executives say they uncovered that its doctors and hospitals were submitting on average “four separate prior authorizations for each member in need of cancer treatments,” the company said Thursday.

“By offering a single, secure prior authorization for a bundle of cancer treatments, Aetna is helping patients access care simply throughout their treatment journey,” the company said in a statement. “Prior authorization bundles combine medical oncology, including chemotherapy and immunotherapy where appropriate, and/or radiation oncology services with associated high-tech imaging needs, such as MRI or CT scans, into one request submitted through a single portal.”

Thus, the bundling effort will reach millions of Americans.

Aetna had 26 million health plan members as of the end of the second quarter, CVS reported in August. CVS also owns the nation’s largest drugstore chain with about 9,000 pharmacies and nearly 1,000 retail clinics and one of the nation’s largest pharmacy benefit management companies.

It’s the latest effort in what has lately become an arms race of companies rolling out new and broad efforts to eliminate prior authorization. It also comes more than a year after the biggest names in health insurance , including Centene, Cigna, CVS Health’s Aetna, UnitedHealth Group’s UnitedHealthcare and Humana were among more than 50 health insurers to commit to reducing prior authorization along with simplifying business practices in general.

“A cancer diagnosis can be overwhelming for patients and families, and the care team should be focused on their patient, not paperwork,” said Katerina Guerraz, Aetna’s chief operating officer and president of Medicaid. “By approving a broader set of treatments and related services upfront, we are removing barriers that can delay care. Oncologists have the flexibility to make care decisions as treatment plans evolve, and individuals can focus on what matters most: their health, recovery, and time with their loved ones.”