(HealthDay)—More than one-third of physicians report that prior authorization has led to a serious adverse event for a patient in their care, according to a survey released by the American Medical Association (AMA).
The web-based survey was conducted in December 2021 and included a sample of 1,004 practicing physicians (40% primary care), all of whom complete prior authorizations during a typical work week.
The survey found that 34% of physicians reported that prior authorization led to a serious adverse event, such as hospitalization (24%) and disability or death (8%), for a patient in their care. Care delays were reported by the vast majority of responding physicians (93%) while waiting for health insurers to authorize necessary care. More than four in five physicians (82%) said patients abandoned treatment due to authorization struggles with health insurers.
Roughly half of physicians reported that prior authorization had interfered with a patient’s job responsibilities. The AMA urges employers to ask health insurance plans about the impact of prior authorizations and to solicit feedback from employees.
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