What is to be done?
I do have suggested solutions. Given the insurance industry’s complete lack of progress in voluntarily reducing the burdens of prior authorizations agreed to in their consensus statement with the AMA, American Hospital Association, America’s Health Insurance Plans, American Pharmacists Association, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, and the Medical Group Management Association, I say, why not fine them? The AMA is calling on Congress to pass legislation that would codify much of the agreement, in which the above parties had already agreed that reforms were needed to reduce prior authorization burdens and enhance patient-centered care.6
A good model for enforcement via fines could be based on the old “incident to” rules of Medicare. These state that a physician needs to be “in the space” when advanced practice nurses or physician assistants see Medicare recipients. If they are not actually “in the space” they are subject to a fine. As a completely theoretical example, let’s say the claim was for $100. The practitioner would have to pay it back plus triple that amount in damages, or $400. They can also be fined up to $11,000 per claim and kick you out of Medicare and Medicaid. Take my example of Prolia from above…a single shot of Prolia is about $1,000. The insurer would theoretically have to pay $14,000/claim (the claim + triple damages + $11,000) if it was determined that the prior authorization was unnecessary. Seems about right to me. Or we could just sit the health insurance CEOs and their proxies in the corner on 2-foot-tall plastic Little Tikes® chairs for a “timeout” (dunce cap optional), like the outset of the article says.
Until the detrimental prior authorization process is challenged at all levels, we will continue to see and feel the effects of the harm it causes. Being able to drive change through advocacy and education is the best way we as clinicians can impact not just the future of health care but provide for the daily care of our patients who depend on and trust us to provide for their medical needs. We must be the impactors of change for ourselves, colleagues, staff, and profession if we are to really make advancements into the future.
Oh…and health insurance CEOs and their proxies, to get out of their “time-out” would still be entitled to one phone call to beg forgiveness from their mommies/daddies, priest/ rabbi/pastor, psychologist/psychiatrist/mystic healer, etc., but alas, the average wait time is an hour, and if anyone answers the phone, they have a grade school education used in following an irrelevant algorithm. ●