Survey Says? Regulatory burdens divert from patient care.

The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) recently released results of a survey and the findings are enough to make patients, providers and caregivers cringe. MGMA’s survey of hundreds of medical practices revealed that over the past year, as health care providers nobly adapted to delivering care during the COVID-19 public health emergency, these practices experienced increased regulatory burdens. Administrative hassles and hoops are cumbersome wherever they are encountered but in this case those burdens are funneling resources away from direct patient care. That is downright alarming.

The 420 medical group practices that responded to the survey tagged prior authorization requirements – health plan policies that interfere with carefully crafted, individualized treatment plans physicians develop for their patients – as the hurdle they most frequently encounter. One respondent shared that prior authorization utilization management stipulations “have repeatedly delayed care and have forced us to hire additional staff simply to keep up with the ever-changing prior authorization environment.”

Health care providers dedicate years in medical school and residency gaining the expertise to diagnose, treat and cure patients; not to beg over phone, fax, or a shadowy web portal for approval of the treatment option they know is best for their patient. Patients and Providers United amplifies the voices that seek to keep patients and providers at the center of medical decision making because when prior authorization processes are deliberately difficult and driven by cost containment goals rather than concern for patients, priorities are dangerously off-track.