News: Report ranks prior authorization requirements as top burden on providers

According to a recent report by the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), 89% of respondents said that the overall regulatory burden on their organization increased over the last 12 months. MGMA also found in the survey that prior authorization requirements were ranked as the top burden for providers. In second and third place, the No Surprises Act and Medicare’s Quality Payment Program were also reported as large burdens. Because of this, the increase in prior authorization requirements each year is considered unsustainable by many, HealthLeaders reported.

Of respondents from over 500 medical group practices, 97% agreed with the statement that a reduction in regulatory burden would allow for resource reallocation toward patient care. Another 89% said that their practice had to hire or redistribute staff to work on prior authorizations after the increase in requests.

“Practices are being forced to divert resources away from delivering care to contend with these onerous and ever-changing requirements,” said Anders Gilberg, senior vice president of Government Affairs at MGMA in a statement. “It is time that Congress acts to put commonsense guardrails around prior authorization programs. We urge the expedient passage of the Improving Seniors' Timely Access to Care Act before the end of this year.”

MGMA’s Government Affairs team plans to utilize this data as it informs Congress about the obstacles faced by medical practices as they work to deliver high-quality patient care.

Editor’s note: To read HealthLeaders’ coverage of this story, click here. To read the MGMA report, click here.