Physicians and staff spend an average of two whole workdays per week completing prior authorizations, taking them away from patients and patient care for about 14 hours a week, according to a March 14 report from the AMA that surveyed 1,001 practicing physicians.
Medical practices complete 45 prior authorizations per physician per week on average.
Eighty-eight percent of physicians reported prior authorization burden as being either high or extremely high, while 2 in 5 physicians employ staff members to work exclusively on prior authorizations, the report said.
