Patients and Physicians Speak Out
Prior authorization burdens negatively impact patients and health care professionals around the country every day. Explore their stories and share your own experiences to make your voice heard on the need to #FixPriorAuth.
Featured Stories
Yes, just last year I needed knee surgery. The insurance made me go through 2 weeks of resting it then 3 weeks of physical therapy plus a fluid removal attempt. All this before I could even get an MRI that my ortho doc with 40 yrs experience knew I needed in the first place. After the MRI I had to wait 2 more weeks for approval. From start to finish I was laid up 4 months and even lost my job because I ran out of FMLA. Now I have a wrist injury and I am not going for treatment because I really like my new job and I am afraid to go through it all again.
I went almost two weeks without long-acting insulin and two days without even short-acting insulin waiting for prior authorizations. This landed me in the ER 3 times and sent me into a pancreatitis flare. And wasted about 3 hours of my doctor’s time to get insulin. This was not new either; I have been diabetic since I was a kid, so about 25 years. They also made me switch what kind I use, and that caused my sugar to be out of control for weeks, even after I finally got the insulin, while I determined my correct bolus dose of the new insulin.
Share Your Story
Have you ever gone to the pharmacy to fill a prescription only to be told that your insurance company requires approval before they'll cover your treatment?
Have you ever waited days, weeks or months for a test or medical procedure to be scheduled because you needed authorization from an insurer?
Are you a physician frustrated with the administrative headaches and their impact on your patients?
Have prior authorization delays caused you to take more sick days, be less productive at work or miss out on day-to-day life?
Share how prior authorization has impacted you, your loved ones or your patients to draw attention to the need for decision-makers to address this issue. Your voice can make an impact.
All Stories
Use the buttons below to explore how prior authorization impacts both health care professionals and patients throughout the country.
I have one employee entirely devoted to prior authorizations appeals and setting up peer-to-peer appointments. It is one of the worst things to occur to the non-surgical practice of medicine.
Patients come to me for help, but I am shut down by the prior authorization system routinely. I cannot recall a single antibiotic that has been approved without PA except for Bactrim in the past 3 months. Imagine, a urologist is not allowed to prescribe for immediate treatment of UTIs. I get less hassle for CT scans actually. The whole PA program is a farce anyway. All they do is ask me if I really need the medicine and did I try another. If they have another suggestion it should be made automatically and I should have the ability to bypass it. They even reject antibiotics that are free at local pharmacies. It is absurd and wasteful and harmful.
I am a pediatrician, and I find prior authorizations to be a huge burden to my office's productivity. Additionally, I have experienced significant delays getting my patients the treatments that they need, including life-saving treatments such as epinephrine autoinjectors for anaphylaxis and inhalers for asthma. I also struggle getting medications approved for ADHD, acne, and even some critically important psychiatric medications, leaving patients with severe depression and hallucinations untreated with delays ranging from days to weeks.