As a country, we take pride in medical innovation. We say that the value of our system is the new procedures or medications we create. But I don’t think I’ve ever successfully prescribed these medications to the patients who need them. I’m early in my career and every time I’ve tried, I’ve encountered paperwork like prior authorizations. As a new physician, this can be a nearly unsurmountable barrier. No one teaches you how to complete these forms. This is a major barrier to care for my patients, and a major disservice to medicine as a whole because it prevents us from progressing. When we can’t use the medications that we have available, we’re letting our patients down and wasting the resources we have available.