Key metrics and takeaways from the report include:

Sixty-six percent of prescriptions rejected at the pharmacy require PA (this equals approximately 300 million PA requests). Of those, 36 percent are abandoned each year.
Only 31 percent of physicians reported knowing if a PA was required while prescribing a medication.
Forty percent of providers cite PA around specialty medications as the main pain point when prescribing medication.
On average, providers who exclusively use an electronic method for PA requests report spending 2.5 fewer hours on PA each week. However, few providers reported exclusively using an ePA solution, with 76 percent reportedly using more than one channel to complete PA requests.
In January, H.R. 4841, the Standardizing Electronic Prior Authorization for Safe Prescribing Act, was introduced in the U.S. Congress. This bipartisan bill is designed to drive ePA usage in the Medicare Part D Program, improving prescription access for Medicare beneficiaries.

"While the market continues to grow and evolve, a natural focus is beginning to shift to more strategic and granular approaches to ePA to meet market need," the authors write. "For example, how can ePA be of use for specialty medications? What other technology solutions are there to solve problems such as real-time prescription benefit (RTPB) check during the E-Prescribing process?"

Instant Insights /

Use of electronic prior authorizations is increasing

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