Of 300 million prior authorization requests rejected at the pharmacy each year, 36 percent are abandoned, according to a recent report by CoverMyMeds.
CoverMyMeds published the ePA National Adoption Scorecard alongside an advisory group of leaders from RelayHealth, Express Scripts, Cerner, Cardinal Health and the Virginia Association of Health Plans, among others. The scorecard summarizes the state of electronic prior authorization initiatives and implementation rates by market leaders.
Here are four statistics on the state of electronic prior authorization for pharmaceuticals, according to the scorecard.
1. Roughly a third (31 percent) of physician respondents said they knew if a prior authorization was needed while prescribing medication.
2. Prior authorization for specialty medications was the biggest pain point for 40 percent of providers when prescribing medication, according to the report.
3. Providers who used only an electronic method for prior authorization requests spent 2.5 fewer hours on prior authorization on average each week.
4. However, 76 percent of providers use more than one means to file prior authorization requests, and only a few rely solely on electronic prior authorization solutions.