Patients Receive Prescriptions Quickly with Automatic Prior Authorizations in Epic

It’s difficult for patients to follow their treatment plan when they can’t pick up their prescriptions soon after their clinic visit. While the prior authorization process for medication orders at Advocate Aurora Health previously took approximately four days, authorization requests are now sent electronically and automatically with Epic, allowing patients to pick up medications sooner and clinic staff to focus their time on patient care.

Advocate Aurora Health now completes over 80% of prior authorizations automatically. A centralized authorization team handles the rest. Nearly the opposite is true for most other U.S. healthcare organizations, with 88% of prior authorizations across the country still being completed partially or completely manually.

“We know that the longer patients wait before they get their medication filled, the less likely they are to fill [the prescription],” said Dr. Scott Hardin, a physical medicine and rehabilitation physician at Advocate Aurora Health. “So, it may not seem like a big deal to do a little waiting, but when the patients wait, they don’t get their meds and then they don’t get the treatment that they need.”

With prescriptions ready as early as the day they were prescribed, more patients are now filling their prescriptions and following their treatment plans.

Read more at Rev Cycle Intelligence.