11/30/2022

ASCO Survey Shows Negative Impact of Prior Authorization on Cancer Care

Prior authorization is harming individuals with cancer according to new survey results from the Association for Clinical Oncology (ASCO). The survey found that prior authorization delays necessary care, worsens cancer care outcomes, and diverts clinicians from caring for their patients.

Nearly all survey participants report a patient has experienced harm because of prior authorization processes, including significant impacts on patient health such as disease progression (80%) and loss of life (36%). The most widely cited harms to patients reported are delays in treatment (96%) and diagnostic imaging (94%); patients being forced onto a second-choice therapy (93%) or denied therapy (87%); and increased patient out-of-pocket costs (88%). 

"The survey results confirm what ASCO members have been experiencing first-hand for years, which is that large numbers of patients face indefensible delays or denials of cancer care," said ASCO Board Chair Lori J. Pierce, MD, FASTRO, FASCO. "We now have a clearer picture of the extent to which those hurdles lead to poorer patient outcomes, including reports of deaths. It would be unconscionable for policymakers to leave current prior authorization requirements and their effects on people with cancer unexamined."

Read the full ASCO Prior Authorization Member Survey Summary Report.

Visit asco.org/priorauth for more information.