Prior Authorization

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AI That Pays: Lessons from Revenue Cycle — Nathan Wan, Ensemble Health
AI Engineer· 2025-07-24 16:15
Healthcare Industry Challenges - 40% of hospitals operate at a negative margin due to broken revenue cycle processes [1] - Healthcare administration has increased 30-fold in the past three decades, while clinicians have barely doubled, indicating growing complexity [11][12] - 20% of the GDP is attributed to the healthcare system, with a large proportion being the administration of healthcare [9] Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) & AI Opportunity - Revenue cycle management (RCM) refers to the financial process of the patient's journey within the healthcare system [3] - AI has a big opportunity to shift resources from bureaucracy towards clinical care by addressing inefficiencies in RCM [16] - Ensemble Health Partners estimates a large amount of the cost associated with healthcare is related to friction in communication between payers, providers, and patients [14] Ensemble Health Partners' Approach - Ensemble Health Partners is an end-to-end RCM organization with 14,000 employees, providing a unique lens into inefficiencies throughout the entire process [2][3] - Ensemble Health Partners uses its EIQ platform to bring together multiple data formats within a single platform to address the challenges of unstructured data scattered across systems [33][34] - Ensemble Health Partners has seen a 40% reduction in time in the clinical appeal process by using GenAI [30] - Ensemble Health Partners aims to build a smarter, more coordinated system to reduce waste in the overall revenue cycle process [37]
UnitedHealth, CVS Among Major Insurers To Fast-Track Prior Authorizations: Will It Cut Profits Even More?
Benzinga· 2025-06-23 16:07
Group 1 - Major U.S. health insurers, including CVS Health, UnitedHealth Group, and Elevance Health, have agreed to measures to expedite patient care and reduce paperwork for providers [1][2] - The changes will affect commercial insurance and some Medicare and Medicaid plans, potentially benefiting 257 million Americans [2] - Insurers recognize that these changes may increase patient care usage, impacting profits, but are deemed necessary for healthcare system improvement [2] Group 2 - Healthcare stocks are underperforming the broader market, with the Healthcare Select Sector SPDR Fund trading at its lowest relative value to the S&P 500 in over a decade, reflecting a 40% drop from 2015 levels [3] - Historical trends indicate that significant undervaluation in healthcare often leads to strong rebounds, as seen after downturns in 2001 and 2008 [4] - Analysts remain optimistic, with 59 out of 60 healthcare companies in the XLV having 12-month price targets above current prices, indicating an average expected upside of 17% [4] Group 3 - A common standard for electronic prior authorization requests is set to be established by 2027, aiming for at least 80% of requests to receive real-time responses [5] - The number of services requiring prior authorization is expected to be reduced by 2026, streamlining processes to alleviate the administrative burden on healthcare providers [5]