Issue link: http://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/1062971
T H E G A M E O F Insurer-May-I that is prior authorization (PA) leaves providers frustrated and often means patients skip care, according to a recent AMA survey. The survey of approximately 1,000 specialists and primary care physicians found that: + Roughly two-thirds of physicians wait a minimum of one business day for PA in a given week; almost a third wait three or more. + The process delays access to needed care often or always, according to 54 percent of physicians. + PA leads patients to forgo recommended treatment at least sometimes, 78 percent of physicians report. + More than nine in 10 physicians believe PA has a somewhat or signifi cantly negative effect on clinical outcomes. + The PA-related burden on physicians and staff is high or extremely high, according to 84 percent of respondents. + Most physicians believe the burden caused by PA has risen during the past fi ve years. n — Steve Barrett Workplace Clinics May Reduce Costs, Hospitalization T H E A C A' S M E D I C A L D E V I C E TA X reduced research and development (R&D) funding, according to a study conducted at Iowa State University. Daeyong Lee, PhD, Assistant Professor of Human Development and Family Studies, found the 2.3 percent tax reduced manufacturers' R&D expenditures by $34 million, sales revenue by $188 million, gross margins by $375 million and earnings by $68 million. The tax was imposed in 2013 but placed under a 2015 moratorium that is still in effect. It applied to a wide range of devices — everything from defi brillators to needles — but was not imposed on eyeglasses, hearing aids and some other items. The companies did not pass along the increased costs to large customers, such as major hospitals and clinics, mainly because of those facilities' market power, according to Lee. The fi ndings appear in Research Policy. n — Steve Barrett Prior Authorization vs. Timely Care Medical Device Tax Linked to Lower R&D Funding Hold, Please: S C H O O L D I S T R I C T S C A N reduce health- care costs by roughly 15 percent if they provide teachers and their families access to on-site primary care health clinics, according to research in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. The study, by the RAND Corporation, also found hospital admissions are lower among teachers who use such clinics. The research focused on five school- based clinics in Nashville, Tennessee. Each teacher in the district could reach a clinic within a 15-minute drive from the facility where he or she worked. Annual per-person healthcare costs were approximately $750 lower for users of the clinics, due largely to reduced hospital inpatient and outpatient costs and to savings on prescriptions. Clinics had no statistically significant effect on teacher absenteeism. Nearly one-fourth of employers with at least 1,000 employees provided on-site health clinics in 2016, notes a news release about the study. That is up from 16 percent in 2009. n — Steve Barrett 1 6