Nearly all insured patients have experienced the annoyance of waiting on a “prior authorization” … the process whereby a doctor or other medical provider provides detailed information about a procedure and then the insurance company will review determining medical necessity and what the existing coverage will allow.
How long does the wait last? It can be a few hours, to several days, to several weeks. Why the difference? Several factors can play a role:
Complexity: Specialized or experimental procedures can take longer for approval (if at all) while routine procedures can be decided more quickly.
Company Practice & Policies: Some insurance companies may not work on approvals as fast as others, while in some cases specific internal policies and guidelines can add time to the process.
Paperwork Requirements: Specific paperwork, parameters, and forms, coupled with accuracy and level of detail can play a factor in how quickly an authorization is handled.
Prior authorization has come under fire … a survey of doctors found that 82% of prior authorization (PA) requests lead to treatment abandonment (when a patient never begins their treatment), and 34% of doctors reported that PA requests led to a serious negative medical event for a patient.
How to avoid the delays and aggravation of waiting? Depending upon the procedure, a self-pay patient can book through ColonoscopyAssist in less time than if they tried to schedule on their own.
At ColonoscopyAssist we make pricing transparent and scheduling easy for our customers. By working with accredited, high-quality ranked providers outside the traditional channels of insurance coverage, we can provide clear pricing and NONE of the waiting that insurance prior authorizations can lead to for procedures like colonoscopies, upper endoscopies, and many other GI procedures.
By removing the administrative burdens of the broken healthcare system and the delay of insurance companies, we can provide low-cost and easy to get GI procedures for the self-paying patient.
Visit us at www.colonoscopyassist.com to find a provider convenient to you and at a cost you can afford.
