ArticleJCO oncology practice2022
Estimating the Practice-Level and National Cost Burden of Treatment-Related Prior Authorization for Academic Radiation Oncology Practices.
Article in JCO oncology practice, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- Clinician Education and Workflow Tools to Improve Access to Recurrent and Metastatic Cervical Cancer Treatment.Cureus · 2026Article
- Integrating Prior Authorization Into Clinical Workflows for Care Access and Practitioner Experience.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- The Burden of Insurance Prior Authorization on Cancer Care: A Review of Evidence From Radiation Oncology.Advances in radiation oncology · 2025Review
- Insurance Denials and Patient Treatment in a Large Academic Radiation Oncology Center.JAMA network open · 2024Article
- Quality of Large Language Model Responses to Radiation Oncology Patient Care Questions.JAMA network open · 2024Article
- The Patient Experience of Prior Authorization for Cancer Care.JAMA network open · 2023Article
- Online Adaptive Radiation Therapy and Opportunity Cost.Advances in radiation oncologyArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposePrior authorization (PA) imposes significant time burdens on radiation oncology practices, but its financial impact has not been characterized. We used time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC) to assess the cost burden of treatment-related PA events at an academic radiation oncology practice. We then estimated annual costs for an academic practice and academic practices nationally. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Using internal analyses, we created TDABC process maps for treatment-related PA events at an academic radiation oncology practice. Using published compensation data, internal workhour estimates, and supervisory requirements, we calculated the cost of each PA event and annual costs. Using data from the 2017 American Society for Radiation Oncology Workforce Survey and the 2018 American Society for Radiation Oncology Prior Authorization Survey, we estimated annual PA costs for academic medical centers nationally.
resultsWe successfully created TDABC process maps for treatment-related PA events at an academic radiation oncology practice. There were significant time and cost burdens for all events (range: 51-95 minutes, $28-$101 US dollars [USD]), with significant increases when peer-to-peer discussion was required (range: 92-95 minutes, $75-$101 USD). Annual treatment-related PA departmental costs were estimated to be $491,989 USD, with approved treatments accounting for the majority (94%; $463,027 USD). Nationally, annual treatment-related PA costs were estimated to be $40,125,848 USD, with approved treatments accounting for the majority (86%; $34,632,620 USD).
conclusionTDABC can be used to estimate the cost burden of PA events. These burdens are significant and translate into massive organizational costs. Our national estimates highlight the tremendous cost of PA for academic radiation oncology practices, with the majority of costs related to approved treatments.
Indexed as
Identifiers
35201904What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.