The AMA is the largest physician lobby in the U.S. It has generally opposed prior authorization; its website refers to the process as “overused, costly, inefficient, opaque and responsible for patient care delays.”
That puts the association at odds with insurers, which have cited prior authorization as a key cost-cutting measure in the healthcare space. Employers may feel similarly. A 2019 survey of employers by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, a nonprofit membership organization for benefits professionals, found prior authorization was one of the top five cost-cutting techniques cited by respondents.
