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How Healthcare Clinics Handle Prior Authorizations?

One exhausted medical assistant summed it up perfectly in a recent Reddit discussion:

“I’m so sick of always doing PAs at my office on top of everything else — rooming patients, reminder calls, answering patient messages. It never ends.”

That frustration echoes across clinics nationwide. Prior authorizations (PAs) have become one of the biggest administrative pain points in healthcare — time-consuming, repetitive, and rarely managed efficiently.

Healthcare professionals from primary care to rheumatology and GI shared how PAs eat into clinical time, create confusion, and lead to burnout. Some rotate the task weekly, others have dedicated staff — but very few have found a sustainable solution.

Rotating Prior Authorizations Creates Gaps

Many practices rotate PAs among medical assistants, hoping to share the workload. But according to healthcare workers, this approach creates more chaos than relief.

“We rotate each week between 4 or 5 MAs,” one user wrote. “That week’s MA does PAs, but between weeks they fall through or no one follows up.”

This rotation model leads to missed deadlines, denials, and unclear accountability. If one MA calls out sick or gets overloaded, no one knows which PAs are pending.

“It’s impossible to get it all done and still see patients,” another MA said.

The discussion revealed a consistent theme: rotating PAs doesn’t work. It fragments communication, delays approvals, and increases staff stress.

Clinical Staff Struggle to Balance PAs With Patient Care

In many clinics, PAs are assigned to medical assistants who already have full patient-care duties.

“It was impossible for us MAs to get it done on top of everything else,” one healthcare worker said.

Several shared frustration about unequal task distribution:

“My office makes all us MAs do them even though we have four nurses who could easily help — but don’t.”

This imbalance pulls clinical staff away from direct patient interaction, reduces quality of care, and drives turnover.

Healthcare professionals in the discussion agreed that expecting MAs to manage both patients and prior authorizations is unsustainable.

Specialty Clinics Face the Heaviest PA Burden

Specialty clinics — like gastroenterology and rheumatology — report the worst PA workload.

“It’s specialty medications and biologics,” one GI team member said. “Our providers handle appeals, so rotating weeks makes it impossible to stay organized.”

A rheumatology assistant echoed this:

“We deal with a lot of specialty meds. I do the PAs on the front end and reimbursements after. None of the clinical staff have the time.”

These high-cost medications often require appeals, peer-to-peers, and payer documentation, making the process much more complex.

Rotating or ad-hoc PA systems break down under that pressure — and result in treatment delays for patients who need timely biologic approval.

Dedicated PA Staff Improve Consistency

Several clinics reported significant improvement after hiring dedicated prior authorization specialists.

“My office hired a specific person to handle all the prior authorizations — it’s wonderful,” one professional shared.

“Our health system transitioned an LPN to a nurse navigator who does all of our PAs now,” another added.

With a dedicated staff member:

• Follow-ups are consistent

• Appeals get handled faster

• Staff know exactly who owns the process

Dedicated PA staff bring clarity and consistency, improving both patient care and team morale.

Centralized and Remote PA Teams Provide Relief

Some clinics have moved beyond in-house solutions altogether.

“There’s now a dedicated off-site team that handles them all,” one medical assistant said. “It’s taken a huge load off my shoulders.”

Another added:

“The old clinic I worked at had a remote nurse who did all the PAs — it was great for the providers.”

Centralized PA teams ensure deadlines are met, create a single source of truth, and prevent denials due to missed follow-ups.

Remote teams also help maintain coverage during absences, something rotating staff models often fail to achieve.

Tracking Systems Help Manage Workload

Even simple tracking tools help.

“We document all PAs in a shared Excel sheet,” one cardiology staff member explained. “Date, patient, MD, status, comments — that way nothing gets missed.”

This kind of real-time visibility helps avoid duplicate work and ensures accountability.

However, as professionals in the thread pointed out, even the best spreadsheets can’t fix staffing shortages — or the constant interruptions that make completing PAs impossible for clinical staff.

How Virtual Prior Authorization Specialists Solve These Problems ?

Here’s where Staffingly’s Virtual Prior Authorization Specialists come in — built specifically to support clinics struggling with rotating or incomplete PA systems.

Healthcare professionals have learned that technology alone isn’t enough — PAs still need trained human oversight.

✅ Dedicated Prior Authorization Specialists – Submit, track, and manage all PAs through payer portals.
✅ Appeals and Follow-Ups – Handle denials, resubmissions, and peer-to-peer scheduling.
✅ Insurance Verification Integration – Check eligibility and benefits before authorization submission.

Virtual specialists from India, Pakistan, and the Philippines — often medical doctors, nurses, and PharmDs — combine clinical knowledge with operational precision.

With HIPAA, SOC 2, and ISO 27001 compliance, Staffingly ensures full data security while delivering measurable workflow improvement.

And with rates starting at $9.50/hour (under $2,000 monthly), clinics save over $4,000 per position compared to local staffing.

AI + Human Strategy: Managing PAs Smarter

Many practices are exploring automation tools for PA submission — but as one healthcare IT professional said:

“AI can fill forms, but it can’t chase payers or interpret denial notes.”

Staffingly follows a Human + AI strategy:

• AI handles routine form completion and portal navigation.

• Virtual PA specialists manage exceptions, documentation, and communication with payers.

• Supervisors continuously optimize automation tools for better accuracy.

The result: automation enhanced by human expertise, not replaced by it.

Stop Prior Authorization Backlogs and Staff Burnout

If your clinic is drowning in PAs, denials, and frustrated staff, it’s time to simplify.

15-Day Free Trial — Dedicated PA Support Without Risk

✓ Prior Authorization Specialists – Manage all payer submissions, appeals, and follow-ups
✓ Eligibility & Benefits Experts – Verify coverage before authorization submission
✓ AI + Human Oversight – Combine automation with real human judgment for accuracy

HIPAA-compliant. Healthcare-specialized. Starting at $9.50/hour — under $2,000 monthly vs $6,000+ for local staff.

What Did We Learn?

From healthcare professionals sharing their experience:

• Rotating PAs between MAs causes missed follow-ups and incomplete submissions.

• MAs are overloaded when PAs are added to patient care duties.

• Specialty clinics face heavier burdens with biologics and specialty drugs.

• Dedicated PA staff improve efficiency and reduce denials.

• Centralized and remote PA teams relieve burnout and increase consistency.

• Tracking systems help — but staffing strategy matters more.

What People Are Asking ?

Q1. How do most clinics handle PAs?
Many rotate between MAs, but the best results come from dedicated PA staff or centralized teams.

Q2. Who should handle PAs — MAs or nurses?
Nurse navigators or dedicated PA staff perform better, freeing MAs to focus on patients.

Q3. Should PAs rotate weekly?
No. Rotations cause confusion and missed deadlines. Dedicated ownership is key.

Q4. How do specialty clinics handle PAs?
They need full-time staff for appeals, denials, and peer-to-peers — not rotating roles.

Q5. Do centralized PA teams really help?
Yes. Clinics report fewer denials, less stress, and faster approvals.

Disclaimer

For informational purposes only; not applicable to specific situations.

For tailored support and professional services

Please contact Staffingly, Inc. at (800) 489-5877

Email: support@staffingly.com

About This Blog: This Blog is brought to you by Staffingly, Inc., a trusted name in healthcare outsourcing. The team of skilled healthcare specialists and content creators is dedicated to improving the quality and efficiency of healthcare services. The team passionate about sharing knowledge through insightful articles, blogs, and other educational resources.