Inside a “Touchless” Prior Authorization Workflow: How Faster Decisions Improve Patient Access to Therapy

For patients who need medication or treatment, timing matters. Starting therapy today instead of days—or weeks—later can change outcomes, improve adherence and reinforce trust in the care plan established between a patient and their provider.

Why Speed to Therapy Matters—From the Clinician’s Point of View 

As a physician, I’ve seen how often the right clinical decision is made in the exam room, only for momentum to slow once prior authorization enters the picture. Patients don’t experience prior authorization as a process or a policy—they experience it as waiting. And when that waiting delays therapy, it becomes more than an inconvenience. It becomes a barrier to care.

A “touchless” prior authorization helps address this challenge by accelerating determinations and keeping treatment moving forward.

Where Delays in Therapy Often Begin 

In many care settings today, prior authorization remains a necessary step for certain medications, even when clinical appropriateness is clear. Once prior authorization is triggered, treatment timing depends on how quickly a determination can be made.

When those determinations take days instead of minutes, therapy starts are delayed—even though the care plan itself hasn’t changed.

This experience is far from rare. In a 2024 Surescripts survey, 79% of prescribers said the medication prior authorization process has delayed care, and 49% said prior authorization requirements often or sometimes prevented them from prescribing a medication their patients needed. Among patients who experience prior authorization delays, many wait a week or longer before treatment can begin.

From a clinical perspective, the challenge isn’t identifying what care a patient needs—it’s keeping that care on track once authorization is required.

What a “Touchless” Workflow Changes—and What It Doesn’t 

With Surescripts Prior Authorization Automation, eligible prior authorizations are initiated automatically at the moment a provider signs the prescription, using clinical data already captured in the patient’s electronic health record, and the prior authorization is sent to the PBM automatically. When criteria are met, determinations can be returned electronically—often in seconds—without manual submission or follow‑up. Instead of waiting for a series of follow‑up steps, a determination is received almost instantly after the prescription is signed—helping care teams avoid unnecessary pauses between prescribing and treatment start.

“Touchless” prior authorization does not change payer requirements or eliminate the need for the payer decision. What it changes is how the clinical data is gathered and transmitted to the payer once a prescription is signed and how the prior authorization is automatically initiated.

This distinction matters. The goal isn’t to adjust the care plan around authorization—it’s to make the authorization process move at a pace that matches the clinical decision already made.

“A touchless system [is] the dream that we’ve been all wanting…Anything that expedites [prior authorization] to get the benefits of those new therapeutics for our patients is a win.”

Danny Lee, M.D.

Chief Medical Informatics Officer, Johns Hopkins Community Physicians

Accelerating Decisions So Treatment Can Begin

Speed to therapy depends on how efficiently authorization determinations can be completed once prior authorization is required.

Prior Authorization Automation removes manual steps for eligible scenarios by allowing authorizations to be completed automatically, behind the scenes. In these cases, no one has to initiate, submit or manage the prior authorization, and decisions can be returned quickly—18 seconds median approval time--reducing the gap between prescribing and treatment initiation.

From a provider perspective, this is where automation makes its greatest impact. Faster determinations help preserve continuity of care and reduce the chance that patients experience delays unrelated to their clinical needs.

From a patient’s point of view, fewer handoffs and faster decisions mean fewer interruptions to care plans. That continuity is essential, especially when treatment timelines directly affect outcomes.

As clinicians, we know that even short delays can influence whether patients start—and stay on—therapy. Reducing those delays helps keep care on track.

Why Faster Access Matters to Patients

Delays in starting therapy aren’t just operational challenges; they introduce uncertainty at a moment when patients are often already anxious about their diagnosis or next steps. 

Nearly 89% of prescribers say prior authorization requirements negatively impact health outcomes. Delayed therapy can affect adherence, disrupt care plans and undermine confidence in the care journey.

From a clinical standpoint, timely access is part of delivering effective care. Patients who begin therapy sooner are more likely to remain engaged and see the intended benefits of treatment.

Prior Authorization That Supports Timely Care

Prior Authorization Automation isn’t about bypassing safeguards. It’s about delivering clinically appropriate authorization decisions as quickly as possible by identifying requirements early and automating where appropriate.

With Prior Authorization Automation, Surescripts helps reduce unnecessary pauses between clinical decisions and treatment initiation—so patients can access therapy sooner and providers can move forward with confidence.

When prior authorization works within the flow of care, it becomes less of a barrier—and more of a bridge between treatment decisions and timely access to therapy.