Healthcare Facilities See Increase in Regulatory Burdens

An overwhelming majority (89 percent) of medical practices say the overall regulatory burden on their medical practice has increased over the past 12 months, according to the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA)  2022 Annual Regulatory Burden Report. With responses from over 500 medical group practices, survey findings included within the report reveal the true and significant impact of federal regulations on the U.S. healthcare system.  

Even more respondents (97 percent) say a reduction in regulatory burden would allow their practices to reallocate resources toward patient care. Prior authorization requirements once again ranked as the top burden for medical practices, with requirements stemming from the No Surprises Act and Medicare's Quality Payment Program coming in second and third. 

Medical groups continue to face growing challenges with prior authorization, including delays in prior authorization decisions, inconsistent payer payment policies, and processing prior authorizations for routinely approved items and services. Eighty-nine percent of respondents say their practice had to hire or redistribute staff to work on prior authorizations due to the increase in requests. 

"The increase in prior authorization requirements year after year is simply unsustainable," says Anders Gilberg, senior vice president of government affairs at MGMA. "Practices are being forced to divert resources away from delivering care to contend with these onerous and ever-changing requirements. It is time that Congress acts to put commonsense guardrails around prior authorization programs."