By Janet Campbell (Epic), EHRA Public Policy Leadership Workgroup Vice Chair

This is part two in a four-part series examining the need for ePA, the barriers presented by the current environment, necessary capabilities, and functionality, and the EHR Association’s policy recommendations. Part one can be read here.

Streamlining the electronic prior authorization (ePA) process will require significant coordination and standardization across multiple domains within individual healthcare organizations, across dozens of health plans covering their patients, and across the health IT tools in use by every participant in the process.

Progress is being made by various stakeholders in terms of standards development. Notably, the Coverage Requirements Determination (CRD), Documentation Templates and Rules (DTR), and the Prior Authorization Support (PAS) implementation guides – all a part of the Da Vinci Project’s efforts to understand functional requirements, build consensus on a technical approach, pilot, and iterate – have resulted in significant progress toward the enablement of highly automated prior authorization workflows.