Press Kit: Prior Authorization Obstacles to Cancer Patient Care

Prior authorization consistently ranks as one of the top challenges facing radiation oncologists, and ASTRO physician surveys point to the pervasive scope of prior authorization delays and interference in cancer care decisions. Below, find information from ASTRO on the scope of this problem in radiation oncology and our efforts to address it.

Press Materials

• Official Statement: ASTRO applauds House passage of bipartisan bill to reduce prior authorization burden and treatment delays (9/14/22)

• News Release: Prior authorization costs radiation oncology clinics more than $40 million each year, study estimates (10/25/21)

• News Release: Prior authorization obstacles unnecessarily delay patient access to cancer treatments, physician survey finds (4/25/19)

• Executive Summary: Prior Authorization and Cancer Patient Care: Results of a Nationwide Physician Survey (4/25/19)

• Physician testimonials on the burden of prior authorization for patients

• Blog Post: Denial by Delay

• Consensus statement from leading physician and payer organizations

Press Briefing: Prior Authorization Obstacles in Cancer Patient Care

Leaders from the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), the American Medical Association (AMA) and the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS) discussed restrictive prior authorization practices and the unnecessary burden they cause for cancer patients during an online press briefing in 2019. 

• View the slide deck from the briefing and the media advisory with more information on the speakers.

Congressional Testimony

In September 2019, then-ASTRO Chair Paul Harari, MD, FASTRO, discussed how prior authorization increasingly restricts physicians from exercising their clinical judgment in determining what is in the best interest of their patients during a U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Small Business hearing on “Utilization Management: Barriers to Care and Burdens on Small Medical Practice.” Watch the recording of the hearing.

Contacts and Social Media

Direct questions and interview requests to ASTRO’s media relations team. You can also reach us by phone at 703-286-1600. 

To keep up with the conversation on prior authorization, follow ASTRO on social media:

• ASTRO on Twitter
• ASTRO on Facebook
• #ASTROadvocacy
• #FixPriorAuth