Press kit
Everything you need to verify, quote, and contextualize Prior Authorization Accountability — a non-commercial accountability project that connects insurers' own CMS-0057-F delay data to peer-reviewed cancer mortality dose-response curves.
One-paragraph description
Prior Authorization Accountability is an independent U.S. healthcare accountability project that applies published hazard ratios from Hanna et al. (BMJ 2020) and related meta-analyses to prior-authorization delay lengths drawn from insurers' own federal CMS-0057-F disclosures. It produces transparent, confidence-interval-backed estimates of population-level excess mortality risk associated with delay — never attributing individual deaths to named companies. Every figure links to a citable source; the full formula is open and checkable.
What we will claim
- Prior authorization is associated with measurable operational delays and denials in insurers' own published CMS-0057-F data.
- Peer-reviewed literature quantifies how cancer treatment delay is associated with increased mortality hazard (Hanna et al., BMJ 2020; Johns Hopkins/AJM 2025 systematic review of U.S. prior-auth harm).
- Combining those two public evidence streams yields a modeled excess-risk estimate with confidence intervals — checkable on our methodology page.
- High appeal-overturn rates (KFF, HHS-OIG) suggest many initial denials are reversed after delay.
What we will not claim
- We do not claim any insurer "killed" or "caused N deaths."
- We do not prove causation in any individual patient case.
- We do not provide medical or legal advice.
- CMS-0057-F data is aggregated across all services (not oncology-specific) and self-reported — we state those limits on every output.
Key verified statistics (ready to quote)
Each figure below links to its primary source. All are framed as denial/delay or risk metrics — never as a claim that any insurer "caused" deaths.
- 52.8 million Medicare Advantage prior-authorization determinations in 2024 — 7.7% (4.1 million) fully or partially denied (KFF, CY2024 data).
- Only 11.5% of MA prior-auth denials were appealed — but 80.7% of those appeals were overturned in the patient's favor, showing denials are frequently reversed once challenged (KFF, CY2024).
- More than 1 in 4 physicians (29%) report prior authorization led to a serious adverse event for a patient in their care — including hospitalization, disability, or death (AMA 2024 Prior Authorization Physician Survey).
- ~10% higher relative risk of death for every 4-week delay to cancer treatment, from a 34-study, 1.2-million-patient systematic review and meta-analysis (Hanna et al., BMJ 2020).
- 95% of appealed Medicare Advantage skilled-nursing-facility (SNF) denials were overturned, raising concerns about the initial denials (HHS Office of Inspector General).
Aggregate figures (KFF, HHS-OIG, AMA, Hanna BMJ 2020) are independently verifiable via the linked sources. The mortality figure is a published relative-risk estimate, not a count of deaths attributable to any company. Any per-company denial or turnaround figure on this site is a third-party aggregation (AuthDenied), not yet confirmed against the payer's primary CMS-0057-F filing.
Three verified case cards (ready to quote)
The National Baseline
2.9-day national median PA turnaround (AuthDenied) × head & neck RT hazard ratio (Hanna BMJ 2020).
View case →High vs Low Denial Parent
UnitedHealth (16.3% denial) vs Humana (7.2%) on the same breast-surgery evidence base.
View case →Appeals Prove Denials Wrong
95% SNF appeal overturn (OIG) + 7-day CMS window × colon surgery HR.
View case →Per-company denial and turnaround figures in these cases are third-party aggregations (AuthDenied), not yet confirmed against primary CMS-0057-F filings — see each case and the methodology.
Suggested subject lines
- CMS just forced insurers to publish PA delay data — we built the first tool that connects it to peer-reviewed mortality risk
- New site quantifies excess cancer mortality risk from insurers' own prior-auth turnaround times (fully sourced)
- When 95% of appealed SNF denials are overturned, what does the waiting cost? Prior Authorization Accountability models it transparently
Key links
- Methodology v0.2 — formulas, limitations, legal framing
- Excess-mortality calculator
- Insurer accountability dashboard (CMS-0057-F + KFF + OIG)
- Evidence library (Hanna BMJ 2020, AMA/ASTRO surveys, Johns Hopkins 2025)
- AuthDenied — complementary PA transparency aggregation (we cite, not compete)
Contact
Press inquiries: press@priorauthaccountability.org
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