Tenessee Cancer Specialists, one of the largest oncology and hematology practice groups in Tennessee.
No tools for managing, overseeing, and auditing prior authorizations leading to a “chaotic” process for the pre-certification team, with prior authorization delays and denials impeding patient access to care and causing friction between the business and clinical staff.
Tenessee Cancer Specialists moved all prior authorization activity to SamaCare’s centralized platform for submitting, tracking, and managing prior authorizations across all its payers.
More timely prior authorization approvals resulted in fewer missed appointments and fewer delays to treatment, improving the quality of patient care and reducing the administrative burden on both the pre-certification staff and the clinical staff.
Tenessee Cancer Specialists is the third largest oncology and hematology practice group in Tennessee with 13 providers, offering comprehensive cancer care across 14 locations in East Tennessee. Tenessee Cancer Specialists is certified through the QOPI Certification Program (QCP™), a testament to the superior quality of care they provide patients and their families. As a full service medical oncology and hematology practice, Tenessee Cancer Specialists’ pre-certification team must navigate the prior authorization process for treatment spanning across chemotherapy and hematology services, as well as, non-oncology injections and infusions.
Tennessee Cancer Specialists’ pre-certification team was overwhelmed, allocating the majority of their significant resources to managing prior authorizations -- constantly following up with payers over the phone or through disparate portals to see if approvals were given.
“Before SamaCare, there was a general sense of chaos surrounding the prior authorization process,” said Stacy Annear, Revenue Cycle Manager at Tennesee Cancer Specialists.
Despite their best efforts, delayed prior authorizations were leading to rescheduled appointments, patient dissatisfaction, and frustration on the part of the clinical staff.
Tennessee Cancer Specialists chose to partner with SamaCare, a technology platform that helps practices streamline submission and management of prior authorizations for physician-administered medication. In working with SamaCare, Tenessee Cancer Specialists’ pre-certification team was looking for a solution to:
A way to centralize the management, oversight, and auditing of prior authorizations.
A free, web-based, platform where practices can easily submit and manage requests for any physician-administered oncology treatment across all payers.
Help reducing time spent following up with payers to ensure prior authorizations do not fall through the cracks.
The ability to track live updates on every prior authorization status submitted through SamaCare’s portal and request assistance from SamaCare’s customer support team to troubleshoot prior authorization delays.
A way to reduce time to resolution across prior authorization requests.
Proactive insights into the most common errors that lead to prior authorization delays and denials to optimize prior authorization submissions, combined with support from SamaCare’s team of prior authorization specialists to help navigate individual prior authorization issues.
A way to centralize the management, oversight, and auditing of prior authorizations.
A free, web-based, platform where practices can easily submit and manage requests for any physician-administered oncology treatment across all payers.
Help reducing time spent following up with payers to ensure prior authorizations do not fall through the cracks.
The ability to track live updates on every prior authorization status submitted through SamaCare’s portal and request assistance from SamaCare’s customer support team to troubleshoot prior authorization delays.
A way to reduce time to resolution across prior authorization requests.
Proactive insights into the most common errors that lead to prior authorization delays and denials to optimize prior authorization submissions, combined with support from SamaCare’s team of prior authorization specialists to help navigate individual prior authorization issues.
In the first three months of using SamaCare
The additional time saved resolving their prior authorizations translated to:
“SamaCare has completely changed our prior authorization process at TCS. Having an efficient, real-time way to track prior authorizations has made things a lot more streamlined. The pre-certification team is working further ahead than ever before, which has resulted in a less stressed team, less friction between clinical teams and CBO, and better patient experiences.”
Get in touch today and we’ll walk you through how SamaCare can help your practice streamline prior authorizations.
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