User-centred design and assessment of a prescription prior authorisation processing system

Abstract

Electronic prior authorisation (ePA) is an efficient way to ensure prior authorisation completion for delivery of patient medications. Benefits include time savings for prescribers as well as cost-saving and quality-assurance solutions for insurers. Existing ePA systems have a gap in knowledge among medical professionals using the ePA systems and the IT solution providers designing the ePA systems. As a result, standard ePA designs lack components to facilitate the workflow. The research study presented here interviewed key stakeholders, including prescribers, care nurses, and call center agents, and used that information for development. Focusing on Case Create and Case Search functions, a new user-centred ePA system was designed. Assessment outcomes of the new system, SmartPA, include advocacy for secure centralised portals, with cross-checking search fields and integration with major formulary vendors. SmartPA proved to be more efficient in usability testing with stakeholders and provided a clean UI, supporting faster, secure case creation and searching, on a stable platform.