News Briefs: Doctors Use AI to Counter Insurers’ Prior Auth Paperwork Blitz

Doctors are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots to fight back against health insurers’ claim denials and prior authorization requests, The New York Times reported. Tools like ChatGPT and the HIPAA-compliant Doximity GPT are helping justify treatments they say patients need by drafting letters in seconds that cite scientific studies to back up their arguments. One doctor told the publication that Doximity GPT cut the time he spent on prior authorization requests in half. Major insurers, meanwhile, are facing increasing scrutiny — and a spate of lawsuits –— over their use of AI for tasks like denying large batches of claims or determining the length of patients’ post-acute rehabilitation stays. An AHIP spokesperson told the Times that the insurer trade group welcomes efforts to streamline the prior authorization process, including those that involve the “appropriate use” of AI.