What are the biggest impediments to patient access?

Health care providers are feeling more optimistic about patient access than they have in years — but their patients aren't sharing that confidence, according to new research from Experian Health. The disconnect reveals a sobering reality: Despite meaningful investments in digital tools and operational improvements, the patient experience remains fraught with obstacles that delay, complicate or prevent access to care altogether.

The culprits are familiar but intensifying. Authorization headaches and insurance verification delays continue to throw up roadblocks before patients ever reach the exam room. Meanwhile, the staffing crisis that has plagued health care for years shows no signs of abating — in fact, it's gotten worse, leaving front-office teams stretched too thin to handle the growing administrative burden. And perhaps most troubling, rising health care costs are creating a widening gap between what patients can afford and what they need, forcing difficult decisions about when — or whether — to seek treatment.

Technology, particularly artificial intelligence and automation, offers a path forward, helping to close operational gaps and ease workload pressures. But without addressing the deeper issues of workforce capacity, financial accessibility, and administrative complexity, the promise of improved access remains just that — a promise.

Medical Economics spoke with Mindy Fortson, chief operations officer at Experian Health, about where the system is succeeding, where it's failing patients, and what it will take to finally align provider perception with patient reality.