Peerbits Engineering Use Case · PriorAuth AI

AI Prior Authorization: Intelligent Automation for Healthcare Workflows

Eliminate administrative delays by letting AI assist with clinical evidence gathering, payer requirement matching, gap identification, and justification drafting — while keeping 100% of final approval and sign-off decisions under human clinician control.

● Working Demo AvailableHuman-in-the-LoopFHIR R4 & SMARTConfigurable Payer Rules
PRIORAUTH AI · WORKSPACE CONSOLE
Human Sign-Off Required

10

WORKFLOW STEPS

6

CORE MODULES

100%

HUMAN CONTROL

EHR clinical evidence extraction

BUILT

Payer criteria & rule matching

BUILT

Documentation gap detection

BUILT

AI medical necessity drafting

BUILT

Mandatory clinician review & sign-off

CONTROLLED

Problem Solved

Administrative friction, denials & documentation delays

AI Role

Assists evidence extraction, gap checks & justification drafting

Human Control

100% clinician review & final submission sign-off

Payer Logic

Configurable coverage criteria & LCD/NCD rule matching

Interoperability

FHIR R4, SMART on FHIR & clearinghouse adapters

Demo Status

Working demonstration available

The Business & Clinical Impact

Why Prior Authorization Remains a Costly Operational Bottleneck

Prior authorization creates substantial friction across healthcare operations. Fragmented clinical evidence, constantly shifting payer requirements, manual paperwork, and opaque status tracking directly cause care delays, elevated denial rates, and massive administrative rework.

Fragmented Clinical Evidence

Clinical history, prior conservative therapies, physical therapy notes, and diagnostic imaging are buried across disparate EHR tabs, leading to missed evidence during submission.

Complex & Shifting Payer Policies

Each health plan maintains unique, frequently changing clinical coverage criteria, specific diagnostic prerequisites, and customized documentation requirements.

Manual Documentation & Transcription

Care teams spend hours manually drafting medical necessity letters, re-entering demographic data into payer web portals, and faxing clinical summaries back and forth.

Poor Status Visibility & Rework

Without centralized tracking, authorization requests fall through the cracks, leading to delayed patient care, preventable claim denials, and redundant submission efforts.

Operational Reality: These challenges represent industry-wide prior authorization friction points documented across US healthcare practices and utilization management teams.

What Peerbits Engineered

Core Modules of the PriorAuth Platform

Peerbits engineered a working prior authorization platform demonstration that combines clinical data aggregation, payer requirement matching, AI-assisted documentation drafting, and provider review workflows.

Clinical Data Intelligence

Surfaces relevant diagnoses, medications, labs, imaging and chart history for the authorization request.

Payer Requirement Intelligence

A configurable policy rule engine matching procedure and diagnosis codes to payer coverage criteria.

AI Authorization Assistant

Assists evidence gathering, requirement matching, gap identification, and medical necessity drafting.

Human Review Workspace

Interactive review interface where clinicians inspect evidence, edit justifications, and approve submissions.

Workflow Automation

Task routing, escalation queues, SLA monitoring, and automated notifications for authorization teams.

Status & Clearinghouse Sync

Visibility into request progression with support for clearinghouse and payer adapter workflows.

End-to-End Flow

The 10-Step Prior Authorization Workflow

A request moves systematically from the initial order through clinical data gathering, rule matching, AI-assisted package preparation, and into Provider Review — the mandatory human-control checkpoint — before submission and status tracking.

Key Architecture Principles

  • AI assists evidence gathering — never makes approval decisions
  • Configurable payer requirement matching per CPT / ICD-10
  • Automated documentation gap detection before submission
  • Mandatory clinician sign-off on every justification package
  • Extensible adapters for clearinghouses & direct payer APIs
  • 01

    STEP 1

    Procedure Ordered

    A clinician orders a procedure, medication or treatment that requires prior authorization.

  • 02

    STEP 2

    Clinical Data Gathering

    Relevant clinical records, chart notes, labs, imaging, and patient history are extracted via EHR / FHIR APIs.

  • 03

    STEP 3

    Payer Requirement Lookup

    Configured payer coverage rules, clinical policies, and required evidence checklists are matched to CPT and ICD-10 codes.

  • 04

    STEP 4

    AI Evidence Extraction

    AI parses unstructured clinical documentation to surface supporting evidence aligned with payer policy requirements.

  • 05

    STEP 5

    Documentation Gap Check

    The system highlights missing clinical documentation or required prerequisites before package assembly.

  • 06

    STEP 6

    Package Preparation

    AI drafts a structured medical necessity justification letter with traceable citations for human review.

  • 07

    STEP 7

    Provider Review & Sign-Off

    A clinician or authorization specialist reviews, edits, and digitally signs off on the completed package.

  • 08

    STEP 8

    Payer / Clearinghouse Submission

    The approved authorization request is dispatched via payer APIs, clearinghouses (EDI 278), or portal adapters.

  • 09

    STEP 9

    Status Tracking & Follow-up

    Real-time tracking of submission status, acknowledgment receipts, and payer review progress.

  • 10

    STEP 10

    Payer Decision & Notification

    Final payer determination (Approved, Denied, or Additional Information Requested) synced to clinical workflows.

AI Capabilities & Human Governance

How AI Assists — And What Remains Human

AI is positioned strictly as an assistive intelligence layer: synthesizing clinical evidence, matching policy rules, flagging missing documentation, and drafting medical necessity justifications. AI does not make clinical judgment calls or autonomous coverage determinations.

Organize Clinical Evidence

Surfaces relevant diagnoses, medications, observations, notes, and treatment history from clinical records.

Match Payer Criteria

Compares gathered clinical documentation against configured payer policy guidelines and LCD/NCD rules.

Identify Documentation Gaps

Flags missing prerequisites (e.g. required physical therapy duration or recent lab work) prior to submission.

Draft Justification Summaries

Generates a draft medical necessity justification complete with EHR source citations for clinician approval.

Clinical Decision Support Boundary: All AI-generated evidence summaries and justification drafts are subject to mandatory provider review and digital sign-off. The system is engineered to assist administrative efficiency and documentation quality, preserving physician autonomy and payer determination authority.

Payer Policy Intelligence

Configurable Coverage Criteria & Rule Management

Payer requirements are managed through a version-controlled rule engine that maps clinical procedures (CPT/HCPCS) and diagnoses (ICD-10) to payer medical policies, CMS National/Local Coverage Determinations (NCD/LCD), and specific clinical documentation checklists.

Rule Matching ExampleLumbar Spine MRI (CPT: 72148 · ICD-10: M54.5)
Policy v3.4 · Commercial Payer
Payer Policy CriterionRequired Clinical EvidenceRule Matching LogicVerification Status
Conservative Therapy TrialDocumented PT / structured exercise > 6 weeksEHR PT Encounter logs & progress notesVerified (12 sessions)
Medication ManagementFailed trial of NSAIDs or muscle relaxants > 4 weeksMedicationRequest history + pharmacy fill logVerified (Ibuprofen / Naproxen)
Neurological ExaminationObjective findings of radiculopathy / reflex deficitPhysical Exam clinical note sectionVerified (Positive SLR right)
Recent Plain RadiographsLumbar X-ray within prior 12 monthsDiagnosticReport (Imaging) observationVerified (01/22/2024)

Policy Rule Ingestion

Ingests structured payer clinical guidelines, LCD/NCD bulletins, and commercial pre-authorization criteria into queryable JSON rules.

Versioned Rule Maintenance

Tracks rule revisions with effective dates and change history, ensuring authorization checks align with active payer guidelines.

Procedure & Diagnosis Mapping

Automatically cross-references ordered CPT/HCPCS codes against relevant ICD-10 indication criteria to identify required documentation.

Rule Engine Scope: The platform provides a configurable intelligence layer that models clinical rules and criteria. Rule sets are maintained and customized per payer and specialty — they do not represent hardcoded, universal assumptions across all healthcare plans.

Clinician Experience

Clinical Review & Authorization Workspace

The interactive workspace puts gathered EHR evidence, payer requirement gap analysis, and the AI-generated justification draft side-by-side — allowing clinicians to verify details, make direct edits, and authorize submission with full confidence.

PriorAuth AI · Clinical Review & Authorization Console
Ready for Sign-Off
Clinical Review and Authorization Workspace Interface showing clinical evidence, payer requirement gap analysis, and justification letter

1. Clinical Evidence Summary

Aggregates patient history, chief complaints, medication trial timelines, PT session records, and imaging findings into an organized, readable summary.

2. Payer Criteria & Gap Analysis

Displays real-time checklist status against payer policy requirements with clear visual indicators of verified vs missing documentation items.

3. Justification & Sign-Off

Generates structured medical necessity letters with inline EHR citations, editable text fields, and a digital clinician sign-off workflow.

Lifecycle Visibility

Authorization Lifecycle & Status Tracking

Track every request from initial creation through review, submission, and final payer adjudication with real-time status visibility.

DraftUnder Clinician ReviewSubmitted to PayerPending Payer ReviewAdditional Info RequestedApprovedDenied

SLA & Turnaround Monitoring

Track urgent vs standard turnaround times to prevent authorization expirations and procedural delays.

Automated Care Team Alerts

Instant notifications for required documentation addenda, peer-to-peer review requests, or approval notices.

Complete Audit Trail

Time-stamped history of every data extraction, clinical review edit, provider sign-off, and payer status event.

System Integration

End-to-End Interoperability & Payer Integration Architecture

The platform connects EHR clinical records to AI reasoning and clinical review, dispatches approved packages through an extensible Payer & Clearinghouse Adapter layer, and syncs status updates back to provider systems.

DATA PIPELINE · CLINICAL EHR → AI REVIEW → PAYER / CLEARINGHOUSE ADAPTER

System Architecture
01

EHR / Clinical

Epic / Cerner FHIR

02

FHIR & SMART

Resource Extraction

03

Rules & AI Engine

Criteria & Gap Analysis

04

Clinician Review

Human Sign-off

05

Payer / Clearinghouse

EDI 278 / FHIR PAS / APIs

06

Status & Response

Decision & EHR Sync

PAYER & CLEARINGHOUSE INTEGRATION ADAPTER OPTIONS

Clearinghouse EDI 278 / 275

Batch or real-time electronic prior authorization and attachment transactions

FHIR Da Vinci PAS (CRD / DTR / PAS)

Standards-based direct prior authorization support via emerging CMS-interoperability APIs

Payer Direct REST / Portal Adapters

Secure API or programmatic gateway submission to specific commercial payer endpoints

The application draws on standard FHIR resources — including Patient, Condition, Procedure, Observation, DiagnosticReport, and MedicationRequest — to assemble the clinical picture behind a request.

FHIR Data Model Used in the Workflow

PatientConditionProcedureMedicationRequestCarePlanObservationDiagnosticReportPractitionerDocumentReference

Actual resource consumption and payer transport channels depend on the specific EHR, clearinghouse, and health plan integration requirements of each deployment.

Security & Governance

Built with Healthcare Security & Privacy in Mind

Encryption at rest

Encryption in transit

Role-based access control

Secure authentication

Audit logging

Document security

Consent-aware workflow design

Human approval controls

Security Note: The demonstrated architecture was designed around HIPAA-ready security patterns. Production compliance depends on deployment configuration, operational controls, infrastructure, Business Associate Agreements (BAAs), organizational policies, and the customer's implementation environment.

Technology Stack

Technology Stack

Frontend

React, TypeScript

Backend

Node.js, Python

AI & Rules

LLMs, Prompt Engineering, Payer Rule Engine

Data Layer

PostgreSQL, Redis

Cloud Infrastructure

AWS HIPAA-Ready

Interoperability

FHIR R4, SMART on FHIR, EDI 278/275 Adapters

Applications

Where This Foundation Can Be Adapted

Specialty practices

Health systems

Prior authorization teams

Utilization management platforms

Revenue cycle platforms

Digital health products

Common customization areas: specialty-specific authorization workflows, payer-specific rules, EHR/FHIR integration, document templates, workflow approvals, status integrations, dashboards, role models, AI models/prompts, and cloud deployment.

The demo provides a working reference implementation. Peerbits can adapt the workflow, integrations, AI layer and application architecture around an organization's specific requirements.

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Frequently Asked Questions

No. This is a Peerbits engineering use case — a working demonstration we built to show how this workflow can be engineered. It is not a named client project, and Peerbits can walk you through it on request.

No. AI acts strictly in an assistive capacity by organizing clinical evidence, matching documentation to configured payer requirements, drafting justification content, and flagging missing gaps. A licensed provider or authorized care team member must review, edit, and approve everything before submission.

No. Payer requirements are managed through a configurable rule layer, and EHR/FHIR integration depends on the specific system and implementation environment. The architecture is designed to integrate with payer endpoints and clearinghouse standards (such as EDI 278 or FHIR Da Vinci PAS), but direct out-of-the-box support for every vendor is not claimed.

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See the AI Prior Authorization Workflow in Action

Walk through the working demo with our healthcare engineering team and explore how the workflow could be adapted to your clinical systems, payer requirements and authorization processes.

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