DrFirst’s Colin Banas targets specialty care prescription delays

DrFirst Chief Medical Officer Colin Banas is making the case that specialty prescribing still breaks down because too much of the process sits in disconnected workflows between prescribers, pharmacies, and payers. In a recent PharmaShots interview, Banas described the resulting “prescription ping-pong” as a cycle of prior authorization delays, unclear payer requirements, pharmacy callbacks, and misrouted prescriptions that can leave patients waiting in the dark. DrFirst says its answer is more automation inside the clinical workflow, including electronic prior authorization, patient-specific benefit verification, and unified handling of pharmacy and medical benefits in one path. (pharmashots.com)

Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the story is a useful signal of where medication access workflows are heading across healthcare: fewer faxes, more real-time benefits checks, tighter pharmacy routing, and more automation around prior authorization and documentation. While the interview is focused on human healthcare, the operational pain points will sound familiar to specialty and referral practices managing high-cost therapies, complex handoffs, and frustrated pet parents. DrFirst says its ePA tools can reduce manual work by 70%, and company-backed materials argue that routing errors and prior authorization friction remain major causes of treatment delay in specialty care. (drfirst.com)

What to watch: Watch for whether more specialty-care platforms can actually connect benefit verification, prior authorization, and pharmacy routing in one workflow, rather than adding another layer of software. (drfirst.com)