Last updated: 2026-08-21
Honest Taskers, Staffingly, and AGS Health lead this year's shortlist of prior authorization outsourcing companies, nine firms ranked on whether prior authorization is a named service, how it's priced, whether the team can call payers during US business hours, stated delivery location, and HIPAA posture including whether a BAA is signed. The payer-call question decides this category, because authorizations are won on the phone and most payer phone lines are open only during your own working day. Below we set out whether an outsourced team can reach payers on your clock, who conducts a peer-to-peer review, what 100 authorizations a month costs, whether a firm can produce median days to approval by payer, and how long one should sit before you escalate.
Disclosure: Honest Taskers publishes this list and appears at position 1. We're judged on the same five published criteria as every other company here.
At a glance
- 1Honest Taskers
- 2Staffingly
- 3AGS Health
- 4OutsourceRCM
- 5Access Healthcare
- 6Transcure
- 7Neolytix
- 8Task Virtual
- 9Medusind
On this page
- How we chose these companies
- Companies compared
- The 9 companies
- Can an outsourced team reach payers on your clock?
- Who conducts a peer-to-peer review when authorization is outsourced?
- What does prior authorization outsourcing cost for 100 authorizations a month?
- Can the outsourcing firm produce median days to approval by payer?
- How long should an outsourced authorization sit before you escalate?
- Methodology and sources
How we chose these companies
Prior authorization is unlike the rest of revenue cycle in one decisive way: it can't be batched overnight. Claims can be submitted at any hour, payments post whenever, denials sit in a queue. Authorizations move when a person reaches a payer representative, and payer phone lines run on US business hours. An offshore team on a night shift can submit portal requests and chase status, but the peer-to-peer call, the escalation, and the urgent case all need someone awake when the payer is.
So we led on whether the team works US business hours, alongside whether prior authorization is a named service rather than implied, how it's priced, stated delivery location, and HIPAA posture including whether a business associate agreement is signed. Six of these nine name prior authorization explicitly, which is better disclosure than most revenue cycle functions get.
The second axis is turnaround, because authorization delay is a clinical problem before it's a financial one. A patient waiting on imaging, a specialty drug, or a surgical date is waiting on this process, and the difference between a two-day and a ten-day authorization shows up in your schedule, your no-show rate, and occasionally in outcomes. Ask any vendor for median days to approval by payer, and treat an inability to answer as informative.
Compliance is the gate. Authorization work means submitting clinical documentation to payers continuously, so the business associate agreement the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services requires applies from the first submission. Three firms here describe signing one. On the in-house side, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics reports a national median of $23.32 an hour for billing and posting clerks, about $48,500 a year.
Companies compared
| Company | Prior authorization named | Works US business hours | Pricing model | Delivery location (as stated) | HIPAA and BAA (as stated) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Honest Taskers | Yes, prior authorization specialist as a role | Yes, works the client's US time zone | $10.00 to $12.65/hr | Recruits in the Philippines, Latin America, India and Pakistan | Verified by Accountable; BAA signed when PHI is accessed; SOC 2 audit ready |
| Staffingly | Yes, prior authorization named as a core service | Not publicly listed | $399/wk at 45 hrs; $349 at 5+; $299 at 10+ | India, Pakistan, Bangladesh | SOC 2 Type II; ISO/IEC 27001:2022; HIPAA; GDPR; signed BAA; $5M E&O and cyber policy |
| AGS Health | Yes, prior authorization named | Not publicly listed | Not publicly listed | Washington DC headquarters; Chennai, India | Cybersecurity Transparent Designation 2023 |
| OutsourceRCM | Yes, prior authorization operations management | States 24/7 support | Not publicly listed | Princeton, New Jersey address; staff location not stated | States 100% HIPAA compliance and ISO 27001; no BAA described |
| Access Healthcare | Yes, within patient access services | Not publicly listed | Not publicly listed | Dallas, Texas; Chennai, India; Manila referenced | Not stated |
| Transcure | Eligibility named; authorization within RCM scope | Not publicly listed | 3% to 5% of monthly collections | Texas, New Jersey, Florida offices | ISO 27001; AAPC-certified staff |
| Neolytix | Not itemized; eligibility and credentialing named | Not publicly listed | Not publicly listed | Not publicly listed; Chicago headquarters | ISO 27001 certified; HIPAA compliance stated |
| Task Virtual | Not itemized; insurance verification and follow-ups named | Not publicly listed | $6.24/hr | Office in Kolkata, West Bengal | HIPAA-trained; states assistants are required to sign BAAs |
| Medusind | Not itemized; sits within billing scope | Not publicly listed | Not publicly listed | Not publicly listed | Not publicly listed |
1. Honest Taskers
Best for: practices whose authorizations stall on payer phone calls nobody has time to make.
Named role: Prior authorization specialistPricing: $10.00 to $12.65/hrCoverage: Client's US time zoneFirst hire: Two-week working trial
Honest Taskers is the only firm here publishing both a named prior authorization role and a commitment that the person works the client's US time zone, which together answer the question this category turns on. Authorizations are won by someone sitting on hold during the payer's business day, chasing a status that hasn't moved, and escalating when a case is being ignored. A team working overnight can submit and monitor portals; it can't do that.
The role covers determining whether authorization is required, gathering and submitting clinical documentation, tracking status to decision, chasing what stalls, handling extensions and reauthorizations, and escalating denials for peer-to-peer review by your clinician, all inside your EHR and payer portals. Rates run $10.00 to $12.65 an hour. Compliance runs on quarterly HIPAA and data privacy training led by a dedicated compliance officer, a Business Associate Agreement signed where the professional will access PHI, remote work screening covering a dedicated password-protected computer with VPN and antivirus requirements, and a security environment described as SOC 2 audit ready, with HIPAA compliance verified by Accountable. See our guide on how a virtual assistant handles prior authorization for scope.
Limitation: the peer-to-peer review itself requires your clinician, since only a clinician can conduct it, and we recruit across four regions, so confirm where your specialist will be based.
2. Staffingly
Best for: practices wanting authorization capacity at the lowest flat weekly cost.
Pricing: $399/wk at 45 hrsVolume: $349 at 5+, $299 at 10+Locations: India, Pakistan, BangladeshCover: $5M E&O and cyber
Staffingly names prior authorization as a core service alongside billing, coding, scribing, and front office, and prices at $399 a week per full-time equivalent covering 45 hours, falling to $349 at five or more people and $299 at ten or more, roughly $6.64 an hour at volume. For a practice drowning in authorization volume rather than authorization difficulty, that economics lets you throw more hands at portal submissions and status chasing than any hourly arrangement would. Its compliance disclosure is the most complete here: SOC 2 Type II, ISO/IEC 27001:2022, HIPAA, GDPR, a signed business associate agreement, and a $5 million errors and omissions and cyber policy.
Limitation: no coverage schedule is published, which for payer calls is the critical unknown, and its workflow is AI-assisted with a person verifying output.
3. AGS Health
Best for: health systems wanting authorization inside an whole-cycle revenue cycle operation.
Scope: Prior authorization namedPricing: Not publicly listedDelivery: Washington DC and ChennaiClients: Banner Health, Baylor Scott & White
AGS Health names prior authorization among its services alongside coding, claims, accounts receivable, denials, provider enrollment and credentialing, and clinical documentation improvement. That span matters for authorization specifically, because the same organization sees which authorizations were missed, which denials resulted, and which documentation gaps caused both, and that feedback loop is what reduces authorization failures over time. It publishes a Washington DC headquarters and a Chennai delivery center and names Banner Health and Baylor Scott and White as clients.
Limitation: no coverage hours are published, it's built for health systems rather than practices, and its only named credential is a 2023 cybersecurity designation.
4. OutsourceRCM
Best for: organizations wanting authorization work with published performance targets.
Scope: Prior authorization operations managementPricing: Not publicly listedAddress: Princeton, New JerseyStated: ISO 27001, 24/7 support
OutsourceRCM names prior authorization operations management as a service and is unusual in publishing performance numbers to be held to, stating a first-pass claim acceptance rate at or above 98%, accounts receivable aging compression of 20 to 30% within the first two billing cycles, 99.5% service-level adherence, and capacity to scale volume two to three times. It also handles specialty and high-cost drugs and NDC-level validation, which is where authorization work gets hardest. It states ISO 27001 certification and 24/7 support.
Limitation: the performance figures are company-reported with no published methodology, it lists a Princeton office without stating where staff work, and no BAA is described.
5. Access Healthcare
Best for: hospitals wanting authorization handled at volume with automation.
Scope: Within patient access servicesPricing: Not publicly listedDelivery: Dallas, Chennai, ManilaAutomation: Platform-based
Access Healthcare covers prior authorization within its patient access and engagement services, alongside scheduling and eligibility verification, and applies its automation platform across the work. At hospital volume, authorization is partly a routing and tracking problem, and software that knows which payer needs what, and flags what has stalled, removes a large share of the manual chasing before a person is involved. It publishes a Dallas headquarters and a Chennai delivery address, with job postings naming Manila.
Limitation: it names no certifications, no pricing, and no coverage hours, and it's built for volume most practices don't have.
6. Transcure
Best for: practices buying authorization inside an accountable revenue cycle.
Scope: Within full RCMPricing: 3% to 5% of collectionsOffices: Texas, New Jersey, FloridaCert: ISO 27001
Transcure covers eligibility and the full revenue cycle at a published 3% to 5% of monthly collections, the only published figure in this field. Buying authorization inside a percentage arrangement aligns incentives usefully: a missed authorization becomes a denial the firm doesn't get paid on, so the motivation to chase it is structural. It names US offices in Texas, New Jersey, and Florida, over 1,100 certified billers and coders, and ISO 27001.
Limitation: prior authorization isn't itemized separately, so confirm it's genuinely in scope, and percentage pricing rises with your revenue.
7. Neolytix
Best for: smaller practices whose authorization problems trace back to enrollment.
Scope: Eligibility, credentialing, enrollmentPricing: Not publicly listedScale: 270+ organizations, 40 statesCert: ISO 27001
Neolytix covers eligibility, CVO credentialing, provider enrollment, and licensing alongside revenue cycle management, with explicit small-practice and mid-market tiers. Authorization failures sometimes aren't authorization failures at all: if a provider isn't properly enrolled with a payer, requests get rejected for reasons that look like clinical criteria and aren't. A firm handling both can tell the difference. It states ISO 27001 certification and reports serving over 270 organizations in 40 states.
Limitation: prior authorization isn't itemized, and it publishes neither pricing, coverage hours, nor delivery location.
8. Task Virtual
Best for: small practices wanting the lowest published rate for authorization support.
Pricing: $6.24/hrLocation: Kolkata, West BengalScope: Verification and insurance follow-upsCompliance: HIPAA-trained, BAAs signed
Task Virtual publishes $6.24 an hour, the lowest verified rate here, and names insurance verification and insurance follow-ups, which covers the submission and chasing side of authorization work even though authorization isn't itemized as its own service. Hourly billing suits a practice needing a few hours a day on portal submissions and status checks rather than a full-time seat. It states assistants are HIPAA-trained and required to sign business associate agreements.
Limitation: prior authorization isn't named, no coverage hours are published, and payer calls need US business hours, so agree an overlap window before assuming phone work is possible.
9. Medusind
Best for: organizations wanting authorization inside medical and dental billing together.
Pricing: Not publicly listedLocation: Not publicly listedScope: Within billing, not itemizedCoverage: 30+ specialties
Medusind covers medical and dental billing, coding, and credentialing across more than 30 specialties, with named client types including physician groups, federally qualified health centers, behavioral health, home health, and dental service organizations. Behavioral health and home health both carry heavy authorization burdens, with recurring reauthorizations rather than one-off approvals, so a firm naming those settings has likely met that pattern before.
Limitation: prior authorization isn't named as a separate service, and it publishes neither pricing, delivery location, nor certifications.
Can an outsourced team reach payers on your clock?
Only where its hours match yours, because payer phone lines run on US business hours and authorizations are won on the phone. A staffed prior authorization specialist at $6.24 to $12.65 an hour solves that, provided the person works those hours. They learn which payers respond to portals and which require calls, which clinical details each plan wants, and which reviewers escalate quickly. That knowledge is specific to your payer mix and it compounds, which is why turnover hurts here more than in most back-office roles.
An outsourced authorization service, priced inside a revenue cycle contract or against scope, suits organizations wanting accountability for the outcome rather than the hours. The advantage is that the vendor sees authorization, denial, and appeal data together, which is where patterns show up. The disadvantage is visibility: you're seeing reports rather than the queue, so agree what gets reported and how often.
Automation is the third route and it's advancing quickly, with platforms determining requirements, assembling documentation, submitting through payer portals, and flagging stalls without a person. It handles high-volume routine authorizations well. It does not conduct a peer-to-peer review, argue medical necessity, or persuade a reviewer, and those are precisely the cases that decide whether your patient gets treated. Most organizations end up with software for the routine majority and people for the rest.
Who conducts a peer-to-peer review when authorization is outsourced?
A clinician of yours, never the outsourced team, and expecting otherwise is one of the ways this arrangement fails.
- Offshore teams unable to reach payers, because payer phone lines run on US business hours.
- Authorization requirements not checked before scheduling, so treatment happens unapproved.
- Reauthorizations missed on recurring care, which stops payment mid-course.
- Clinical documentation submitted incomplete, producing an avoidable denial.
- Peer-to-peer reviews expected from non-clinical staff, which only a clinician can conduct.
- Status chased by portal only, so stalled cases sit for weeks.
- No signed BAA for work that submits clinical records to payers continuously.
- Delivery location unpublished, so you can't say where records are handled.
- Approval expiry dates untracked, so an approved service is performed out of window.
What does prior authorization outsourcing cost for 100 authorizations a month?
Roughly $250 to $750 a month, which is 40 to 60 staffed hours at the rates here. Three firms publish one. Task Virtual lists $6.24 an hour, Honest Taskers $10.00 to $12.65, and Staffingly $399 a week at 45 hours falling to about $6.64 an hour at ten or more people. Transcure prices the whole cycle at 3% to 5% of monthly collections. The rest quote against scope.
Price this against clinical delay rather than against payroll, because that's where the real cost sits. A practice running 100 authorizations a month needs roughly 40 to 60 staffed hours, landing around $250 to $750 a month. Set that against what a stalled authorization costs: an imaging slot that goes unused, a surgical date that moves, a specialty drug that starts three weeks late, and a patient who gives up and goes elsewhere. Most practices can name the last time that happened but have never counted how often it does, and counting it for one quarter usually settles the budget question without further argument. Rates move, so confirm before you sign.
Can the outsourcing firm produce median days to approval by payer?
Ask for the figure by payer rather than overall, since one slow plan hides inside an average, and weigh the answer with the rest of this list.
- Whether the team works US business hours, written into the agreement.
- Prior authorization named as a service on the firm's own site.
- Median days to approval, by payer, if they can produce it.
- Who chases stalled cases and how often.
- How escalation to peer-to-peer is triggered and who conducts it.
- Whether reauthorizations and expiry dates are tracked.
- A signed BAA before any clinical documentation is submitted.
- Delivery country, named rather than implied.
- Reporting cadence and whether you can see the live queue.
How long should an outsourced authorization sit before you escalate?
A week, which is also the number to count before you shortlist anyone, because how many stall past it sizes the problem.
- Count authorizations per month and how many stall past a week.
- Count appointments moved or cancelled because authorization wasn't in place.
- List the payers that require phone calls rather than portal submissions.
- Shortlist firms that name prior authorization and can work your hours.
- Ask for median days to approval and how stalls are escalated.
- Ask whether a BAA is standard and where the work is performed.
- Agree who triggers peer-to-peer and how your clinician is scheduled for it.
- Start with one service line or one payer rather than everything.
- Review at 30 and 90 days on days to approval, stalls, and appointments delayed.
Methodology and sources
We verified each company at its own website on August 21, 2026, recording whether prior authorization is named as a service, whether US business-hours coverage is stated, pricing model, stated delivery location, and HIPAA posture including whether a BAA is described. Business associate requirements come from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Rates were captured as dated points rather than quotes, and anything unpublished is marked "not publicly listed" rather than inferred. Where a firm covers authorization inside a wider revenue cycle service without naming it, the table says "not itemized" rather than assuming it's included. Performance figures a company states about itself are labelled company-reported. R1 RCM and GeBBS Healthcare Solutions block automated retrieval and could not be read from source.
Related front-end guides
For how the role works day to day, see our guide on how a virtual assistant handles prior authorization.
If eligibility is the upstream problem, our virtual medical receptionist page covers the wider front-office scope.