For many clinicians, the biggest challenges of 2026 aren’t clinical—they’re operational. From changing reimbursement models to the growing presence of AI in clinical workflows, clinicians are navigating a landscape that feels increasingly complex.
Administrative requirements, insurance barriers, and shifting documentation standards can influence everything from clinical decision-making to the amount of time they can spend with patients.
On Healthcasts, our community shared the obstacles they’ve encountered so far in 2026 and the issues they anticipate facing throughout the year. Their responses highlight several recurring themes that are shaping day-to-day clinical practice.
What is the biggest challenge you have faced this year? Log in or sign up to read the full post, leave a comment, and see the Consensus.
Key takeaways about obstacles facing clinicians in 2026:
Family Practice
"1. Rapid integration of AI tools and documentation automation, creating uncertainty around accuracy, workflow changes, and compliance.
2. Increasing administrative burden from value-based care contracts. Prior authorizations and evolving documentation regulatory requirements, which continue to reduce time for direct patient care."
Internal Medicine
"1. All the administrative burden (e.g., prior authorization, step up requirements, insurance denials, formulary changes) with coverage and referral issues in the setting of worsening staffing coverage, leading to delay in patient care and clinician burnout.
2. Decreasing physician reimbursement while patient care costs are rising and clinician workload is worsening from intervisit care, EMR documentation, rules and regulations requirements, etc."
Family Practice
"1. Increasing health insurance constraints, from prior authorization requirements to claim denials, continue to negatively impact our practice the most.
2. I anticipate a steady worsening of the above behavior in the long-term."
Family Practice
"1. In my county in Florida, sports physicals for kids now need an EKG- problematic because insurance does not cover- so we need to find a way so that not all these patients are getting a bill, but it’s not a cost loss for our office.
2. Vaccine changes for kids in FL- we are in cost-saving contracts, and part of it is based on vaccine percentages, and now so many more parents are refusing."
Internal Medicine
"1. Same as the past. Increasing bureaucracy. Less support. More nonclinical individuals are telling clinicians about how to practice.
2. Less ability to access specialists and facilities as the system keeps becoming over-stretched to its limits."
Family Practice
"1. The immediate hurdle has been adapting to the 2026 CPT code overhaul, specifically managing a spike in claim denials as providers transition to stricter Medical Decision Making (MDM) documentation and new AI-specific billing requirements.
2. The defining challenge this year is AI accountability. Providers must balance the efficiency of automated charting with new legal mandates for patient disclosure and the high risk of AI "hallucinations" entering permanent medical records."
Internal Medicine
"1. There is approximately one prescription prior authorization for 2 patients that I see. The prescription insurance industry has created a monolith that obstructs patients' access to optimal health care. Primary care offices need to hire a full-time administrator to process prior authorizations. That has added to overhead costs.
2. The new AHEAD model will result in loss of reimbursement at a system level for large health care systems."
Internal Medicine
"1. Corporate rules that limit quality care by 'timed' office visits and insulting good quality care givers when it becomes an issue.
2. Along with the above, burnout and inability to get studies approved for patients ."
Cardiology
"1. Insurance coverage is always the big issue.
2. Not only reimbursement, but also issues with getting tests approved."
Internal Medicine
"1. Increased productivity demands forced by decreasing reimbursements.
2. Patients are getting sicker because they avoid provider visits due to insurance costs, no insurance, copays/deductibles, job loss, threat to employment, and decreasing trust in the medical system. It's a multitude of issues threatening both patients and providers."
Have you experienced issues with changing insurance requirements yet? Share your experience and read all of the comments on the post on Healthcasts.