August 26 2020
The number of uninsured Americans is on the rise for the first time since the Affordable Care Act took effect; 27.5 million had no health insurance in 2018, up from 25.6 million the previous year. Even among the insured, high-deductible health plans, increasing drug costs and other forces at play have made it hard or impossible for many to afford specialty medications and treatment plans.
In this difficult consumer environment, biopharmaceutical companies’ investment in free drug programs is more important than ever, particularly for uninsured, underinsured or low-income patients who need access and long-term adherence to expensive specialty therapies. Patient assistance programs, which allow biopharma to offer eligible patients drugs at reduced or no cost, are important for the survival of both patients and brands. That makes finding the right program key.
In a crowded marketplace, biopharma should look for three identifiers when evaluating potential partners to administer a fully integrated patient assistance program that addresses access, adherence and affordability: quality customer experience, proven clinical expertise and strategic program design and scalability.
Quality Customer Experience
Patient assistance programs must serve the customer experience of both their client — the brand — and its patients. That means delivering on operational excellence, dispense accuracy, turnaround times and any other unique quality metrics. A truly excellent experience is achieved through constant program optimization, leveraging best-in-class technology and providing consultation and partnership.
A driving force behind RxCrossroads by McKesson’s high performance in this field is an operational excellence team that continuously monitors and evaluates processes and programs to ensure that clients’ KPIs are met and exceeded. This group teams up with the patient assistance program manager to identify gaps, perform a root-cause analysis and then design and implement a corrective strategy.
Technology is also key. RxCrossroads’ program pharmacy’s best-in-class automated-dispensing technology reduces error rates, improves effic...
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