6 Questions for Enhancing Patient Support Services
Key considerations for building a strategic patient support plan to improve the drug development process.
Patient support services are no longer an add-on but a critical component of comprehensive patient care. Key considerations to incorporate into your strategic plans can help your teams create better patient support services to improve drug development. According to Dave MacLeod, Managing Director of Value & Access, “Patient Support Services is an integral part of your overall access strategy. It can provide a high level of customer experience and positively impact appropriate product access for HCP prescribed patients.”
1. How Should We Launch and Sustain Patient Support Programs?
Launching a new patient support program requires a well-crafted strategy that includes market access evaluation, competitive landscape analysis and selecting the right vendors. Sustaining an existing program involves continuous optimization, leveraging feedback and adapting to regulatory changes. Focusing on both strategic planning and sustained improvement ensures agility and responsiveness to patient needs.
2. How Can Technology Enhance Our Patient Assistance Programs?
In today’s digital age, technology plays a crucial role in enhancing patient support services. Asset development teams need to consider how their digital platforms, mobile applications and data analytics can be integrated to provide real-time support and insights. These technologies streamline patient interactions and generate valuable data, which can inform better decision-making and personalized patient care.
3. What Are the Challenges of Integrating Copay and Patient Assistance Programs?
Integrating copay and Patient Assistance Programs (PAP) into existing patient support frameworks presents challenges, such as compliance with diverse regulatory landscapes and effective data management. A holistic approach that includes strategic vendor benchmarking, bespoke program design, and rigorous performance evaluations can address these challenges, ensuring seamless integration that meets regulatory requirements and enhances the patient experience.
4. How Do We Navigate Regulatory Changes and Regional Variations?
The healthcare regulatory environment is dynamic and varies significantly across regions. Staying ahead of these changes is crucial for the successful implementation and management of patient support services. Proactively monitoring regulatory developments and adapting strategies accordingly can help maintain compliance and deliver consistent, high-quality support across all regions.
5. How Do We Select the Right Vendor Partners for Patient Support Services (Hub) and Copay Support?
Selecting vendors for Hub and Copay services is a strategic decision that impacts the quality of patient support. It is important to prioritize vendors that align with the mission and demonstrate a commitment to excellence. A comprehensive vendor assessment process that evaluates consultative capabilities, technological integration, and performance metrics ensures that partners contribute to the overarching goal of delivering superior patient support.
6. How Can You Make the Strategic Choice to In-source, Out-source, or Take a Combined Approach?
It is critical you decide how you will deploy your patient support programs for Field Access and Reimbursement (FRM) and Patient Education and Engagement given your organization’s patient support capabilities and brand lifecycle management needs. Core capability considerations include speed to add or remove talent and evolve program, speed to launch programs, handling and protecting patient information, and technology needs. Additional considerations may include your organizational experience and existing infrastructure in the therapeutic area, as you may see benefits to tapping into partner expertise or leveraging your existing programs in a portfolio. All launches are different and deciding how you deploy is key so you can identify the right organizational structure and partnerships. When you do this right you close gaps, move fast, manage operational costs, and give your organization a competitive edge that personalizes the patient's journey.
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Measuring Success
Assessing the success of patient support programs involves tracking critical key performance indicators (KPIs) such as patient satisfaction, adherence rates, time-to-fill metrics and health outcomes. Implementing a robust KPI framework to continuously measure and improve services allows for identifying areas for enhancement and ensuring consistently exceptional patient support.
By leveraging technology, optimizing vendor relationships and maintaining a vigilant approach to regulatory changes, patient support services can be transformed, setting new standards in the pharmaceutical industry.
Contributors
Kim Plesnarski | SVP Market Access and Patient Support
Angela Wlodar | SVP Business Development
Dave MacLeod | Managing Director, Value and Access, Consulting
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