Patient Assistance, Copay Assistance Increase Access to Specialty Pharmacy Drugs

According to data presented at the 2016 NASP Annual Meeting, implementation of patient assistance programs and copay assistance programs increased access to specialty medications for patients who normally would not have been able to afford them.

“The implementation of patient assistance programs and copay assistance programs in the specialty pharmacy environment has shown to be financially beneficial to both the patients enrolled in them as well as the pharmacy that fills their prescriptions,” Robin M Guter, PharmD, manager of specialty pharmacy at Cleveland Clinic, and colleagues wrote in their presentation.

Between January 2016 and May 2016, the researchers studied the impact of assistance programs by encouraging pharmacists to enroll patients and track the number of patients enrolled in each program at the end of every business day. In order to encourage participation by pharmacist workgroups, the real-time results of the study were posted for pharmacists to see. The researchers compared monthly revenue to the number of patients enrolled in each program.

Study results showed that during the study period a total of 64 patients were enrolled in and awarded copayment assistance, while 14 patients were enrolled in patient assistance programs. A total of $728,000 was awarded through copayment assistance and $124,695 was awarded through patient assistance.

According to the presentation, the combined cost savings over the 5-month study period was $852,695.

“Future financial reports should reflect even higher savings for the patient and the pharmacy due to increased enrollment,” the researchers concluded. “In the future, increased utilization of patient assistance programs and copay assistance programs can be used to justify adding on a full time employee designated to patient assistance programs and copay assistance programs enrollment. Staffing a full time employee that solely enrolls patients in these programs would allow for other pharmacy staff members to have more time to provide care to patients of the pharmacy.”
— David Costill