Drug Channels - Clarity in the Face of COVID-19

Affordability

Clarity in the Face of COVID-19: Building an Effective Patient Savings Strategy

By: Frank Dana, Chief Commercial Officer, ConnectiveRx

As millions lose their jobs and commercial insurance coverage due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we will continue to see a negative impact on patient access and adherence to medication. In fact, a recent study published by The National Center for Coverage Innovation at Families USA estimates 5.4 million workers lost their insurance coverage due to job loss between February and May, 2020. This is an unprecedented situation. There is no blueprint for brands to follow to support their patients while protecting their bottom line.

That said, the expertise gained from more than a decade of experience as pioneers in patient affordability for both retail and specialty medications, coupled with our agile solutions suite, has allowed ConnectiveRx to support our pharmaceutical manufacturer clients by addressing these unprecedented challenges with real-time strategies and execution.

Prioritize Screening and Expand Program Offerings

The unprecedented losses in commercial insurance means brands need to focus on gaining a more complete picture of coverage types amongst their patient population. The ConnectiveRx holistic affordability solutions suite, which includes our exclusive GateKeeper solution, screens for patient eligibility while providing strategic insight on offer expansion opportunities.

This is especially critical for high-cost specialty drugs where savings programs need to address high out-of-pocket costs. Expanding benefits also include voucher and free product opportunities. Diversifying offerings allows brands to support a wide range of patients in varying financial and benefit coverage situations across specialty, retail, and buy and bill.

Drive Awareness with In-Workflow Communications

It has never been more crucial for brands to facilitate savings offer awareness by communicating with providers where and when it matters most: in the EHR. According to ConnectiveRx market research, providers report that they will move away from their first-choice selection of branded medications 64% of the time when seeing patient costs without the availability of savings offers from pharmaceutical manufacturers.

Our reach within the EHR, within pharmacy networks, and across ambulatory settings is key to informing both providers and patients about new savings offers or changes to existing programs in a seamless and meaningful way. Effective digital communication strategies that also include email and SMS text messages can further support brand programs.

Provide Actionable Insights Through Integrated Data and Analytics

As brands make necessary modifications to their programs, thorough data analysis will be imperative to measure savings program success. ConnectiveRx’s integrated data and analytics tool, Visual Intelligence Portal or VIP, helps brands answer important questions such as:

  • What are our patient retention rates and are they on par with our usual expectations year over year?

  • Are our modifications resulting in greater retention rates?

  • Has underemployment brought in newer patients who are utilizing our programs?

The VIP provides actionable insights to help brand managers interpret and improve upon results through the ease of customizable interactive dashboards. Key metrics on affordability programs are kept up to date to ensure fast performance assessments that integrate with external data sets for efficient in-house analysis.

The Bottom Line

There has never been a more critical time for brands to evaluate and expand their copay programs. ConnectiveRx is a nimble partner with the expertise and integrated capabilities to support brands through this difficult time while helping more patients get on and stay on the medications they need to be healthy. We have simplified our five key strategies in a quick reference that you can access here. For more information about ConnectiveRx or to get in touch with one of our experts, visit www.ConnectiveRx.com/ContactUs.