Supporting patients on their medication journey is no small task. Specialty medications, while transformative, come with a maze of administrative hurdles—hub enrollments, benefit verifications, prior authorizations, and more. Enter the Non-Commercial Pharmacy (NCP): a powerful, often overlooked aspect of a hub solution that can streamline workflows, enhance access to therapy, and improve patient outcomes. Let's explore the pivotal role NCPs play in the patient support ecosystem and how your brand can maximize its potential to deliver life-changing treatments faster.
What is a Non-Commercial Pharmacy?
A Non-Commercial Pharmacy (NCP) is a unique type of pharmacy designed to help patients and healthcare providers (HCPs) manage complex specialty medications. Unlike regular pharmacies, NCPs aren’t focused on making a profit from dispensing medications. Instead, they partner with pharmaceutical manufacturers and their hub services to make it easier for patients to access the therapies they need. An NCP simplifies the process and ensures patients get the right support for their treatments.
Why NCPs Matter in Patient Support
1. Reducing Administrative Burdens
For HCPs, handling specialty medications can feel overwhelming. From filling out enrollment forms to dealing with multiple hub portals, the process is complicated and takes a lot of time. NCPs simplify this by integrating into existing workflows, allowing providers to e-prescribe directly through their electronic health records (EHR).
For example, specialists prescribing biologics for chronic conditions like asthma or osteoporosis can send prescriptions to an NCP directly within their EHR, cutting down on administrative time and accelerating therapy access. Other admin benefits include:
- Faster Hub Enrollment — Using a Non-Commercial Pharmacy, like Careform Pharmacy by ConnectiveRx, ensures that when a prescription is transferred, the patient is automatically enrolled in the pharma hub service. This streamlined process gets patients started on therapy sooner, cutting down wait times by weeks—or even days.
- Reduced Documentation Hassle — By keeping HCPs in their EHR workflow, providers no longer need to fill out forms manually or fax paperwork for hub enrollment. Once enrolled, the hub's patient support team shoulders the load for benefit verification (BV) and prior authorization (PA).
- Prescription Maintains Rx Status — Because an NCP is a fully credentialed pharmacy, the prescription never loses its legal status—meaning prescriptions can be transmitted directly from the NCP to the patient's preferred pharmacy.
2. Speeding Up Benefit Verifications and Prior Authorizations
The most significant bottleneck in the patient’s medication journey often lies in benefit verifications and prior authorizations. NCPs are game-changers here.
- Real-Time Processing — Innovative NCPs like Careform Pharmacy average BV turnaround times of just 6 business hours.
- Automated PA Support — Providers can receive instant visibility into PA statuses via the same system where they prescribe, reducing delays.
- Expedited Appeals Process — When denials occur, and they will, concierge teams can immediately activate appeal processes within the same workflow.
These efficiencies aren’t just about saving time—they directly improve patient adherence by ensuring faster access to necessary medications.
3. Enhancing Data Transparency
Data is the lifeblood of effective patient access programs. NCPs offer manufacturers actionable insights to assess program performance and identify opportunities for improvement.
- Clinic Usage and Payer Mix — Understand patterns across provider networks to better plan support initiatives.
- Efficiency Metrics — Track BV and PA turnaround times to ensure your processes are operating at peak performance.
- Strategic Monitoring — See where patients drop off in the medication process and target interventions to keep them on therapy.
Our non-commercial pharmacy allows the manufacturer to see the same data and insights that can be found in the brand’s retail hub. Information is updated quickly and appears in less than 30 minutes to the brand, and analysts can view all data in their preferred method via our Tableau platform or data feeds.
NCPs in Action: Real-World Impact
Consider this scenario of an oncology office prescribing multiple specialty therapies for a new patient. Without an NCP, the process would require staff to exit the patient’s EHR, log into multiple hub portals, fill out numerous enrollment forms, and repeatedly fax documents. Days or weeks may pass before the patient receives their first dose.
An NCP eliminates this friction. By acting as a single streamlined enrollment channel, staff can send the prescriptions directly to the NCP within their EHR. From BVs to copay support, the entire process is set in motion immediately. Patients receive their treatment faster, and providers can redirect their energy to patient care rather than paperwork.
The Future of Non-Commercial Pharmacies
The days of archaic faxing and bouncing between multiple portals are quickly waning as automation takes hold. Leveraging an NCP within existing workflows turns what for years has been a laborious multi-step exercise into a streamlined and simple patient enrollment process, dramatically decreasing the burden on providers. Ultimately, rethinking NCPs helps patients get on their therapy more quickly, helps them stay on it, and simplifies their entire medication journey.
Forward-thinking pharma manufacturers and access leaders should rethink how they incorporate NCPs into their support strategy. Beyond being a piece of the puzzle, NCPs can become the linchpin of a streamlined, patient-centered approach to medication access.
Moving Forward with Careform Pharmacy by ConnectiveRx
At ConnectiveRx, we’re committed to reimagining the way patients access and adhere to life-changing therapies. Our Careform Pharmacy does more than facilitate prescriptions—it transforms the entire medication journey. Learn more on how our NCP solutions could enhance your brand’s hub services and improve speed to therapy. Connect with one of our experts today!
