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Despite billions of dollars and decades spent developing innovative specialty medications, between 60% and 70% of patients never start or discontinue treatment within the first few months.
CoverMyMeds highlights similar trends, stressing that access barriers, particularly cost, lead to delays or even abandonment of essential treatments.
These statistics highlight a critical challenge in healthcare: Ensuring patients can access and adhere to treatment to achieve desired health outcomes. Centralized patient support services teams help confront this challenge by providing educational resources, social and emotional support, and more.
But keeping track of the countless data points—medical history, insurance information, communications preferences, provider details, etc.—and managing the numerous stakeholders involved in the complex patient journey to start and stay on specialty therapies is no small feat. It requires real-time data visibility, seamless coordination, and smooth collaboration across internal and external teams.
With the right patient-focused CRM, pharma patient services teams can unlock the information and resources they need to streamline the treatment experience and help patients avoid all-too-common access and adherence challenges.
Best-in-class pharma patient services teams are redefining patient-centric care with a proactive, personalized approach that removes barriers and empowers patients to take control of their health journey.
In this blog, we’ll explore the strategies and methodologies that underpin leading patient support programs and highlight how these teams continually set new standards to ensure specialty treatments reach the patients who need them most.
Centralized patient services teams are internal groups employed directly by pharmaceutical manufacturers to support patients prescribed their specialty therapies. The primary focus of these teams is connecting patients with holistic education and support services and fostering a 1:1 relationship with patient populations.
Unlike external vendors or HUB services providers, internal patient services teams give manufacturers more visibility and control over the entire treatment experience—whether that’s through more regular training and coaching or ensuring consistent, compliant brand messaging.
A patient support services team equipped with a modern, integrated patient CRM has the data and automated tools to provide consistent communication and outreach, enabling a personalized, truly patient-focused experience.
As one executive in the “State of Patient-Centricity in Biopharma 2024” whitepaper put it, pharma patient services teams must “embed patient engagement, co-creation, feedback, and collaboration” into their processes in order to understand their patients’ unique needs and to develop services that meet their real (versus perceived) needs.
When successful, patient support teams are directly “helping populations better understand their disease, navigate their care journey, and understand the importance of their therapies”—all in the pursuit of improving adherence and driving better overall health outcomes.
The critical roles of patient services teams include:
Patient support services help provide peace of mind for patients and their loved ones through a dedicated point of contact. Patients and caregivers feel reassured knowing they have someone to guide them through every step of the process.
Meanwhile, the benefits for healthcare providers are indirect yet significant. A seamless patient experience increases the likelihood of individuals starting and staying on prescribed therapies, contributing to better health outcomes. This is good for patients, providers, manufacturers, and society at large.
Patient services teams play a critical role, blending logistical and clinical expertise with compassionate care to improve the patient journey.
Patients face many barriers when accessing and adhering to specialty therapies. One major hurdle is insurance-related delays. A patient prescribed a life-changing biologic, for instance, may wait weeks for approval, causing them significant distress as their disease potentially progresses.
Another challenge for many patients involves financial barriers, such as high out-of-pocket expenses, which can prevent them from affording the medications they need. Even with assistance programs available, patients may struggle to navigate the complexities of enrollment.
Lack of education and communication further complicates medication adherence. Patients often feel overwhelmed or uninformed about their treatment regimen, leading to missed doses or premature abandonment. For example, a patient prescribed a self-administered injectable may stop treatment out of fear or confusion about proper injection techniques.
Social and emotional challenges compound these issues. Patients may feel isolated, anxious, or alone, struggling with side effects or the day-to-day realities of managing a rare or chronic condition.
Poor treatment adherence worsens individual health outcomes and drives healthcare inefficiencies. In fact, research shows that non-adherence leads to over $500 billion in avoidable healthcare costs annually in the US.
Addressing these challenges requires creative, comprehensive, patient-centric, and digital-first approaches that improve patient access, affordability, and education—all key to achieving better patient outcomes.
Patient services teams, supported by advanced CRM solutions like Courier Health, are redefining the patient experience.
With centralized Patient, HCP, and HCO management, automated workflows, and AI-driven predictive analytics, these platforms break through logistical barriers, eliminate manual processes, and drive more automated and personalized patient engagement.
When patients feel more supported and confident about managing their treatments, patient adherence rates improve. This is a win for patients, but it’s also a critical win for pharmaceutical manufacturers who want their innovative, game-changing medicines to get into the hands of individuals who need them most.
What’s more, automated patient support workflows (delivered according to patients’ preferences e.g., email over phone calls) frees internal resources to operate more strategically, focusing on driving higher-quality interactions across patients and providers.
The Courier Health Platform transforms how teams engage with and support patients, allowing for more efficient and meaningful interactions and significantly better outcomes.
Designed specifically for life sciences companies, the patient services solution gives manufacturers the data visibility, proactive insights, and robust functionality they need to do their job, without having to jump between multiple systems or manually input information.
With centralized data management, teams can access a single source of truth for patient journey data. This eliminates delays caused by fragmented records and smooths the flow of information, even when the primary contact is out of the office.
For instance, if a patient services manager (PSM) is temporarily unavailable, colleagues can confidently step in, armed with the patient’s full history, including prior communications and ongoing needs. This allows for compliant engagement and support without missing a beat.
Powerful automated workflows enable PSMs to streamline routine communications while maintaining a personal touch. For example, the system can send patients SMS reminders about follow-up appointments, educational resources, or even birthday messages, helping to build a deeper connection with them.
At the same time, these workflows flag critical actions that require manual intervention so PSMs can focus on providing strategic support.
In the background, the Courier Health Platform analyzes data and workflows, acting as a safety net to prevent patients from slipping through the cracks and never starting or discontinuing therapy.
Discontinue risk scores and tailored recommended actions help users prioritize their day and easily identify patients at risk of dropping therapy. In one scenario, the dashboard might flag a patient with low engagement or frequent missed doses, suggesting immediate outreach to resolve any potential issues.
These insights help teams optimize their efforts to drive maximum impact across patient populations.
Pharma patient services teams equipped with solutions like Courier Health are upgrading the patient experience, automating manual processes, and surfacing actionable insights to enable biopharma companies to support patient communities.
Take the next step in advancing patient care. Reach out today to learn how Courier Health can upgrade your patient services operations.
True patient-centricity. Everyone says it, but few deliver. Upgrade your patient experience with Courier Health.
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