Our experts from IPG Health and YuzuYello share their perspectives on the evolving patient support landscape including how brands can effectively design patient support programs to stand out and be accessible for healthcare providers and patients alike.
How can brands make their programs stand out?
Imre Varju MD, PHD, MPH, CHES, Director, Learning Strategy, YuzuYello
We believe that patient support should be easy to access, easy to navigate and easy to scale.
Easy to access: More and more manufacturers are offering elaborate savings programs, CRM communications and 1:1 navigator services to support adherence. However, patients often must enroll in each service separately, living under various names, in different locations. This causes confusion, program underutilization and ultimately, suboptimal adherence. To counter these tendencies, we see success with solutions where services are bundled and housed under the same program name and accessed via a single enrollment. We slowly but surely see more support brands going in this direction, realizing that simplicity always wins.
Easy to navigate: In a world where 70% of patients expect healthcare experiences to mimic those in the retail space, human centered design is cost of entry. Post-Rx, the task is to support the patient through a series of barriers that at any point in time can cause drop-off (getting medication, onboarding & training, long-term adherence barriers, etc.). To tackle this challenge, a deep understanding of behavioral science and health literacy must marry service design excellence, ensuring that the systems tied together in the back end through comprehensive business rules show up as compassionate, easy-to-understand front-end experiences.
Easy to scale: We see a significant shift towards the adoption of enterprise models of patient support programs, servicing an increasing number of therapeutic areas and indications. The pitfalls are either too much standardization (‘one size fits all’ solutions) or too much distinctiveness and a loss of a unified support brand identity. As enterprises are figuring out how to navigate the middle ground, we see tremendous opportunity in AI to help digest vast amounts of patient data across indications and identify strategic leverage points as well as scalable branding and template systems that lead to future-proof program solutions.
Effectively integrating patient-reported outcomes and feedback loops
Ross Quinn, Managing Director, Customer Solutions, IPG Health
Patient Support Programs are never set it and forget it. They are living, evolving experiences that are created with the patients and finessed based on the real-world impact. We begin with designing these experiences by co-creating with those individuals who 1) will use the program and 2) don’t think they need the program. It’s within that contrast of individuals that highlights the support need and the program design. Layering on behavioral modeling to provide a strategic foundation on how to support behavioral shifts all the way from the awareness phase to activating compliance and persistency sets the program and patients up for success.
Once in market, analytics and listening take over to understand the utilization and impact of the program. One way is to turn to the ambassadors who serve as a communication channel in the form of advisors, mentors and community educators to shed light on program impact and inform of new needs based on changing dynamics. Additionally, while a longer-term time investment, longitudinal Health, Economics and Outcomes Research studies provide a quantitative understanding of real-world patient support impact on the patient experience.
We also look at program utilization. Which services are being used, what can we learn from call center interactions and what gaps have emerged in the program. We consider what the user experience looks like on our digital channels. For example, form completion rates, app utilization, CRM open rates and engagement. By continuously refining our approach through these feedback mechanisms, we ensure our Patient Support Programs remain responsive, relevant and truly centered on improving outcomes for the patients they serve.
How HCPs can educate patients about available support offerings
Daniela Carrasco, Group Director, Experience Design Strategy, YuzuYello
What the HCP thinks and does matters. Enthusiastic and confident HCP recommendations facilitate strong patient engagement in their disease and medication. Doctor’s optimism (or lack thereof) impacts adherence.
The doctor’s office is also the optimal environment to promote PSPs and enroll patients. But HCPs need to see the value in the program, see it as a differentiator and receive education around how to enroll patients. They need to become an endorser of the program.
For this to happen, we need to start with the HCP. Understand how they interact with PSPs (HCPs and their staff may need to navigate many portals each day) and see how our brand can add value to them, their practice and their patient. To gain this endorsement, we need a multi-channel solution to connect with and educate the HCP and staff. We do this by:
- Differentiation and value: Communications to HCPs and their staff to not only demonstrate the value of the program to the patient, but also how we can help support their practice.
- Offer step-by-step guidance: Provide HCP offices with intuitive instructions on how to easily enroll their patients. Step-by-step guides relay a sense of ease and manages expectations for what the program will deliver.
- Equip reps: Reps need to be educated themselves and then armed with the detail aides to demonstrate value to the healthcare organization and office staff.
- Support enrollment with a strong web presence: All programs should be clearly and prominently promoted and explained on the web with online enrollment when possible.
- Own the office: Leverage Near-Field Communication (NFC) chips, brochures, starter kits and other leave behinds to drive enrollment, educate and keep the program top of mind.
