In Depth Information
Drug Assistant can help avoid some of the costs of uncompensated care, such as the uninsured, charity patients, bad debts, and readmissions due to medication non-compliance.
Pharmaceutical manufacturers, as part of their “give back” to society or their “corporate social responsibility” initiatives, offer patient assistant programs (PAP’s) or manufacturer assistant programs (MAP’s) that allow doctors or clinics to recover the cost of some drugs issued to indigent patients. The annual cost of write-offs can easily reach six figures, and in large hospitals can reach into the millions! The guidelines for qualifying as indigent, and the list of drugs available for indigent recovery change frequently and vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. Paperwork is required to be filed with the manufacturer confirming, via doctor signature, that the drugs were issued and certifying that the patient receiving the drugs is in fact indigent
Some integrated pharmacy management software systems include a module for recovering the cost of drugs issued to indigent patients. While any recovery is viewed as a success, most recovery administrators don't realize that they aren't maximizing their recovery efforts. Drug Assistant is the best management tool to identify and qualify patients for pharmaceutical manufacturer’s assistance programs. Drug Assistant reduces the intensive labor required to identify candidate patients and prescriptions. The software stores patient financial qualification information, populates application and paperwork, and tracks the entire process.
Software alone does not ensure a successful program. We supplement the software with ongoing training, support and consultation. A Drug Assistant staff member will be assigned to each account. Weekly meeting are held to discuss and support the program. If a meeting is missed or rescheduled, notification will be provided to all parties involved. Each meeting will be documented and summaries provided to all parties involved. Potential restocking opportunities (potential orders) will be identified and the outcome of the restocking effort will be discussed and documented. Reporting will track actual performance against analysis and potential. Opportunities for improvement and requests for additional resources will be documented.
Our software and processes were originally developed in a large hospital pharmacy. The system was so successful, recovering more than $30 million in 6 years, that it then expanded to other hospitals, eventually evolving into an Internet based application, allowing rapid expansion to hospitals and clinics nationwide.