HelpAround co-founder and CEO, Yishai Knobel, had the privilege of speaking at the 8th Annual Forum: Coupon and Copay. The conference chairman, Chris Dowd of ConnectiveRx, moderated the Q&A that brought to light answers to profoundly important questions, both for brands and for patients.
Top Q&As:
Q: How do you suggest brands make patients aware of assistance programs without permission to contact them?
A: You must get consent from the patient to be contacted – and the copay card can embed collecting these consents as a part of the activation.
Confirm their phone number, collect consent, share information directly.
Q: What is the age group that prefers digital over a phone call?
A: It’s less about age and more about disease area. Healthier, younger populations want digital, not an app. An older, healthier population has more patience for an app. Older, unhealthier patients without smartphones prefer a phone call. More importantly for the last group, it’s not the patient, but the caregiver —the one administering the medication—who is often the one making the decision.
Conclusion: Offer digital, but don’t give up on phone calls.
Q: What kind of cost savings can be achieved by going digital? (Reduction in HUB FTE needs?)
A: By making information available, manufacturers can expect increased efficiency, fewer phone calls into the HUB, less FTEs. Start by introducing a digital layer, and you will gradually see how it impacts the HUB operations, and you can see it in action as you introduce more digital pieces.
About 70% of patients don’t pick up a number they don’t recognize.
Q: What has the feedback from patients been? Are they comfortable using their phones?
A: You can’t really generalize patients—you’re going to have a lot of patients who prefer digital, and you’re going to have some patients who are not comfortable with that. (Probably the minority.) 60-65% of patients prefer digital. But you have to offer both.
Don’t kill any programs that you have, but augment them with digital.
Conclusion
Copay programs are going virtual – patients need it, and are adopting it at above-average rates that are only increasing. From HIPAA compliant consent to wet signatures, from timely notifications to digital engagement wherever the patient needs it, HelpAround will be there – making pharma’s life easier by making patients’ lives easier.