Each year, medication non-adherence causes 125,000 preventable deaths and $300 billion in avoidable healthcare costs. In a world where patients face more medication barriers than ever, patient support programs are critical in providing value-based care that yields a palpable and lasting impact. The pharma industry is acutely aware that product access and 
affordability is key to improving patient adherence and more than willing to allocate the time and resources to achieve better results. Yet despite significant investments in technology, dedicated care teams and educational materials, manufacturers’ patient support programs are facing a decline in prescription fill rates and conversion to therapy rates. With limited in-person patient and provider-rep interactions in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, support programs that lack synergized technology and data are struggling to understand access and adherence barriers — and, most importantly, new and unexpected patient needs.
Elevating Patient Support Programs
By leveraging deep insights into access, affordability and adherence barriers — and how corrective actions improve adherence — manufacturers can better serve patient needs with the right touchpoints at the right times.
Through the power of predictive analytics and machine learning, manufacturers can rapidly identify patient behaviors and patterns to develop personas and predict the “next best action" for personalized engagement across direct, digital, and telehealth channels with just-in-time recommendations. From our experience in putting this into action with EVERSANA’s HIPAA-compliant relationship management platform, ACTICS Patient Relationship Management (ACTICS PRM), we can predict which personas are most likely to discontinue or switch their medication and then offer a corrective action to assist the patient.
Collaborative feedback loops also help manufacturers understand potential issues with the therapy itself that could be impacting adherence. For example, patients might share that taking a drug in many small doses is challenging and that they would stay more adherent if they could take the drug in fewer, larger doses.
To illustrate the accuracy and significance of predictive analytics, EVERSANA’s Brigham Hyde, Ph.D., President, Data and Analytics, published a recent white paper outlining the results of a predictive modeling he conducted with historical data.
Comorbidity impact scores predicted: patients who were highly likely to not execute first fill of newly prescribed specialty mediation, with an ~80% accuracy rate (AUC/ROC of 0.81), and patients who were likely to abandon (switch) brands, with an accuracy rate of 70%.
By powering next gen patient services with a relationship management platform designed exclusively for healthcare, EVERSANA is not only improving patient services performance but also generating a 98% accuracy rate in describing types of patient personas. With these personas, clients are improving patient adherence by more than 50%. Evidence provided by ACTICS PRM also expands client understanding of access and pricing barriers, allowing market access teams to execute a comprehensive strategy that enables payers, providers, and patients to make better treatment decisions.
With these powerful insights from actionable data, manufacturers can develop precision messaging and deploy targeted one-on-one conversations with patients and providers. More specifically, manufacturers can provide patients with the personalized support they need to navigate the complexities of new therapy adoption by developing and disseminating custom education resources to help them better understand their diagnoses and treatments.
Omnichannel Propels Personalized and Sophisticated Outreach
The key for pharma brands that increasingly play a role in supporting patients through their care journey is to think about how predictions derived from patient support programs — considered real-life data — can also inform the strategies and tactics of the marketing, compliance, and value-evidence teams.
Leveraging de-identified patient data and insights has created a new sophistication in outreach and personalization. Oftentimes, data funneled into patient services programs is not used to its full potential. As the only organization to house all commercialization services under one roof, EVERSANA is uniquely positioned to integrate the sophisticated data capabilities with end-to-end marketing and patient services strategies. Acting as an information router, EVERSANA’s Omnichannel Activation Model continuously learns audience behaviors and preferences — and evaluates the impact of patient messages — to inform how the channel and messaging mix can be optimized for maximum results. This allows for data-driven planning and real-time analysis of results from marketing campaigns and patient services programs to create a cohesive brand experience.
As we strive to deliver improved therapy adoption and adherence through personalized patient services outreach, ACTICS PRM also powers data-driven, targeted marketing strategies to better engage with patients when they need and want support. For example, marketing and patient services teams will have a clearer understanding of which patient personas likely require additional adherence support as well as their preferences for outreach (e.g., email communication versus SMS or outreach via phone call). All the while, we continually improve the quality of our models by returning interaction data measuring the effectiveness of messages and touchpoints delivered to each persona.
As companies invest in technologies to navigate digital patient engagement, patient services teams need to be equipped with the right tools to maximize value across the patient journey and the product life cycle as well. Rapid advancements in science resulting in new therapies, such as CAR T-cell therapy, immuno-oncology, gene therapy and digital therapeutics, will require the industry to embrace data innovation and combine therapy advancements with artificial intelligence (AI) evolution.
Walking Alongside Patients in Their Care Journeys
Patients are — and should remain — the center of any pharma company’s core mission. As such, understanding their journeys and providing patients with support at each stage of treatment (i.e., hub enrollment, onboarding, and adherence) is essential in creating a valuable brand experience and a high-performing, high-impact program.
With integrated commercial services support from data platforms such as ACTICS PRM, the ultimate result — improved patient outcomes — drives value for all stakeholders. By combining the power of analytics with ready-to-deploy, real-time actions, manufacturers can optimize patient outcomes with custom solutions, ultimately ensuring patients receive the full benefit of a life-changing therapy.(PV)
EVERSANA is the leading provider of global commercial services to the life-sciences industry. Our integrated solutions are rooted in the patient experience and span all stages of the product life cycle to deliver long-term, sustainable value for patients, prescribers, channel partners, and payers. We serve more than 500 organizations, including innovative start-ups and established pharmaceutical companies to advance life science solutions for a healthier world.
For more information, visit eversana.com.
