Lisa was recently diagnosed with cancer and faced the reality of her new illness, upcoming treatment and extreme financial burden. After meeting with her doctor about her treatment plan, she was prescribed a medication that had a co-pay of over $2,000 a month. Lisa knew she would not be able to afford the medication. Luckily she met with her Pharmacy Liaison that day to discuss financial assistance options. Her Liaison enlisted the help of the Shields’ Financial Assistance (FA) Team, which works behind the scenes to support all patients, and they began to research possible options for Lisa. The FA team constantly monitors for available funds at various, disease-specific foundations that offer funding for patients who are diagnosed with chronic illnesses and face financial hardship. The FA team quickly found a cancer foundation fund that had just opened up that day and immediately enrolled Lisa in the program. Lisa was then awarded a $7,000 grant to cover the monthly copay cost of her new medication. When Lisa received a call from her Liaison later that day with the good news, she started to choke up over the phone. Lisa said to her Liaison, “I can’t believe the team was able to save me $7,000! Please do not ever leave your job. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I cannot thank you and the rest of the team enough!” Lisa was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief knowing she could start her treatment and face her new diagnosis with strength, instead of  wondering how she would be able to afford her medication.

Key Takeaways:

• Reduced Copays: On average, the Shields’ Financial Assistance Team can reduce a patient’s copay to under $8 versus the national average of $100. This allows the patient to focus on their treatment instead of worrying about paying for their life-saving medication.
• Exceptional Patient & Provider Satisfaction: Having a dedicated Pharmacy Liaison as part of a patient’s care team results in 99% patient satisfaction and 97% provider satisfaction versus the industry average of less than 50% patient and provider satisfaction.

To learn more about the day-to-day challenges that a chronically ill patient faces and how an in-house specialty pharmacy team can alleviate those worries, check out this video: https://bit.ly/2UEtoQM