5 things to consider when building a patient support hub

As the pharmaceutical industry continues to evolve and expand in the scope of what they can provide to patients, the need for patient-centered support services grows with it. For pharmaceutical manufacturers looking to provide impactful resources for patients, building the right patient support program is a key determinant of success. An important first step is to decide whether you’re looking to build your patient support hub completely in-house, outsource your hub through a third party vendor, or partner with a vendor to develop a hybrid model, where some aspects are handled internally and others are outsourced. There are several considerations to keep in mind when deciding whether to insource or outsource your support program. Many companies believe that they can build an internal patient support capability at a lower cost than an outsourced program or deliver a higher quality level of support due to their deep understanding of the therapeutic area. Yet, often these teams fail to account for all the hidden costs and requirements associated with building a best-in-class hub. In reality, outsourcing can often equate to lower costs and high-quality service, provided the right partner is selected. The key is selecting a partner who can tailor your patient program to meet the specific needs of your patient population.

Technology may be one of the most important considerations when determining whether to in-source or outsource your patient services hub. Having the technology in place to streamline and automate interactions with patients and providers, while gathering all of the essential data for valuable analytics, will lay the groundwork for the success of your patient program. While an internal system might be built according to a routine business operations model, an outsourced patient hub will likely already have a proven and consistent platform that integrates all aspects of patient support services, from patient education to reimbursement support and adherence management, into one system.

In addition, leading patient hubs are constantly investing in new technology to improve the patient experience, drive higher levels of engagement and deliver deeper insights. Pharmaceutical companies, which are heavily invested in drug development, may not have the ability to spend on patient technology at the same pace. For example, in just over a year, Cardinal Health Sonexus™ Access & Patient Support has introduced a variety of new innovations including a platform to automate prior authorizations and benefits investigations, texting capabilities, artificial intelligence tools and a healthcare provider portal – all to enhance the level of automation and personalization that can be delivered to patients. Instead of investing heavily to build this technology from scratch with an in-sourced hub, you can take advantage of the significant investment already being made by Sonexus™ and only pay a fraction of the cost to configure the technology solution to your specific program, customized for your specific business rules and patient journey.

One benefit of working with an outsourced vendor to build your patient support program is the immediate access it grants to a full team of experts, all with a variety of specialty backgrounds and expertise in their fields to bring years of experience to your business. In addition, since different specialty therapies require unique patient-support services, a team that is experienced in a specific disease-state will have better insights into what challenges these patients might face.  At Sonexus™, we’ve intentionally hired leaders with diverse backgrounds in clinical care, pharmacy, reimbursement, patient access, customer support, technology and analytics, as well as a variety of different therapeutic areas, because we’ve found that bringing different perspectives to the patient journey often leads to new thinking and better approaches for improving the patient experience.

Breadth of experience is another advantage that outsourced hubs can deliver.  Because they work across many different products and disease states, outsourced hubs can often identify best practices and proven approaches that your internal team might not be aware of.

When choosing an external supplier to build your patient hub, your partner of choice should be nimble and have a strong operations team to properly meet your patients’ needs. Outsourcing your hub makes it easier to scale up or down as needs change. It also offers the flexibility to bring on an expanded team for a short period of time, such as during reverification season, when you might see an increased need for assistance. In addition, working with an outsourced hub partner provides access to shared resources, including case managers, finance and legal, that can flex during peak seasons to provide your brand teams and patients with the level of support needed.

One aspect of operations that is sometimes overlooked when launching a patient support program internally is the maintenance of nursing and pharmacy licenses. Ensuring that your clinical staffers are maintaining their medical licenses in all 50 states, which can be time consuming and costly, is critical to the success of any patient support program and serves as an example of the routine processes that outsourced hubs are equipped to manage.

Another key consideration is ensuring that the team handling day-to-day interactions with your patient population is receiving appropriate training. The approach to training a patient support team needs to be significantly different than training for sales or other customer service roles – and many pharmaceutical companies may not have the specialized expertise or resources within their organization. For example, patient support teams at Sonexus™ not only receive customized patient-centric training in a six-week course in a classroom setting, but they also receive ongoing measurement and engagement through digital resources on a regular basis – and personalized coaching as needed.

Partnering with a vendor that has an internal compliance and regulatory team who is familiar with the patient support space is critical to ensuring your program is consistently meeting the necessary regulatory requirements to operate. Developing a platform that is compliant with HIPAA, the Federal Anti-Kickback Statute, and other applicable regulatory standards is an integral first step, but regulations are constantly changing, so it is also important to stay in step with the evolving legal and regulatory landscape. An outsourced hub with dedicated legal and compliance experts who know the ins and outs of the patient access and patient support space can partner with your legal and compliance team to help to ensure that your patient support program operates in compliance with federal and state regulatory standards. At Sonexus™, our dedicated legal and compliance team is a critical part of the business, from new launches to implementing technology and additional services for a current client.

A hybrid approach to patient support services is increasingly common for highly-specialized therapies, such as cell and gene therapies, where patient populations are small and treatment regimens are complex and costly. The hybrid model allows manufacturers more direct ownership in the patient journey and control of patient interactions, while an outsourced hub helps to streamline administration by managing the backend services, such as reimbursement support, financial assistance qualification, and travel and lodging services. Outsourcing these important services to a hub provider can be especially beneficial in helping patients to navigate the complexity of the reimbursement and financial landscape for such treatments.

If you feel a hybrid model is right for your product, it’s critical to engage a patient hub as early in the process as possible. An experienced patient hub team can provide insights into key elements for designing a successful patient engagement strategy. Engaging with a partner early will enable you to have transparent conversations regarding ownership, compliance and business goals for your program so that both parties are properly aligned and changes can be made early on.

Making the right decision for your patient support hub should come after careful consideration of the key determinants of success for your brand and your patient population. Building out a patient support hub is not a one-and-done process, and if you decide to outsource your hub, choosing the right partner is essential to the continuing success of your business. From the beginning of a hub partnership, it’s important to establish a transparent relationship where both parties can be candid and hold each other accountable to drive valuable solutions. When considering an outsourced patient hub, look for a partner who can not only offer experience and proven success in the disease-state of your product, but also brings the operational, technological and regulatory expertise to build a patient support program to meet or exceed your goals and objectives.