5 questions to ask a potential patient support partner if you’re an established biopharma company
- How are you leveraging automation for programs like mine? Your potential partner should have experience automating a variety of programs, especially programs with a high patient volume. A digital-first framework that integrates automation and other emerging technologies, like AI, can expedite processes across the entire patient journey, from intake and benefit verification to fulfillment. Automation can be implemented cost-efficiently while both enhancing the patient experience and optimizing your program.
- What challenges could patients face when trying to access my product? New therapies raise many questions about reimbursement, which means you’ll need someone with expertise related to payer engagement, benefit verifications, prior authorizations, appeals support, and other coverage factors. In addition to differentiators like automation, patient service partners that also offer field service teams can help with product-related reimbursement questions from providers.
- What tools do you offer for managing my patient support program? Understanding your program performance is a critical step in achieving optimal results. By constantly reviewing program performance, you can make better strategic decisions about improvements. Ensure your partner offers tools that allow you to proactively monitor and report on how well your account is performing and how it’s staffed. Using benchmarks and insights gained from these tools, you can flag potential issues as well as understand how you may need to adjust your program based on market dynamics.
- How do your tools stack up against competing solutions in the industry? An experienced partner who offers industry-leading strategies and tools can help you stay competitive in the biopharma industry. Forward-thinking patient support program providers keep up with the evolution in technology, regulatory compliance, and patient experience and expectations. A potential partner should demonstrate commitment to keeping pace with the industry — and perhaps even leading it — with investments in infrastructure, technology, and other core areas.
- How are you using the voice of the customer to enhance your services? Launching and executing your program is a true partnership between your team and your patient support partner. Responsive partners who are committed to the voice of the customer are constantly seeking to align their roadmap to the evolving needs of their clients. Look for a patient support partner who will not only listen to your needs but is also consistently improving collaboration and applying best practices and lessons learned.
The patient services industry is evolving. As digital technology drives innovation, established biopharma companies must change with the market. While improving patient outcomes remains the top priority, you also need to effectively keep up with the advances in how patient services are delivered.
The right partner is critical to the success of a new program or optimizing an existing one. To ensure you’re getting the best value, ask potential patient support partners these five key questions.
To see the questions you should ask if you’re an emerging biopharma company launching a therapy for the first time, click here.
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