Clearway Health partners with hospitals and health systems to strengthen or build specialty pharmacy programs, equipping them to reach more eligible patients and provide more comprehensive services to the communities of patients they serve.
Clearway Health’s services are designed to help hospitals and health systems accelerate their specialty pharmacy revenue capture so that they can focus on who matters most.
Elevating medication adherence
Each year in the US, 20–30% of medication prescriptions are never filled and approximately 50% of medications for chronic disease are not taken as prescribed, according to the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS).
“I believe in every instance that patients want to take their medication and want to be compliant,” said Nicole Faucher, President of Clearway Health. “So often, the structure of our healthcare, payor and pharmacy benefit management systems make patient access and their ability to be adherent incredibly difficult.”
In less than 12 months, a safety net hospital improved medication adherence by 35%. With Clearway Health’s program in place, they exceeded industry and community benchmarks for medication adherence – jumping from 60% to 95%.
Removing barriers to improve access to care and specialty medications
Personal Literacy is one of the leading social determinants of health. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, Personal Literacy is the degree to which individuals have the ability to find, understand and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.
“When we don’t understand something, our initial response is to avoid it or fear it,” Faucher explained. “When patients don’t understand their diagnosis or treatment plan and don’t know how to navigate the complexity of the process, it is less likely that they will be able to clear every hurdle to access their medications and consistently maintain their drug therapies. Missing even one dose can dramatically impact their care journey and healing process. Our job is to help patients visualize a healthy future – and ensure they have the understanding and access to get there.”
Building a program and providing ongoing support
Clearway Health is committed to improving access to care and providing personalized support to vulnerable patients and their families who are prescribed specialty medications. Patients are enrolled into the specialty pharmacy program by the Clearway Health Pharmacy Liaisons through a handoff or referral from the provider.
The Clearway Health team is embedded in each ambulatory clinic, works alongside the providers and the care teams and supports the patients through their care journey. Patients benefit from Clearway Health’s high-touch engagement, regardless if their course of treatment ranges from a few months or ongoing disease maintenance such as Hepatitis C or HIV, respectively. The Pharmacy Liaisons collaborate with providers and staff to handle administrative and counseling functions, providing clinicians more time to focus on who matters most. The contributions of a high functioning specialty pharmacy program to a health system are material to quality metrics, patient outcomes, patient and provider satisfaction, financial performance and value-based care initiatives.
“I choose to use this specialty pharmacy over other ones because my Pharmacy Liaison respects my privacy, my schedule and helps me understand potential side effects that I may not be cognizant of,” a patient partnered with a Clearway Health liaison explained. “And most of all, it's efficient. I don't have to make multiple calls, I don't have to wait on hold ever and I'm always at home when my medicine is delivered to me,” they said.
“I am incredibly proud of our team who truly embodies what it means to provide exceptional care without exception,” shared Chris Lehmer, PharmD, MBA, Site Director for a Clearway Health client. “We have partnered with our client and built this program be an industry leader in a lot of ways, but I believe our patient care is what truly distinguishes our model from any other specialty pharmacy program.”
Putting people first
When patients experience a life-changing diagnosis that requires specialty medication regimens, they shouldn’t have to think twice about how they’ll access and afford their medication.
Clearway Health puts the patient first and works collaboratively with the clinical care team, the patient and their caregivers to support the patients’ understanding of their condition, how important it is to adhere to their treatment and to ensure access to their medication along their journey to health and healing.
“The secret is building a team who believe in the work they do and want to create an exceptional patient experience,” reflected Faucher. “Healthcare can be full of sludge. There is so much that slows us down and is created by unnecessary hoops and obstacles. Removing barriers or access to care has always been best resolved by people advocating and acting on patients’ behalf – to get their medications, help them achieve adherence and make it as easy as possible to do it.”
For more information, visit www.clearwayhealth.com.