Tips on Implementing Medication Affordability Programs

Video Transcript

Jennifer Bair, PharmD, Chief Pharmacy Officer at Prisma Health:

The implementation went very smoothly and really quickly, and it is providing great value to our patients in the ambulatory space. We’re excited to get it rolled out on our inpatient side. We do have a big Meds-to-Beds program across the majority of our campuses. And that’s one of our biggest challenges in that rollout is how we make sure that we maintain the integrity of our Meds-to-Beds program and provide these messages to the appropriate patient there. Maybe after we get that live, I’ll be back to talk about that. That, in my opinion, is our next big hurdle, and something that I would love to be able to work through seamlessly. I’m excited to be able to expand this to all of the prescriptions that are generated through our Epic® system, to make sure that we’re still providing this seamless care to our patients.

Kate Kalthoff, MHA, HEC-C, VP of Patient Experience & Bioethics at HCA Methodist Healthcare:

I was really very surprised at how easy it was for us. CipherHealth really led this thing and really shepherded us through this program. I didn’t know what questions to ask, I didn’t know what things I needed to do, and they really were so helpful in guiding us through this whole program. Any questions we had, any concerns we had—you don’t know what you don’t know but but these guys did. I’m so happy that we were able to provide this to serve our community. Whether they admit it or not, we know that there are people out there that are really struggling to make ends meet, even if they don’t tell you.

If you have an opportunity to make life just a little bit easier for them—and again demonstrate that you are serving your community—this is a wonderful way to do that. If you’re on the fence, if you’re not quite sure what to do, call CipherHealth and ask about it, because this is this is really an incredibly powerful program.