Program allows CipherHealth’s customers to deliver better patient outcomes and experiences while reducing staff workloads.
NEW YORK, Apr. 11, 2024 — CipherHealth, a leader in patient engagement technology and communications solutions, today announced the availability of a Medication Affordability & Adherence Program to increase access to life-saving medications and improve adherence for patients. With this latest program, CipherHealth continues to pave the way in digital healthcare by including access to medication affordability options as a seamless part of outreach to patients.
When patients fail to adhere to medication plans due to costs—not filling prescriptions, delaying fills, or skipping or reducing doses—there are serious downstream consequences for individuals and population health. In fact, 67 percent of patients cite costs as the reason for not filling prescriptions and nonadherence to prescribed treatment is thought to cause at least 100,000 preventable deaths and $100 billion in preventable medical costs per year.
Underscoring the importance of medication affordability to the nation’s largest and most innovative healthcare organizations, CipherHealth is undertaking the initiative in partnership with leading health systems including Community Health Network and Prisma Health. Their leadership in providing much-needed support for patients highlights the need for additional patient-centered initiatives that can fundamentally change lives.
“Addressing medication affordability is crucial to driving down the cost of healthcare and improving outcomes,” said Dr. Jonathan Gleason, Executive Vice President, Chief Clinical Officer at Prisma Health. “CipherHealth’s program provides an innovative solution to a major barrier that prevents many patients from adhering to their prescribed treatment plans.”
Nonadherence due to prescription drug costs also leads to higher mortality rates for patients with chronic illnesses. All of this underlines how critical it is to find ways to make medications more accessible for patients so they can recover, stay healthy and avoid rehospitalization.
“We are committed to exploring new ways to enhance the patient experience and make quality care more accessible,” said Dr. Patrick McGill, Executive Vice President, Chief Transformation Officer at Community Health Network. “Initiatives like this have great potential to positively impact both medication adherence and overall population health.”
CipherHealth’s Medication Affordability & Adherence Program can be offered to patients following a healthcare event, sent via CipherOutreach. Patients are connected via SMS with the best savings programs personalized for them based on their prescribed medications, insurance and pharmacy of choice. These benefits can then be applied to a patient’s medication by showing the pharmacist the instructions provided to the patient via CipherHealth’s outreach. The program can be used at over 70,000 pharmacies across the country.
“Prescription drug prices in the US are higher than in any other industrialized nation in the world. Many patients, despite having health insurance, are still unable to afford their medications,” said CipherHealth Chief Executive Officer Jake Pyles. “With this new program, CipherHealth is able to help reduce these medical costs and give patients the medication they need at a price they can afford.”
To learn more on how CipherHealth’s Medication Affordability and Adherence Program can help support and scale medication access for all patients, click here.
