"Drug Assistant" Featured in the "KPAP PUBLICATION" Statewide PAP Program in Kentucky
Patient Assistance Programs provide one of the biggest untapped resources in healthcare. Pharmaceutical manufacturers, as part of their “give back” to society or their “corporate social responsibility” initiatives, offer patient assistant programs (PAP’s) or manufacturer assistant programs (MAP’s) that allow patients who qualify to receive free medication. A general rule of thumb for qualification is 200% of the federal poverty level with some programs qualifying as much as 400% of the FPL. The guidelines for qualifying as indigent, and the list of drugs available for PAP programs change continuously and vary with each drug manufacturer. Paperwork is required to be filed with the manufacturer, confirming, via doctor signature, that the drugs were issued and certifying the patient as indigent.
Community and State Mental Health Centers can use Patient Assistance Programs to provide patients many medications at no charge, leveraging limited state funds available to assist those unable to afford their medications. Medication costs have continued to increase while state and federal budgets have been slashed with the economic downturn. Patient assistance programs are saving our clients millions.
Accessible to users over the web making implemnation as easy as it can be.
Large or Small, Drug Assistant is a scalable solution to automate much of the PAP application process.
Drug Assistant is a trusted partner of the largest Patient Assistance Programs nationally.
Drug Assistant allows forward thinking organizations to centralize and manage all giveback programs for each hospital specialty. Programs include drug replacement for inpatient or infusion programs, device replacement, co-pay programs and maintenance medication to reduce readmissions by improving compliance. See our case study link that shows reduction in self-pay E.R. visit by 31.85% and reduction in Hospital Admissions of 46.03% respectively.
We provide consultation, implementation, training, metrics, software and remote staff support by a dedicated account manager. Drug Assistant will manage and oversee the implementation of all new projects. The account manager oversees weekly meetings to support hospital staff. All reporting and metrics are available within our software system, including multisite business office reporting.
Our system has the ability to locate your patient and utilization information as well as demographic information required by the manufacturer programs. Potential patients are identified electronically and staff is given a work queue. Our multi-site system is the only offering with the ability to connect multiple locations; each client decides which locations will share information. This functionality allows for patient sharing, transfer of patient information between locations and centralization of the program. Reporting for the entire multi-site network can be managed at each site as well as at the business office level reporting. The system can export data into multiple formats. Managers have the ability to control access and entry rights for each organization and each user. Web Advance coordinates the entire effort in an easy to use format.
Drug Replacement, one for one product replacement for hospital inpatients that qualify. Our program locates the opportunities electronically along with all available required demographic information to ensure that these expensive medications are replaced back to pharmacy stock.
Retrospective and Prospective acquisition of products for patients that qualify. The drug assistant program locates the opportunities electronically along with all available required demographic information to ensure that these expensive medications are replaced back to pharmacy stock.
This is a best practice and the only way to address both patient care cost and the cost of medications given to the indigent. Over time, this approach will provide better health and reduce hospital visits by the indigent. See case study link that shows reduction in self-pay E.R. visit by 31.85% and reduction in Hospital Admissions of 46.03% respectively.
Co-pay cards are designed to assist insured individuals with private insurance for the co-payments required to obtain their prescriptions at the pharmacy. The drug assistant program matches the patient with the appropriate programs electronically and helps the advocate track and report on the entire process.
Drug Assistant has the ability to help facilities track and apply for qualifying device replacements.
Drug Assistant is a comprehensive, easy to use PAP software program. Our emphasis is on providing solutions to both State Wide Programs, as well as large diversified community based initiatives. We help you track and manage the entire PAP process by providing consultation and program development, as well as our customizable software solution. Drug Assistant includes a library of all available assistance programs, as well as links to application instructions and eligibility requirements. Some of the functionalities of our program include:
KPAP was founded to replicate a community PAP model developed by HEART USA, a 501(c)3 volunteer organization located in Paducah, Kentucky. The program has streamlined the PAP process through more efficient computer technology, reducing paperwork and increasing public access.
The Kentucky Prescription Assistance Program has generated nearly $1 billion in free, or reduced cost prescriptions for qualified Kentuckians. The program surpassed $100 million in savings in the first 24 months of service.
The Drug Assistant program is reducing State Budgeted Mental Health Drug purchases by millions annually. Community and State Mental Health Centers can access generics and name brand Patient Assistance Programs to provide medications at no charge. Medication costs have continued to increase while state and federal budgets have been slashed with the economic downturn. Patient assistance programs are saving our clients millions.
The Kentucky Department for Behavioral Health began the KPAP program July of 2011 to reduce its dependency on their state funded medication program. The results yielded over $4.3 million in free medications for qualifying patients in the first 10 months. An additional $5.7 million in medications were received by patient self-initiated refills.
Retrospective and Prospective acquisition of products for patients that qualify. The drug assistant program locates the opportunities electronically along with all available required demographic information to ensure that these expensive medications are replaced back to pharmacy stock.
This is a best practice and the only way to address both patient care cost and the cost of medications given to the indigent. Over time, this approach will provide better health and reduce hospital visits by the indigent. See case study link that shows reduction in self-pay E.R. visit by 31.85% and reduction in Hospital Admissions of 46.03% respectively.
Our facility serves a very large indigent patient population. Prior to one year ago, we used another vendor's Reimbursement Software. With DrugAssistant, we have significantly increased our percentage of recovery. Not only have we seen improvements in our recovery rate, we have also reduced cost associated with time consuming manual preparation of paperwork. The ability to link with our Pharmacy system to query orders and now have the ability to complete an entire order by entering only RX number from our pharmacy system. One click gives us the utilization spreadsheet of "Bulk" manufacturers where we were formally spending a tremendous amount of time processing manually each month. We have found the customer service to be outstanding. Our request for alterations and customization for our facility have been handled very quickly. DrugAssistant personnel have been able to offer us many very helpful suggestions which we have implemented and found to have also help improve the success of our Indigent Program. I have found the reporting features to be a manager's dream! We have seen such success with DrugAssistant over the last few years in our outpatient indigent care clinics that we are now implementing and utilizing it to assist us in serving the uninsured, low income clients who may be admitted to our acute care hospital.
Read MoreDA is very user friendly and has a significant number of reports that will can assist in looking at cost diversion. DA has helped our organization tremendously. We have been using the system for over 4 years. We never started a manually process as I could not imagine doing this by hand. We currently manage over 1000 pts. The previous county program was using some home grown process and since we took over we have had an estimated cost savings of 12 million each year for the past 2 1/2 yrs. DA processes approx. 2500 orders/ prescriptions each month and can handle any volume prescriptions. We do primary care drugs for HTN, Diabetes, Mental Health, HIV, oncology, Insulin, Hep B & C, cholesterol, A Fib ect. We are a standalone group with 4 advocates, 2 mail order techs, and staff that work directly with all our network pharmacies. We don't have to deal with specific IT issues with another dept. So IT issues are minimal, any glitches are on our side never on their side. Updates are on an as needed basis, drug manufacturers pap forms updates are very quick. DA users typically communicate with the company for updates and enhancements on a regular basis. Recently they completed a scanning method for financials, and pt communications so they are receptive to making sound changes and editing reports to make your process faster.
I reviewed all the available options and since I am a pharmacist it spoke to me because it looks like a pharmacy dispensing system. Its web based I can take it anywhere, patient’s room, clinic setting, or a community center basically anywhere I can get an Internet connection. Our system is very complicated all prescriptions come to us and we track it and then send it out to the patient.
I remember having a lot of questions and concerns when we started our PAP program, however going with this system was the best decision I ever made.
I was hired to organize and expand a program for pharmaceutical assistance at a non-profit clinic serving the uninsured, low income clients in our community. Using the DrugAssistant program, I have nearly doubled the number of medications we are able to obtain for our clients in less than six months. The DrugAssistant software is easy to use and understand, but most importantly, I have found the customer service to be outstanding. Each of my requests for alterations and adjustments have been answered with speedy resolution.
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