Digital Innovation holds the key to more robust patient support programs

Ahmed El Shazly

County Manager, Egypt and Sudan

A patient’s journey seldom ends with a doctor’s appointment or a hospital visit. And often, their health concern(s) require some form of medication or treatment. The fact that not everyone has the means and access to the medication they need remains to be one of the healthcare industry’s biggest challenges.

It goes without saying that every patient should have access to the healthcare they need. Essential medicines can save lives, reduce suffering, and improve overall global health.

Our efforts to right this imbalance have come in the form of patient support programs, which — though constrained by matters of eligibility — provide a large steppingstone upon which that access can be granted. 

As such, these programs hold considerable power in moving us closer towards the goal of providing equitable access to healthcare, irrefutably making them the main target for innovation in the field. Therefore, moving forward, we need to better integrate technologies available to us, and modernize our support programs to ensure we’re narrowing the accessibility gap patients face even further. 

We are excited to launch the IUdo App in Egypt, a digital app, which aims to address the patient accessibility barrier through digitizing and streamlining patient enrolments and ensuring appropriate support for patients enrolled in the patient support program.

Aside from Egypt, the IUdo app currently is available to eligible patients that are part of Pfizer Patient Support Programs in Qatar and Lebanon and will be rolled out in other countries across Emerging Markets in the next few months.

Understanding the barriers to access

Concerns associated with expenditures represent a significant barrier preventing patients from seeking care in addition to understanding what treatment and financial options are available. Moreover, mobility-related challenges in getting to and/or from appointments and filling prescriptions, combined with a stronger dependency on family and social support, often affect the path to effective disease management, reiterating the need for robust support programs.

The importance of digital transformation for a better future of healthcare

The digital infrastructure now available to us provides massive opportunity for growth and change towards an increasingly patient-centric approach in the industry.  It is therefore imperative that we better leverage these technologies in order to move closer towards a better future for healthcare.

Designed to make it easier for patients on selected patient support programs to access Pfizer medications, the mobile app improves both the patient and healthcare professional’s experience by speeding up program enrolment; providing seamless access to support treatment plans and allowing the entire support program journey to be managed directly from their phones.

In recognition of the fact that barriers to medical access aren’t just about the price of treatments, innovation of this kind efficiently addresses identified gaps in the patient journey. It does this by leveraging the digital mobile technologies and paperless solutions at our disposal to introduce scalable solutions that facilitate all steps involved in joining a patient support program, from enrolment and through to on-going support.

An added advantage is the potential for faster, more accurate troubleshooting processes through the enhanced communication these technologies can offer. 

Support program enhancement

Patient support programs (PSPs) are designed to make access to medication easier for eligible patients, enabling them to receive much needed (and often life-altering) innovative medication they may not otherwise have access to. At present, Pfizer Egypt supports around 4,000 patients through 10 Patient Support Programs.

Programs of this kind require that we are as diligent as can be when enrolling and supporting our patients. Not only do we need to ensure that the patients meet the criteria set through our appointed third parties, but we also need to guarantee that the medication they need reaches them as easily and as swiftly as possible. Aside from that, we need to make sure that it is safe for them, which involves a strict safety protocol that requires high levels of communication with the patients involved.

With that in mind, it becomes evident that the more that patient support programs reduce their margin of error — especially that which can be attributed to human fault — the more effective they and their systems will be.

Moving forward

As we look ahead, there is no denying that dynamics are shifting, and that making use of the technologies of today is the best way to ensure that our patients continue to be well cared for now and in the future. If there is ever a time to effectively digitize our scope of work, systems, and programs, it would be now.

As a science-driven and patient-focused organization, Pfizer will continue to steer its digital transformation journey further towards utilising innovations like IUdo to deliver breakthroughs that change patients’ lives.