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1rem

 interview, Brandon Newman, Xevant’s CEO and founder, explores:

The implications of the Inflation Reduction Act’s price negotiation provisions, and how these could result in ripple effects across the healthcare system

The role that pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and other intermediaries' play when it comes to determining drug costs, and how spread pricing is involved

How Xevant helps improve drug cost transparency efforts

Strategies for affordability Newman would offer the pharma industry that can be implemented immediately

Brandon Newman joins The Pharmaceutical Commerce Podcast to discuss the evolving role of PBMs, including the importance of drug price transparency. 

A Further Examination of Pharmacy Benefit Managers

A forum intended for HCPs, policy experts, and industry leaders addresses pressing obstacles facing this sector of the industry today. 

Navigating Access and Reimbursement Through Uncertainty 

Is this level of involvement with HRSNs associated with higher burnout? 

The Connection Between Physician Engagement and Tackling Health-Related Social Needs 

A dive into the top articles in this sector making waves this year.

Pharma Commerce’s Most Popular Patient Support Articles

A session provides considerations for manufacturers during development, rollouts, and implementation, specifically as it pertains to the HSSP perspective.  

Trade & Channel Strategies 2024: Lessons Learned and Considerations with Humira

A case study explores a way to potentially transform commercial organizations, while driving revenue growth.

Trade & Channel Strategies 2024: Navigating Pharma and Its Distribution Models

Goals of the Association for Prescription Psychedelics

, Jon Kostas,executive director of the APP

 discusses how the main goals and priorities of the APP are to serve as a trusted industry voice in the realm of psychedelics, aiming to provide clarity in an area that is often confusing due to the wide range of information and varying compounds. The organization seeks to advance psychedelic treatments through the FDA approval process, making these therapies accessible, affordable, and covered by insurance. In addition to expanding access, the APP emphasizes patient safety, ensuring that individuals receive the correct dosage and undergo appropriate mental and physical screenings before treatment. The focus is also on establishing best practices and safety standards for psychedelic use, ensuring that only eligible and qualified patients pursue these treatments.

Kostas also explains why he believes there was a need for this type of resource, and what went into the making the launch happen, while sharing a personal story surrounding his participation in a randomized clinical trial involving psilocybin.

A transcript of Kostas’ conversation with

What are the main goals and priorities of the APP?

There's a lot of different information out there about psychedelics. It could be very confusing. Even between specific compounds, it can get very confusing. What we plan to do is serve as the trusted industry voice to help advance these compounds through the FDA to actually make them accessible, affordable, and covered by insurance, [while promoting] patient safety, because you know exactly what you're getting—the precise dosage, proper mental and physical screenings—going into this treatment in order to see if you're eligible and qualified for it too, so best practices around that and safety standards.

In the first part of his video interview with Pharma Commerce Editor Nicholas Saraceno, Jon Kostas, executive director, Association for Prescription Psychedelics (APP), provides a peek into what the association has set out to accomplish.

Patient Support & Engagement

PC: Back in August, you penned an article on "Enhancing Patient Access and Support Through Technology: A Comprehensive Assessment." What was the premise of the piece, and why exactly do you believe the integration of AI-enabled solutions has the potential to boost patient support and engagement across numerous patient care settings?

The impetus for my partner, John Hamrick, and I to delve into this was what we saw from our pharmaceutical manufacturer clients. It’s really the need to really reach into the technology support and leverage that to make an impact on patient engagement. We sought to outline an understanding of where we are from an ecosystem perspective in those tools, and then to outline best practices in vetting these different types of solutions and then how we would go about implementing those. So, I’d say the outcomes have been very positive. Manufacturers are eager to look at ways to optimize the patient journey with technology support solutions. So, we’re very excited about next steps in that area.

PC: What industry challenges are at the forefront for Curatio, and how might those change heading into 2025?

I think back about the article, and you know, as I said, the impetus for moving forward with this, we look at the desire for manufacturers to really reach out and to provide solutions for patients. We see the Lilly team coming forward with LillyDirect for those three big areas that they have. We also see Pfizer moving forward with some similar offerings. From a trends perspective, we do see pharmaceutical manufacturers looking to leverage these tools to optimize the patient journey.

Cheryl Allen, BS Pharm, MBA, founding partner, Curatio Scientia Advisors, discusses "Enhancing Patient Access and Support Through Technology: A Comprehensive Assessment," and upcoming industry challenges.  

Latest Conference Coverage

Trade & Channel Strategies 2024: Boosting Patient Support & Engagement Across Care Settings

PC: This morning, you were part of the ‘Patient-Centric 3.0 — How Direct-to-Patient is the New Commercialization Model’ panel. Can you provide a brief synopsis of the panel?

When we think about direct to patient, it's all about the concept of helping patients understand the disease state, drive awareness, and then help them get access to therapy. It's the whole ecosystem from helping them understand the situation that they may be in, talking to the patient community, and gaining access to physicians. Whether that’s real life, brick and mortar, and then ultimately helping them get on therapy because t's never been more complicated to get through this system than it is now.

PC: What key challenges do you see drug manufacturers facing when implementing direct-to-patient models, and how can these be addressed to improve accessibility?

When I come to this conference every year, I joke that it gets more complicated. You have challenges from payer contracts, reimbursement challenges for patients, difficulty for doctors to prescribe and support reimbursement, and so that's that all makes the whole process a lot more difficult for patients get out of therapy. It’s really about helping patients get easier and faster access to therapy and then through that process, helping them navigate the reimbursement piece, simplifying it, and driving for pricing and reimbursement transparency, then helping them get to the right place to fulfill the therapy.

The "Patient-Centered 3.0: How Direct to Patient is the New Commercialization Model" panel explored the evolving landscape of direct-to-patient (DTP) models in pharmaceutical commercialization. This approach emphasizes empowering patients to understand their disease states, raising awareness, facilitating access to therapy, and ensuring adherence. The panel discussed the complexity of navigating today’s healthcare ecosystem and how DTP models address these challenges.

Key obstacles identified include payer contracts, reimbursement hurdles, and prescribing difficulties faced by physicians. These factors collectively complicate patient access to therapies. DTP models aim to simplify the process by offering greater transparency around pricing and coverage, expediting access to medications, and supporting patients throughout their treatment journey. This support extends from initial prescription authorization to affordability assistance and refill reminders, ensuring patients remain adherent to prescribed therapies.

Patient service teams were highlighted as pivotal in improving adherence through education, ongoing support, and affordability programs. These teams help patients navigate insurance processes, manage prior authorizations, enroll in copay assistance, and access clinical resources. Effective tools include self-assessment platforms, telehealth services, and physician locators, which streamline access to care and reduce time to therapy.

DTP initiatives have also accelerated the speed of therapy delivery. By enabling real-time coordination between prescribers and payers, patients can receive medications in as little as one day. The panel noted that DTP approaches drive awareness during product launches, enhance patient engagement, and foster a more efficient healthcare ecosystem.

Looking ahead, the next evolution of patient-centric models will focus on simplifying the increasingly complex healthcare environment. Innovations could include payer reforms, improved pricing structures, and enhanced pathways to ensure faster, more affordable access to therapies while prioritizing patient outcomes. The ultimate goal remains a seamless, patient-focused experience that delivers optimal care at reduced complexity.

Kevin O’Meara discusses Patient-Cetric 3.0 breakout session and the challenges of drug manufactures implementing Direct-to-Patient models.

Trade & Channel Strategies 2024: Key Challenges of Implementing Direct-to-Patient Models 

Shaping the Future of Commercialization

, Chase Feiger, MD, co-founder of Ostro emphasizes the value of AI technology in addressing challenges in digital commercialization within the life sciences industry. The main gap being addressed is the lack of personalized, intuitive, and engaging user experiences for healthcare professionals (HCPs) and patients, especially on digital platforms like brand websites. Feiger compares traditional digital experiences in life sciences to consumer-driven platforms like Netflix, where content is personalized based on past behavior and preferences. In the life sciences sector, however, regulatory constraints—such as the need for compliance with medical, legal, and promotional review processes—complicate this kind of personalization. Despite these challenges, AI and other consumer technology solutions can be adapted for this sector, prioritizing regulatory compliance while enhancing the user experience.

The solution, Ostro, was developed with this mindset: to create a digital experience for life sciences that balances personalization with strict regulatory standards. Feiger’s team includes experts from consumer tech, privacy law, and compliance fields to ensure that the platform is both effective and compliant. Ostro aims to transform the way HCPs and patients interact with medical content.

Feiger also shares the up-and-coming trends that he anticipates in relation AI and life sciences, and how the industry can position itself to capitalize on these trends.

A transcript of Feiger’s conversation with

What emerging trends do you foresee in the intersection of AI and life sciences, and how can we as an industry position ourselves to capitalize on these trends over the next 10-15 years?

First and foremost, I think that every single brand experience 10-15 years from now is going to be vastly different in that there will be no one-size-fits-all brand.com or brand experience—it's going to be one that's really driven by personalized engagement, i.e., one that's going to understand where I am from a health literacy perspective, where I am from an HCP specialty perspective. It's one that's going to be entirely focused on things like personalization. If we look more holistically in the industry, we've seen the introduction of new technologies being able to support things like digital twins and virtual clinical trials, i.e., being able to create virtual control group solutions—with companies like Flatiron Health. I still think that there is a tremendous amount of innovation to occur, specifically on that side of the sector as well, when it comes to clinical trial research and how clinical trials are run.

I also think we're still in the very early stages for things like AI for market access and value communication, i.e., being able to leverage market access strategies to and conjoining that with a lot of what's happening in artificial intelligence. You'll be able to forecast things like payer trends, being able to optimize formulary positioning for new therapies. I think there that we're in the very nascent stages of that as well. But really where I'm going to go, and everything I'm going to hit on is all going to come back down to largely the commercial side, this idea for patient and HCP as AI to drive true personalization.

If you think about it, that is the thing that we keep hearing across the board. We've been hearing about personalized medicine for a very long time. We continue to hear about personalized medicine, but we're not actually practicing personalized medicine right now. We're practicing evidence-based medicine, which is good because we have the evidence, we have the real-world data to support the clinical decisions that we're making as providers. Imagine an era where we're doing genomic sequencing, we're looking at things like proteomics. Imagine what we're going to be able to do on the personalized level, and having all of that data from a personalization perspective to be able to support very important clinical decisions that we make. I think we are in the very early stages of that, and it'll be very interesting to see what comes in the future. A lot of that is going to tie to commercialization methodologies in some very exciting ways.

In the final part of his video interview with Pharma Commerce Editor Nicholas Saraceno, Chase Feiger, MD, co-founder, Ostro, outlines the trends he expects to see over the next 10-15 years when it comes to the intersection of AI and life sciences.

AI’s Role in Personalizing Life Sciences Digital Experiences

How valuable can AI technology be when it comes to tackling digital commercialization challenges—especially within the life sciences industry—and what gaps were you trying to bridge when creating Ostro?

If I were to ask you, what are the things that you take away when you compare a legacy experience to a consumerized experience, you would tell me primarily three things. You would say, Chase, I'm getting convenience, I'm getting personalization. You go, you log into your Netflix, you log into my Netflix, you're going to see very different sets of content based on other things that we've looked at in the past. You're going to see a very intuitive user experience, one that didn't require you to learn and to train on how to use it. It was just very naturally intuitive when you started using it. I like to say that when we think about things like artificial intelligence, when we think about things like what's happening within commercialization and life sciences, it's very similar, except the one constraint being, of course, that every piece of content in life sciences has to go through regulatory compliance review. It has to go through PRC [Promotional Review Committee], MLR [Medical, Legal and Regulatory].

But there are ways that a lot of these different technologies that we've seen utilized in the consumer space can be rebuilt and re-crafted with a regulatory compliance-first mindset, and that's what we did. We ranked regulatory compliance as number one when we looked at recreating a lot of these different novel software solutions and bringing them to this industry; [we’ve added] a former prosecutor to our team. The individual who ran data privacy over at McKinsey is on our team. We took this very, very seriously, and we partnered up with best-in-class consumer technology experts to rebuild these products. That's how we did it. When you ask, what is it that we actually did, and how valuable is it—if I'm an HCP and if I go to a brand.com, that HCP is a one-size-fits-all experience. If I receive a rep-triggered email as an HCP, a lot of that content is not really engaging and interactable. It doesn't enable me to ask the questions I want to ask. Maybe I'm looking for information on clinical trial information, looking for more efficacy, or MLA based information. I have to click around and try to go and find it. It doesn't personalize for me. 

If I'm a patient and I land on a brand.com, the content doesn't personalize based on my health literacy level, i.e., do I have the health literacy level of a sixth grader? Do I have the health literacy level of an HCP that's trying to learn more about this new cancer immunotherapeutic? It's different for all groups. This is where artificial intelligence is having the most impact in terms of being able to provide that personalization for both the patient, as well as the HCP, making it easier for them to find that information they're looking for in a way that they can digest it, in a way that they can comprehend it, in a way that they can actually understand it and take better action on their care—if you're a patient or if you're an HCP—to learn more about that therapeutic treatment option with less clicking, less thinking, less scrolling.

In the first part of his video interview with Pharma Commerce Editor Nicholas Saraceno, Chase Feiger, MD, co-founder, Ostro, discusses the value of AI technology when it comes to tackling digital commercialization challenges.

Enhancing Pharmacy Resilience 

, John Stefankiewicz, VP of Analytics, Cencora

explained that pharmacy deserts are increasingly prevalent due to the ongoing closure of pharmacies, which affects community access to essential healthcare services. In urban areas, the nearest pharmacy may be difficult to reach due to barriers like highways and inadequate public transport. In rural regions, residents may need to travel significant distances, sometimes 20 miles, only to find pharmacies closed after work hours. Pharmacies serve as critical points of care, especially during peak seasons for illnesses like flu, emphasizing the necessity of local access to pharmacists for timely prescription filling and healthcare support.

Pharmacy deserts are increasingly prevalent due to the ongoing closure of pharmacies, which affects community access to essential healthcare services. In urban areas, the nearest pharmacy may be difficult to reach due to barriers like highways and inadequate public transport. In rural regions, residents may need to travel significant distances, sometimes 20 miles, only to find pharmacies closed after work hours. Pharmacies serve as critical points of care, especially during peak seasons for illnesses like flu, emphasizing the necessity of local access to pharmacists for timely prescription filling and healthcare support. There is also a need for advocacy to enhance pharmacy reimbursement and ensure long-term viability. Stefankiewicz highlighted the ability to quickly develop and test solutions across different regions, adapting to legislative changes. The conversation also addresses the issue of pharmacy deserts, noting that closures affect both access and operational challenges for remaining pharmacies. A specific example illustrates how a rural pharmacy absorbed patients from a closed chain store, revealing the diverse challenges pharmacies face, including staffing and service mix. Overall, the focus is on collaborative solutions to support pharmacies in underserved areas.

A transcript of Stefankiewicz’s conversation with

What types of solutions are needed to support pharmacists and future-proof the resiliency of pharmacies?

Advocacy is really going to be one of the areas that opens up pharmacy reimbursement, which is critical for their viability long term. On top of that, our scope allows us to build and test solutions very fast. Our scale allows us to test these solutions across geographies. So as one state legislates certain rules, we can apply that, see what the results of that are, and even almost advocate on behalf of the pharmacy in other areas—either at the state, local, or federal level. That’s the beauty of how we're looking at pharmacy deserts, and how we're looking to solutions. On top of that, pharmacy deserts, and the solutions required at the pharmacy level, is very diverse. We think about pharmacy closures and the viability of pharmacy, but pharmacy deserts also impact that pharmacy that's still open.

We were talking to a pharmacist and a pharmacy owner, where the chain store in the rural area— already in a pharmacy desert—closed, and they were left filling all those scripts from that chain pharmacy. Things like staffing, pharmacy mix—those are the solutions that they're turning to us to partner with them to help solve. That blew my mind, because we've been thinking about it as low access, but a lot of the GNP [Good Neighbor Pharmacy] stores are onboarding these new patients from other areas, other stores, and other chains that are closing. It just goes back to the diverse set of solutions available to the pharmacies.

In this video interview with Pharma Commerce Editor Nicholas Saraceno, John Stefankiewicz, VP of Analytics, Cencora, describes the value of advocacy and other solutions in under-served areas.

KOL Collaboration Series: Enhancing Pharmacy Resilience 

What Are Pharmacy Deserts? 

 Jenni Zilka, SVP, community & specialty pharmacy and president, Good Neighbor Pharmacy, noted that pharmacy deserts are communities without access to pharmacies, hindering residents' ability to fill prescriptions and access healthcare services. These areas are often also healthcare deserts. Definitions vary by location: urban areas lack pharmacies within a mile, suburban areas within two miles, and rural areas within ten miles. Approximately 35 million people live in pharmacy deserts, making this issue pressing. Factors contributing to their rise include reimbursement pressures, decreased foot traffic post-COVID, and the inability of pharmacies to bill for services beyond prescription filling. Independent pharmacies, often serving underserved communities with a majority of government-paid patients, are particularly affected. Zilka also alluded to legislation that is helping to improve patient access.

A transcript of Zilka’s conversation with 

What exactly are pharmacy deserts, and why have they become so prominent?

If you think about a pharmacy desert, it's kind of exactly how it sounds. It's communities where there is no pharmacy, where people cannot fill their prescriptions, but as you know, in many of these pharmacy deserts, they may also be healthcare deserts, where the pharmacy is already playing the role of providing necessary services to maintain good health all around, well beyond just dispensing prescriptions. The definition—which is kind of an industry standard of what a pharmacy desert is—is really where there's no pharmacy, meaning there's no care for the local residents and patients of that area. And it's a little different, depending on if you're urban, suburban or rural, but essentially, it's a one-mile radius. If you're in the city, if people live more than a mile away from the nearest pharmacy; if you're in the suburbs, it's two miles. If you go to more rural settings, then it's 10 miles. Our data shows us that there's an estimated 35 million people live in a pharmacy desert, meaning they don't have access to a pharmacist or perhaps healthcare in general. So that's what a pharmacy desert is.

You asked why we are talking about pharmacy deserts, and why they are more prevalent than perhaps they have been in the past. Candidly, it's just because pharmacies are of all sizes and shapes. Of course, we're here today representing independent pharmacies, but regardless of whether it's an independent or a chain pharmacy, they are really at risk of going out of business. You're probably reading about it in the news these days, but essentially, there're a few key factors that are driving that.

The first is reimbursement pressure. They are continually being reimbursed less for prescription drugs on a day-to-day basis. And then I think as importantly, when you think about COVID, it drove a lot of traffic into the pharmacies. Since COVID is behind us, the need isn't as great. They're not getting as much food foot traffic either, coming into the pharmacy as they were during COVID. It's a combination of reimbursement pressure along less foot traffic. but I think as importantly, not having a vehicle to bill for some of the services that they that they provide, goes well beyond filling prescriptions. What's interesting about independent specifically is that the makeup of their patient base is typically over 50% government paid, meaning state Medicaid or Part D. These are already underserved communities. These are where there's a strong need for a healthcare provider, and that's where they typically where they typically reside.

In this video interview with Pharma Commerce Editor Nicholas Saraceno, Jenni Zilka, SVP, community & specialty pharmacy and president, Good Neighbor Pharmacy, clarifies the meaning behind pharmacy deserts, along with reasons for their increase in prominence. 

KOL Collaboration Series: What Are Pharmacy Deserts? 

digital solution trends

Pertaining to the implementation of digital solutions in the marketplace, what kinds of successes have you seen?

We've seen some great success with implementing these solutions in the marketplace. One example I can share is a manufacturer who decided up front to build a really robust roadmap. They decided to map out exactly what they were looking to achieve and how they were going to achieve it. They allowed for enough time, and they made sure that they had all the right financial investments in place. They had the right players and stakeholders involved, and that was really crucial as well. They brought industry experts to the table, and they made sure they had the right teams of operational expertise, IT expertise, business process expertise. They were able to bring everyone together, and they focused first on building their platform and their core infrastructure. They were really thoughtful around how they did that, and then from there, they were able to evolve their roadmap, and they've continued to build off of that solid foundation that they built, and they've continued to enhance and evolve that along the way. Ultimately, they have a package where it’s a solid foundation, they're able to meet patients and customers where they are, and their technology is really supporting the patient journey. So that's been really successful. 

Another thing that I've seen several manufacturers do that I am in favor of—and I think works really well—is the pilot approach. Traditionally, you see a manufacturer go through an RFP process, select a vendor, and then implement their solutions into their patient support program, but they're fully invested at that point. I think what works better are some of these manufacturers who have engaged in a pilot first, so they still go through that RFP process, but when they select their vendor, they develop a short-term pilot so that they can fully vet that solution on a smaller scale and in a narrower focus, and that enables them to gather some data to determine: are the outputs of what they expected? Are they getting accuracy results that they were told they were going to get? Are those solutions being utilized in the way they thought they were going to be utilized?

I've seen some manufacturers come out of that pilot with much lower accuracy rates than they were expecting. I've also seen some come out of the pilot phase with the same or higher accuracy results that they were expecting, but ultimately, they have the data that then they can decide, is this investment truly worth it, and are we going to get what we were expecting to get without having to fully invest? So that's been a really smart approach as well.

Heading into 2025, what trends in the space are you envisioning?

Digital solutions aren't going anywhere. I think you're going to hear about more manufacturers who are interested in implementing these solutions or expanding on what they already have in place today. I think we'll see more service providers pop up, new service providers we hadn't heard about before, and maybe new service offerings we hadn't heard of before. I just think there's going to continue to be an expansion in this space. Perhaps we'll hear of more well-rounded packages of solutions being offered, but the other thing I think we're going to hear a lot more about—and I'm excited to see where this conversation goes—is around AI. It’s the buzzword of late, so I think we're going to hear a lot more about AI and how that is integrated in some of these solutions. I'm curious to see where that conversation goes.

In the final part of her interview with Pharma Commerce Editor Nicholas Saraceno, Meghan Mullooly, Archbow Consulting’s Vice President, shares implementation success stories, and provides an outlook on future of the space. 

Digital Solution Trends Heading into 2025

Meghan Mullooly digital solution

What advice could you offer pharma manufacturers for implementing these digital solutions within their patient support programs?

There are a lot of ways to successfully implement these solutions within your patient support program, but there are three that I think are really crucial, with the first being to know your customer. Know who your patients, your HCPs and your customers are. The second would be to map your patient and prescription journeys, and the third would be establishing your goals.

If I can expand on those a little bit, it's important to know who the patients are, who the HCPs are, what's important to them, what's valuable to them, because not every digital solution is appropriate for every patient population, for every patient in a specific therapeutic area, with a particular disease, and so it's important to know what value the customers are going to drive to make sure it's even appropriate.

When you're mapping your patient and your prescription journeys, you're able to target your digital solutions along the way that are going to be most impactful. So maybe there's a particular roadblock that exists within your patient journey, and you can implement a digital solution to solve that problem, or there's a way to create efficiencies, to get therapies to patients faster by implementing particular solutions. You want to understand that holistic journey as well.

And then lastly, with establishing your goals, it's important to understand what you're trying to achieve so that you can measure your success and ensure that there is value. Too often, we see manufacturers who just want to be seen as tech-driven or tech-forward, so they implement solutions for the sake of implementing them, but then they can't just determine if there's even value or success on the other end. You want to make sure that you're utilizing the solutions in a way that's going to enhance your program and improve the customer experience, which can ultimately lead to that overall success.

In the second part of her interview with Pharma Commerce Editor Nicholas Saraceno, Meghan Mullooly, Archbow Consulting’s Vice President, offers advice to pharma manufacturers for successfully applying digital solutions to their patient support programs. 

Digital Solution Implementation

Meghan Mullooly patient services

When it comes to providing patient services, what types of digital solutions exist today?

What we're seeing is that there are a wide variety of digital solutions that are becoming available, and some solutions available today that weren't even just a couple of years ago. I think it's best to categorize them into four main buckets, the first being your digitally enhanced services. Where traditional patient support services were executed by human resources, we are now seeing a shift—or an alternate model—where there's a digitally enhanced service that's being offered. Think of your electronic benefit verifications, your electronic prior authorizations that can provide the service through an electronic solution versus a person manually executing that service. The second bucket would be your process optimization solutions that are driving efficiencies and improving your outputs. Think of OCR, your optical character recognition, conversational AI, chatbots. Those would be examples within that bucket, and these are also replacing some of the more manual need that traditionally was executed by people. For your OCR solutions, for example, you're able to automate your data entry processes instead of utilizing a manual approach there.

The third bucket would be around engagement and communication channels to better interact with patients and HCPs. We're not seeing any replacement with the traditional methods. Facts and phones still exist. Email and mail are still there, but there are more opportunities to connect with patients and HCPs and other customers, and meet them where they are. We're seeing things like digital assistance, more use of mobile apps, more use of texting, all to support the program as well.

And then the last would be your software platform, so your traditional CR systems, your data analytics. and dashboards. While those aren't necessarily new in the marketplace, what is new is how sophisticated and customizable these are becoming, and they're better able to drive the patient journey and automate touchpoints along the way, which has been really neat.

As you mentioned earlier, there are nuances within the solutions. I think that no two solutions are identical, and oftentimes, I think there's a different understanding of the product at hand. We have seen some manufacturers who think they're signing up for a particular solution, but the capabilities of the service provider didn't quite line up with exactly what the manufacturer thought they were getting. There's different terminology that's being utilized and different capabilities that are available, so it's really important to properly vet service providers to understand that what you're signing up for is exactly what you're getting.

In an interview with Pharma Commerce Editor Nicholas Saraceno, Meghan Mullooly, Archbow Consulting’s Vice President, outlines the various types of available digital solutions when delivering patient services, while also sharing ways to drive efficiencies.  

Patient Support

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