Digital Patient Engagement Enhances Specialty Pharmacy Effectiveness

ENHANCING SPECIALTY PHARMACY PATIENT ENGAGEMENT FOR BETTER OUTCOMES

This specialty pharmacy provides complex medications and care nationwide, engaging with patients to provide patient support and coordinate with physicians and insurers. The pharmacy’s patients are prescribed specialty medications—high-cost medications that treat rare, complex, and chronic conditions—that require close management, prompt treatment, and coordinated support.¹ As a specialty pharmacy, the organization is well-suited to support these patients. However, traditional patient engagement methods do not always effectively meet these patients’ unique needs.

COMMUNICATION CHALLENGES IMPEDE PHARMACY EFFECTIVENESS

As a leading provider of medications and services for patients with chronic conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and cancer, the specialty pharmacy faced challenges. Patients needed support to adhere to complicated medication regimes, but lacking communication options and a heavy reliance on telephone calls impeded communication efforts, often resulting in missed doses and delayed therapy initiation and delivery coordination. Coordinating medication delivery was cumbersome and inefficient.

The specialty pharmacy sought a solution to improve patient care, coordination and satisfaction, turnaround time to fill medication requests, and pharmacy workflow efficiencies.

PERSONALIZED REMINDERS AND EDUCATIONAL CONTENT IMPROVE CARE

As part of its efforts to improve patient care, the specialty pharmacy implemented the Twistle Patient Engagement by Health Catalyst™ application. Using Twistle, the specialty pharmacy delivers personalized care information directly to patients’ mobile phones, email, or the Twistle application. The application provides medication reminders, educational content, and direct communication channels with specialty pharmacy team members. Patients can easily access their health information, request refills, and consult with a pharmacist.

The organization automated several routine administrative tasks, including data gathering for new patient intake and prior authorization, refill management coordination, clinical check-ins, and collecting patient-reported outcomes. The specialty pharmacy proactively provides courtesy refill reminders, notifying patients when medications are approaching the refill date and confirming if the patient is still taking the medication and needs a refill. Patients can quickly and easily provide feedback about medication refill needs, including specific instructions and unique delivery needs.

RESULTS

Twistle has enhanced communication between patients and the specialty pharmacy, improving specialty medication management and patient satisfaction. The digital patient engagement has been well-received, with more than 85 percent of the specialty pharmacy’s patients now enrolled in Twistle. Among patients using Twistle, the organization has observed a:

• Four percentage point increase in the medication possession ratio, increasing the number of days patients have their medication on hand.
• 62 percent lower median time to fill medications.
• 40-hour improvement in the average refill turnaround time. 
• 31 percent reduction in-bound phone calls.
• Patients are highly satisfied with Twistle, rating Twistle a 4.73 out of 5.

The specialty pharmacy experienced a substantial reduction in call volume, with many patients choosing to communicate solely through secure messaging. This has led to improved pharmacy workflow efficiencies, freeing up pharmacy technicians and pharmacists to spend more time addressing patient needs and clinical interventions, improving patient care and satisfaction.

“Using Twistle, our organization has enhanced patient-pharmacist communication and medication management, allowing pharmacists to focus on more complex care tasks.”

Senior Manager, Pharmacy Services

WHAT’S NEXT

The specialty pharmacy will continue to refine its patient engagement strategies to improve outcomes for patients with complex and chronic conditions.

REFERENCES

1. Gabriel, M.H., et al. (2022). Specialty pharmacy turnaround time impediments, facilitators, and good practices. J Manag Care Spec Pharm 28(11):1244-1251. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10372971/

ADDITIONAL READING

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