Technology and specialty pharmacy: 3 positive results
At the AMCP Annual Meeting, three panelists shared real-world examples of technology that is improving patient engagement, adherence, and outcomes
Three panelists addressed “Technology-supported Medicine and its Impact on Specialty Pharmacy” at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy’s (AMCP’s)
The panelists, Mike Fung, associate director, interactive portfolio services, Genentech Inc.; Josh Lemieux, general manager, consumer health, Health and Life Science Group, Intel Corporation; and Scott Honken, vice president, market access and payer relations, Omada Health, focused on how technology can support patient engagement and effectively manage outcomes.
Tech that increases engagement
Fung
“Our goal at Genentech is to help improve medication adherence, improve the patient experience and ensure affordability,” Fung said.
As Genentech focuses on patient-centered decision making, it gains insights into barriers to care, expectations about outcomes and satisfaction, behaviors to maximize outcomes and needs, attitudes and beliefs that influence their continuum of care, he said. The result is a patient journey map.
For example, the drug company designed an app called 4HER for HER2-positive patients that provides nutrition advice, connection with other breast cancer patients and support groups, and games ideal for long visits at infusion centers.
During the first quarter of 2016, the company developed the Gather platform providing patient navigation from symptoms to diagnosis and beyond for breast cancer. On gathertogether.com, patients are able to connect with local community providers, financial services and other resources.
Fung said the platform boasts an 80% adoption rate compared to an average for mobile products of 50%.
Tech that increases adherence
Although there is an abundance of data shared when a patient establishes a relationship with a new doctor, Lemieux noted that unfortunately, it doesn’t include whether a patient has taken a drug as prescribed, what other drugs he or she is taking and a drug’s impact on a patient. “There is a real gap,” he said.
“Our objective is to use trackers to support healthcare systems in helping patients.”
Intel implemented a trial merging clinical and personal data-sleep, exercise and blood pressure and biometrics, among other measures-that could be recorded by a tracker, input into a phone and sent via the cloud.
Using an app from Intel, smartwatches are fitted with patients to determine if they have periods of muscle stiffness, or freezing, and how long they last. Not only does Intel’s solution include an analytics tool, but it also has an alert to remind patients to take medications.
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