At present, there are at least more than 100 special drug patient support programs in the Taiwan market, which are provided by licensed pharmaceutical companies to medical units and patients on a case-by-case basis, and help patients continue to receive treatment through a compliant application method. At present, there are many types of patient drug support programs on the market, which are used to purchase drugs at their own expense and are used as free drugs, and patients can join the drug free support program (hereinafter referred to as the drug free program) to reduce the ongoing financial burden or reduce the short-term financial burden.
The North District has the highest percentage of patients joining
According to the recent observation of the PatientsForce Data Science and Technology Department (the first half of 2024), it was found from the Taiwan Patient Medication Support Program that nearly 6 percent of the participants were in the North District, followed by more than 3 percent in the Central District, only about 10% in the South District, and less than 1% in the Eastern District.
In addition, the availability of adequate resources for patient support programme application and referral assistance in patient support programmes has also limited the use of patient support programmes in some areas. In hospitals in remote or less developed areas, patient support programmes are more difficult to implement, which requires more supporting measures and management strategies to overcome these challenges and ensure that the programmes are equally accessible to patients.
Due to the management of the patient support plan, there are not only strict requirements in terms of application approval, information protection, patient concealment and drug journey duration, etc., but also if the drug donation plan needs to contact the hospital’s drug depot or add medical information management system to manage information, it not only requires a long time of preparation and administrative work, but also needs to consume the corresponding assistance of clinical medical staff, which indirectly affects whether patients have the opportunity to join the plan. Patients are not equally available to support programs.
The policy of medical institutions and clinics on self-financed drugs may also have an impact, with medical centers having the largest number of patient applications overall.
Patients’ Buying Habits: Why Choose Hospitals Over Pharmacies?
Observing the self-paid drug purchase channels of patients, even if it is oral self-paid prescription drugs, 56% of self-paid patients in Taiwan still purchase drugs in the inpatient way, followed by 24% of patients who purchase drugs in outpatient clinics, and only about 20% of patients go to pharmacies to purchase drugs. The main reason may be that Taiwanese patients are affected by the type of private insurance claims, and they can get more private insurance protection for taking drugs during hospitalization and outpatient treatment, and the coverage amount for hospitalization is higher than that for outpatient treatment, which also indirectly affects the drug purchase behavior of self-paying patients. In addition, the sale of self-financed drugs is currently the main source of income for hospitals, and it is more convenient to purchase drugs in hospitals.
In addition, more than half of the inpatient drug purchases in all districts of Taiwan are the same, and the proportion of drug purchases in the North and South Districts is slightly higher than that of outpatient drugs, but the number of drug purchases in pharmacies is significantly lower than that in outpatient hospitals. This shows that the drug supply channels for patients may not be the same as the drug purchase environment of patients in the region, and some self-financed drugs may only be supplied through hospitals, and pharmacies cannot directly sell these drugs, resulting in a low number of self-financed drugs in pharmacies. In addition, patients may prefer to purchase their medications in the outpatient clinic of the hospital, as they can be seen and picked up at the same place, rather than having to go to the pharmacy to purchase the medication.
Recently, it has been found that patients have a reduced burden on a single purchase of high-priced out-of-pocket drugs
In the self-financed oral medication regimen, most of the schemes are designed to give the patient a period of financial respite after accumulating a certain period of self-paid (purchased) drug treatment, and can apply for free drug treatment. In some oral self-financed drug plans, patients (payers) will mostly purchase self-financed drugs in installments (e.g. purchase by number of pills) according to their current ability to pay (financial situation or maximum payment per policy), and can only apply for free drugs after the cumulative number of self-financed drugs meets the conditions.
Recently, in some drug donation support programs, it has been found that the amount (amount) of drugs purchased per patient has a downward trend, which may indicate that the current ability to pay is not as good as before. In the first half of this year, except for February, the number of self-financed drug receipts submitted for drug donation in that month declined significantly due to the impact of Taiwan’s New Year’s Festival, and there was a reply in March and April, but observing the overall trend in the first half of the year, in some long-term treatment plans, it was found that the amount of drugs purchased by patients at a time declined, which may reflect the change in the patient’s ability to pay, but it still needs to be observed for a longer time.
Through these big data changes, we can reflect to the plan owner of the patient support plan, and optimize the resource services with medical institutions to be closer to the real world to help patients, so that patients who need medication have more opportunities or resources to get close to the opportunity to take medication, so an efficient patient support management system becomes the key.
Patientsforce Lead, April Li
