Specialty medications can be transformative and extend life, but they can also be prohibitively expensive. About one in four U.S. adults say they or a family member have not filled a prescription, cut pills in half, or skipped doses in the past year due to cost.

At TailorMed, we’re committed to removing barriers that prevent far too many patients from getting the treatment they need. That’s why we partner with premier health systems like OSF HealthCare to expand access to vital therapies. OSF serves patients at 160 locations—including 16 hospitals and 211 primary and specialty care clinics—throughout Illinois and Michigan. The organization believes everyone has a right to care, regardless of their ability to pay. Since August 2023, OSF financial navigators have leveraged our platform to secure critical cost savings for cancer patients.

Financial Navigator Maria Rodriguez assists patients with cancer, heart disease, and other high-cost conditions. She says TailorMed has enabled her to reach more patients in need, with greater efficiency. TailorMed’s integration with OSF’s EMR allows her to proactively identify financially at-risk patients and match them with all relevant assistance programs—drawing on our database of 7,000-plus resources.

“We are able to see the potential savings for that particular patient, what programs they would qualify for, and TailorMed gives us an overview of the patient’s insurance,” she says.

Jacque Doerman, Director of Patient Access, adds that navigators previously relied on spreadsheets and other labor-intensive methods to find and track available assistance. TailorMed streamlines the process, allowing the team to manage the end-to-end lifecycle of assistance programs in one centralized location.

“It really took out the manual work and it was able to automate, make us more efficient, more effective, and get to a lot more patients than we were able to before,” she says.

Over the past year, TailorMed has empowered the OSF team to:

  • Match and enroll nearly 350 patients in financial assistance
  • Secure $367,000 in claimed copay assistance

“The dollars that have come to OSF would have otherwise been some type of patient responsibility and burden,” Doerman explains.

By alleviating the financial burden, this funding makes it more likely that patients will adhere to treatment and achieve better outcomes. At the same time, it reduces OSF HealthCare’s bad debt and uncompensated care, improving its financial performance.

Today, OSF navigators are motivated to use additional features of our platform. For example, navigators at Saint Anthony Medical Center in Rockford, IL, are now piloting the use of our Pharmacy module. Rodriguez appreciates that it allows the pharmacy team to streamline the ordering and tracking of free and replacement drugs.

Most importantly, our platform allows her to better serve patients, such as a man who recently lost his job. With the help of TailorMed, Rodriguez ensured he and his family did not have to choose between necessary treatment and lifesaving care. “We are in her debt and truly grateful for her dedication and compassion during a time of isolation and struggle,” his wife wrote in a note of appreciation. “We thank God for her and for the OSF staff.”

To learn more about how TailorMed empowers OSF HealthCare to remove barriers to care, visit OSF’s newsroom.

Contact our team to request a demo.