Pharmaceutical manufacturers have built robust patient support programs to help ensure that affordability doesn’t stand in the way of starting or staying on therapy. From copay assistance to patient support hubs and free drug programs, these tools are essential for navigating today’s cost-sharing landscape—especially for high-cost specialty medications.

But there’s a growing challenge: Too often, these programs aren’t reaching the patients who need them, when they need them.

Studies show that cost remains one of the top reasons patients delay or abandon treatment. Even as affordability programs expand, many remain underutilized. According to The American Journal of Managed Care, manufacturers invest $5 billion annually in patient support programs, yet only 10% of eligible patients access them.

This leaves a critical question for brand and patient support teams: How can manufacturers ensure their programs have real-world reach and real-time impact?

Understanding the Gap: From Program Design to Patient Access

The gap between support program availability and patient enrollment typically stems from three common issues:

1. Workflow Misalignment

Programs often sit outside the systems used by providers and pharmacies. If care teams have to leave their electronic medical record (EMR) or dispensing software to search for program info, log into portals, or fill out paper forms, enrollment is far less likely to happen in the moment that matters.

2. Lack of Awareness

Despite best efforts, many providers, pharmacies, and patients remain unaware of what support programs exist or how to access them. This is especially true when multiple programs with varying eligibility criteria and enrollment methods exist across different brands and manufacturers.

3. Complex or Delayed Enrollment

When enrolling in a support program requires printing forms, faxing documents, or waiting days for verification, it can delay therapy—and lead to patient drop-off. In urgent situations, providers may have to choose between delaying care,  pursuing stopgap solutions, or exploring different medications.

Strategies to Expand Program Reach and Drive Impact

If you’re part of a brand or patient access team, the following strategies can help make your programs more accessible—and more effective.

✅ Embed Programs at the Point of Care

One of the most effective ways to increase utilization is to bring programs into provider and pharmacy workflows. That means integrating program access and facilitating direct, digital enrollment within a single platform, so care teams can seamlessly identify eligibility and initiate support.

Digital tools that allow providers or pharmacy staff to pre-fill forms, submit documentation, and collect signatures in one place are increasingly becoming the norm. The result is faster time to therapy and fewer drop-offs.

✅ Streamline Documentation and Signatures

Enrollment delays often stem from bottlenecks like waiting for patient or provider signatures. Enabling digital signature capture—especially on mobile devices—can remove a major point of friction, particularly for patients managing multiple medications.

✅ Use Automation to Reduce Administrative Burden

By leveraging automation to populate key fields, validate data, and submit applications in real time, manufacturers can empower prescribers and pharmacies to reduce errors and improve enrollment speed. This not only supports faster therapy initiation but frees up assistance teams to support more patients.

✅ Enable Visibility and Reporting

Brand and patient access teams often struggle to understand how their support programs are performing in real-world settings. Closing the loop with clear metrics on enrollment rates, time to fill, and refill rates helps measure success—and guide future investment.

Real-World Collaboration: What Happens When It Works

In one example shared by a financial navigator, a patient needed urgent access to two specialty medications. Using a digital solution, the navigator was able to complete assistance program enrollment and obtain approvals within 12 hours, enabling the patient’s infusion to proceed the next day. In the past, this process would have taken up to a week, potentially delaying treatment.

Moments like this demonstrate how seamless support delivery—embedded in care workflows—can mean the difference between abandonment and adherence.

Taking the Next Step: Build the Bridge

Many manufacturers already offer world-class support programs. But to extend their impact, it’s time to ask:

  • Can your top prescribers and pharmacies identify eligible patients and enroll them easily?
  • Are your programs embedded at the point of care?
  • Do care teams have a path to automate and scale enrollment without added complexity?

How We Can Help

At TailorMed, we work with leading life sciences companies to close the gap between program design and patient access. Our end-to-end solutions:

  • Embed branded enrollment processes directly within provider and pharmacy workflows in our leading affordability network.

  • Enable real-time, digital enrollment into manufacturer copay, PAP, and other programs, cutting enrollment time by up to 60%.

  • Empower patients to quickly enroll through a digital self-service experience.

  • Automate enrollment into alternative funding programs for eligible patients.

  • Deliver targeted education to patients and care teams.

The result: faster enrollment, broader reach, and improved adherence—with 93% of enrolled patients having more than one claim.

If you’d like to explore how to increase the reach and ROI of your affordability programs, let’s connect.

📄 Download our 1-pager to learn how our solutions bring your support programs closer to the patients who need them.