Jim Adams: Interoperability and Data Integration Can Improve Patient Pharmacy Experience

Specialty pharmaceuticals have a lot of promise, but patients have to go through hoops to get them. Technology can improve interoperability and create a better patient experience, said Jim Adams, chief innovation officer, AllianceRx Walgreens Prime.

Transcript

There are estimates that up to 60% of drugs FDA approves in 2022 will be specialty medications. With this shift, how can technology be used to prepare pharmacies for the growth in demand for the specialized therapies and the needs of patients with specific, complex conditions?

You know these medications come to market because they offer such promise and hope for the neediest of our patients. And at the same time, we create nothing but burden in terms of the prior authorization process and the financial burden of getting onto these medicines. So, it's the overall coordination of that experience and the fact that technology can create better interoperability that we should be focusing on, and in fact, I find markets starting to focus on.

That time between the moment of prescription to scheduling the first delivery, honing in there, particularly because it drives a lot of interaction between the prescriber between the health plan between the pharmacy themselves is a particular area of need. So, data and data interoperability and removing the burdens in that process are fundamental. If we could go and apply for a mortgage online and receive an answer within 24 hours, it’s absolutely scary to think that our patients might need to wait 3, 5, 7 days to receive a prior authorization to be approved for treatment that's so vital for their health.

So, the focus there and the integration of data and the access to data and creating the interoperability, as HHS is now encouraging us to do is where we can make a very, very big difference.