The main barriers to expanding patient support services in Taiwan

Barrier one: Only a few patients know about patient support programs

Insufficient awareness of patient support programs is one of the main reasons hindering their adoption. Research shows that nearly 60% of American patients have little or no understanding of the drug support programs available to them. The situation in Taiwan is similar — patients and physicians alike show a significant lack of awareness of such programs. The main reason is regulatory ambiguity and compliance management, which forces program providers to communicate with the market with great caution. 

Taiwan's healthcare system relies mainly on the National Health Insurance (NHI) system, so most patients do not bear a heavy medical cost burden — as a result, patient support programs mainly exist around newly launched, self-paid specialty drugs. Meanwhile, the direction of NHI and commercial insurance reimbursement policy also affects the incentive strategy behind patient support programs for providers. In the United States, a survey found that 42% of physicians are unaware of the patient support programs available to their patients. There is currently no equivalent survey data for Taiwan, but the figure is estimated to be very low.

Barrier two: Insufficient patient benefit in program design

Even when patients and physicians know that a patient support program exists, if they do not see the benefit of participating, they still will not sign on.

Nearly half of American patients believe pharmaceutical companies do not understand their needs, and as a result doubt whether the programs truly help them. Patient support programs in Taiwan mainly exist to fill gaps left by National Health Insurance, but if they fail to hit the mark and deliver real, ultimate help to the intended patient population, patients will not come to understand that the program can make prescription drugs easier to obtain and more affordable — and without that understanding, they will lack the motivation to participate. Beyond programs designed to lessen financial burden, patient adherence support services mostly address problems in medical administration that disadvantage patients, and Taiwan and the United States face similar difficulties here. These fall under Medical Support Service, and patients sometimes do not clearly understand them either. Physicians, for their part, also tend to see them as not being in their own interest.

As a result, patient support programs instead become an additional work station in the care journey. How to reduce the administrative burden of things like prior authorization — thereby saving medical administrative time — matters, or adoption willingness will suffer. 11% of US healthcare professionals believe that the time required to understand patient support programs outweighs the value they provide. In Taiwan, because the National Health Insurance system already keeps physicians' administrative work relatively simple when handling cases, introducing patient support programs into clinical service becomes an even greater challenge.

Barrier three: Overly complex procedures and poor user experience

A patient support program that is overly complicated to register for and use will inevitably struggle to attract patients and physicians. 80% of American patients already prefer digital ways of interacting with healthcare institutions; if a support program fails to deliver a smooth experience, patients are likely to abandon it or raise complaints unless there is an exceptionally strong incentive to use it.

Taiwan, although a technologically advanced region, is still in the midst of digital transformation in healthcare services. Taiwanese patients increasingly expect a seamless, user-friendly digital platform; if a patient support program cannot overcome barriers in digital management and performance, the likelihood of successfully implementing project-based patient support programs will also decrease.

In addition, healthcare providers in both Taiwan and the United States face challenges such as heavy administrative burdens and tight staffing; if a program's process is too cumbersome and cannot be integrated into existing workflows, they will have little time to help promote it either.

PATIENTSFORCE's response strategy

To improve the adoption rate of patient support programs in Taiwan, PATIENTSFORCE Media-WIND Health Group (MWHG) continuously innovates its patient support models and, in coordination with NHI reimbursement policy and commercial insurance strategy, develops a "third way" of affordable support programs for new medicines, including: 

1.In line with trends in government healthcare payment policy, we propose innovative support strategy plans to drug suppliers. Beyond a compliant drug donation management program and system, we also develop new, patient-centered PSP solutions tailored to self-paid drug costs or medical devices across a variety of disease types. 

2.We strengthen the provision of appropriate program information to patients and physicians, and — while remaining compliant with medical regulations — use policy- and industry-level outreach so that patients, physicians, and institutions with immediate needs can access patient support programs through mutually beneficial cooperation strategies. 

3.We simplify program processes and develop a user-friendly, open digital platform. PATIENTSFORCE's patient support management system (MediPASS) has already achieved large-scale service deployment in Taiwan — thousands of physicians now use the platform to submit patient support medication applications, giving applying patients and caregivers a clearer view of their patient support journey. The system has also been awarded the National Healthcare Quality Award seal by the Joint Commission of Taiwan.

4.We integrate programs into physicians' existing workflows, providing supporting tools such as auto-filled forms to reduce extra burden. This is a direction currently under development, and we are actively pursuing potential partnerships with hospital information system vendors.

5.We continuously optimize and develop programs based on data insights to meet needs at different stages. Recently, some drug providers have, after completing their service period, used the benefits demonstrated by real-world data as evidence in NHI reimbursement applications — further showcasing the value of PSP's data management services.

The special nature of patient support program service management differs from that of clinical trials — beyond requiring a deeper understanding of the local healthcare environment and user needs, it calls for a localized strategy tailored to each disease. With compliance management always placed first, meeting the greatest common denominator of clients' flexible needs with scalable service — so that drug providers gain clearer strategic benefit — is a capability PATIENTSFORCE continues to build upon in its innovative services.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Sean Chang, General Manager, PATIENTSFORCE Media-WIND Health Group (MWHG)