Asembia 2021: The Future of Specialty Patient Care

During a recent presentation at Asembia’s Specialty Pharmacy Summit, Chief Operating Officer, Clayton Edwards, and Chief Information Officer, Jim Adams, shared the importance of surround sound care – how innovative solutions mean an optimal specialty patient experience. In short, our leaders conveyed that customized clinical programs and digital notifications are changing the landscape of specialty pharmacy.

Rare disease and chronic conditions create significant, often crippling, burdens for patients and caregivers. Worsening symptoms, access to care and therapy, plus adherence issues are key elements specialty pharmacists must understand and evaluate with each patient. Fortunately, the journey of the specialty patient is evolving, thanks to digital technology and clinical innovation. 

Here are the key takeaways:

The acceleration of Specialty360 teams and technology will automatically identify gaps in patient care and interventions
At AllianceRx Walgreens Pharmacy, our dedicated Specialty360 Therapy Teams support specific conditions and therapies, and provide personalized support along a patient’s treatment journey. These teams demonstrate the powerful combination of clinical expertise and high-touch service, while improving outcomes and delivering an empowered experience for patients.

Expanded partnerships with payers and pharma will help develop customized clinical programs 
Patients and caregivers expect to have options on how they interact with their healthcare teams. Specialty pharmacies need to offer options to make their care convenient. AllianceRx Walgreens Pharmacy has partnered to find new ways to connect with patients and help manage conditions, whether through our gene and cell work, or social determinents of health. We’re also taking important steps to support our healthcare partners and ultimately, our patients, to attain more value from the pharmacy data we receive and generate through SpecialtyScope, our data solution helping payers identify key patient opportunities. 

Extended trust in pharmacy will help partners reach patients in new and engaging ways 
There is great opportunity to work with pharma partners to co-create interventions and digital interactions to address the specific needs of our patients. We are working towards that every day within our organization, including the increased access to limited distribution drugs. AllianceRx Walgreens Pharmacy has access to more than 200 limited distribution drugs, including 40 narrow networks and nine exclusive networks. 

Offer patients convenience with a human touch to help them achieve their best outcome 
Our ability to reprioritize at the onset of the pandemic and fast-track the release of self-service digital tools – including online refills, enhanced text messaging, and digital clinical assessments – helps our patients manage their prescriptions online. But it’s not just an online experience. We have pharmacists and advocates at the ready should a patient need to connect with us, or experience something prompting us to contact them.

Specialty pharmacies continue to lean into the role of a connector and bring that value through to pharma to develop customized clinical programs or digital notifications. At AllianceRx Walgreens Pharmacy, we know that staying ahead of what our patients need is crucial to the future of care.

Watch video here. 

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 information officer, AllianceRx Walgreens Pharmacy, who presented at Asembia 2021 last month.

Back to Blog > Blog Stories