Targeting financial toxicity in oncology specialty pharmacy at a large tertiary academic medical center

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Patients with cancer often face financial toxicity. They may face financial distress because of high out-of-pocket costs that in turn can result in delays in treatment, treatment abandonment, and higher overall costs of care, all of which can have have a negative effect on patient care. A specialty pharmacy practice model can play a role in decreasing financial toxicity. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the patient out-of-pocket costs after enrollment in manufacturer patient assistance programs, copay cards, and foundation grants by an oncology specialty pharmacy at University of Chicago Medicine (UCM). METHODS: For this quality improvement project, a retrospective analysis of prescription claims from January 2017 to June 2017 was performed. The primary outcomes included the number of patients enrolled in manufacturer patient assistance programs, copay cards, and foundation grants, along with the total dollars applied to pharmacy claims. The secondary outcome was the average days to approval of a foundation grant. Inclusion criteria for this quality improvement project included prescriptions filled at UCM Specialty Pharmacy in the 6-month time frame for an oncology indication. Exclusion criteria were prescriptions that were not filled at UCM Specialty Pharmacy due to out-of-network insurance and prescriptions that were part of a patient assistance program where the medication was directly shipped from the manufacturer. RESULTS: In the 6-month time frame, 75 patients received financial assistance, with a total cost savings of $314,857. Financial assistance was most frequently applied to the following medications: peg-filgrastim, dasatinib, abiraterone, filgrastim and filgrastim-sndz, palbociclib, venetoclax, and ruxolitinib. The cost savings of these interventions ranged between $5 and $13,138 per prescription claim. The average days from date of insurance approval to date of financial grant approval was 1.2 days. CONCLUSIONS: This project demonstrates the importance of an oncology specialty pharmacy team in ensuring timely approval of a foundation grant and reducing financial toxicity, which can play a major role in access to therapy.