To aid their patient-focused efforts, many biopharmaceutical companies have turned to outside vendors. According to a study by Cutting Edge Information, drug companies without dedicated patient adherence teams allocate between 50% and 100% of their adherence budget to outsourced activities.
The pharmaceutical industry’s focus on patient-centric programs and adherence efforts is steadily growing. A majority of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies – 71% of surveyed companies – report having dedicated patient adherence teams.
“Despite the move toward dedicated patient teams, most companies are not yet ready to keep all adherence efforts in house,” said Adam Bianchi, chief operating officer at Cutting Edge Information. “They turn to vendors to help fill any competencies they cannot meet.”
Cutting Edge Information’s recent study, “Patient Adherence and Compliance,” found that 41% of surveyed companies outsource some adherence program work. These percentages vary by region. Half of surveyed companies in Europe and Canada outsource patient adherence efforts, while 38% of US companies and 33% of Asia Pacific organizations use outside vendors.
The amount of adherence work outsourced varies by company, however. One Top 10 company in Europe that does not maintain a dedicated patient adherence group conducts all of its adherence-support activities in-house. Companies with dedicated teams spend smaller portions of their budgets on outsourcing — two surveyed companies dedicate only one-third of their budget to external patient adherence vendors.
“Patient Adherence and Compliance: Improving Outcomes through Patient Engagement Programs” ( http://www.cuttingedgeinfo.com/research/marketing/patient-adherence/) benchmarks patient-centric program budgets and details top-performing companies’ best practices for maintaining efficient, empowered patient adherence teams. Patient adherence executives use this report to:
Assess the specific channels, platforms and tools that make up patient adherence tasks
Benchmark staffing breakdowns of key functions’ involvement to build a patient-focused organizational structure
Reinforce patient-centric strategy to emphasize patients as a core customer group
