Partnership redefines patient support in specialty pharmacy care

Gentry Health Services and Pleio announced the results of their pilot patient support program that’s reshaping how medication adherence and patient engagement are achieved.

The pilot ran from July 2024 to January 2025, yielding impressive results, including a 65% increase in patient volume, a more than 80% increase in total average fills, and a 5% increase in portion of days covered, a patient adherence measure.

“Specialty pharmacies have many key performance metrics that manufacturers are looking at, and one of the biggest hurdles most specialty pharmacies face is with patient adherence,” explained Katie Warmuth, director of specialty pharmacy at Gentry Health Services. "We were excited for the opportunity to bring Pleio on board to help boost this metric and supplement our process that's already in place."Katie Warmuth, director of specialty pharmacy at Gentry Health Services

The Pleio GoodStart™ Program works as follows: When a new prescription enters the Gentry Health Services system, patient information is securely transferred to Pleio. A “Good Starter” then reaches out to the patient before they even receive their first shipment, providing a crucial bridge between the prescriber's office and the pharmacy.

Jen Butler, chief commercial officer at Pleio, explained the Good Starters come from non-clinical backgrounds such as teaching and caregiving, and undergo extensive training before working with patients. They maintain consistent contact with their assigned patients throughout the treatment journey, scheduling check-in calls at critical points in the treatment timeline.Jen Butler, chief commercial officer at Pleio

“Our Good Start program connects patients with a Good Starter from their fills and then supports them for the first couple months on treatment and creates more of a non-clinical, peer-to-patient relationship where the patients are supported with education, awareness, and resources."

In the pilot, the medication was a biologic injection for a dermatology chronic disease. “These are all very complicated medication regimens,” Warmuth noted. “From the time the patient leaves the prescriber’s office to the time they first make the connection with their pharmacy, patients may be experiencing mixed emotions and some anxiety about this new treatment."

The program also addresses a common challenge in specialty pharmacy: ensuring patients are aware of available manufacturer resources. As Warmuth noted, “Sometimes with all the concerns patients have regarding their therapy, important conversation points surrounding available manufacturer funding or the nurse advocates that are out there to also help support the treatment journey. Pleio does a really great job of supplementing those conversations and educating patients about manufacturer resources.”

The collaboration creates what Butler calls a “judgment-free conversation” space from traditional pharmacy usually entails. “One of the testimonials we received from a patient was, ‘Thank you so much for calling and checking in. It's the first time someone outside my family has done so.’ It’s that connectivity that they want,” Butler shared.

Butler emphasized the importance of addressing emotional barriers to treatment success. Recent research conducted by the organization revealed that loneliness significantly impacts medication adherence, particularly among specialty pharmacy patients.

“Over 70% of patients said that loneliness is negatively affecting their physical health and their ability to participate in daily activities,” Butler shared. “52% said it’s affecting medication adherence behaviors, rising to 70% for specialty pharmacy patients.”

“Many times patients experience a side effect that is paralyzing for their treatment journey, but they're too afraid to reach out to the pharmacy themselves,” Warmuth explained. “Having that Good Starter — that non-clinical individual reaching out — really helps to bridge that gap and allow us to better support those patients to keep them on therapy and discuss side effect mitigation strategies.”

The program’s structure is designed to support patients at critical junctures in their treatment journey. Check-in calls typically occur 30 to 45 days after the initial contact, when patients have had time to start therapy and potentially encounter challenges. For conditions where treatment milestones are important, such as when symptoms begin to clear up, additional check-ins are scheduled to encourage continued adherence.

Following the success of the dermatology pilot, Gentry Health Services is looking to expand the program to other therapeutic areas.

To learn more about patient support programs, please visit our upcoming conference.

Header image: Depositphotos@serezniy