Maximizing Value of Patient Support Programs - Essay Sample

Introduction

Modern medicine is continuously looking for new ways to improve patients' health and quality of life. Continuous improvements in the health care system have increased life expectancy significantly - from the global average age of 45.7 years in 1950 to average age of 72.6 years in 2019 (Roser, Ortiz-Ospina, & Ritchie, 2019). Fast-paced lifestyles, aging society, and an increasing number of chronic conditions challenge health care systems to innovate due to sustaining emerging patients' needs.

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Changes in populations' longevity led to the worldwide pandemic of chronic conditions. Chronic conditions exceed 70 % of all disease burden globally and are estimated that chronic conditions are accountable for about 40 % of deaths every year(WHO, 2017; Harris, 2019; Ritchie & Roser, 2019 ). Chronic conditions last over an extended period. In most cases, these conditions require sophisticated treatment methods. Complicated pharmacotherapy may require co-administration of few medicinal products or unusual drug administration timing. With more complex treatment methods, patients' will to comply with prescribed treatment decreases. About half of patients receiving treatment, fail to follow treatment regimens; thus, patients are not improving their health and life quality. Failing to adhere to treatment causes adverse clinical and economic outcomes. Also, it is difficult to tell whether therapy or medicine is working. Multiple factors influence non-adherence to drugs. For examples, patients simply forget to take medication or lack health literacy, physicians do not communicate the importance of the therapy in an understandable way for the patient, and the health care system is not able to ensure proper compliance due to shortages in resources CITATION MTB11 \l 1033 (Brown & Bussell, 2011). Patient support programs as an additional tool to routine regimens were introduced to help patients to follow complex treatments and ease the burden of chronic disease.

Patient support programs are designed to help patients to comply with their treatment. European Medicine Agency guidelines (2011) describe patient support programs as an "organized system" (p. 39), allowing companies to collect data related to the administration of medicinal products. Companies sponsoring patient support programs declare it as tools assisting patients in improving treatment outcomes via adherence to medication, education, and awareness of the disease. Moreover, patient support programs are beneficial to health care specialists - using the applications they can provide better care to their patients. Some patient support programs offer financial aid to patients to ensure better adherence to the treatment (Portnoff & Lewis, 2017). The tools provided to the patient vary depending on the specific patient support program. Patient support programs started with tools like a calendar with stickers to mark next medicine administration, leaflet on disease awareness, or with an educational purpose. Also, a patient support program can be carried out as additional communication alongside regular treatment - reminders from a call center or a nurse to use medicine on time. With nowadays, digital innovations, patient support programs can provide more sophisticated tools to track correct medicine dosage and convenient administration time through various mobile applications, wearables, and smart devices.

Pharmaceuticals and biotechnology industry investments in research and development are increasing. Pharmaceuticals and biotechnology industry globally spend approximately 160 billion dollars in 2018 and, consequently, 177 billion dollars in 2019 on research and development and ranked as the second-biggest investor in research and development after the information technology industry (Skillicorn, 2019) (WIPO, n.d.). Despite massive investments into innovative solutions to provide better treatment outcomes, there is a substantial gap between innovation development and its market presence, and there is also a difference between awareness and its application and the dissemination of innovation (Berwick, 2003) (Technology, 2019). The literature points out main innovation implementation theories and models applicable to the health care sector - theory of disruptive innovation, technology acceptance model, diffusion and dissemination of innovation theories by (Rogers, Diffusion of Innovations, 4th Edition, 1995). Theoretical frameworks suggest that characteristics of the innovation define the successful implementation. The health care system is a sophisticated organization operating in a complex environment; therefore, innovation implementation is conditioned by external and internal environmental factors.

Patient support programs are a relatively new concept and have not been implemented widely in health care settings; thus, there are limited attention and knowledge about innovation implementation within these programs. The main research question of this thesis is focused on the following: "what are the main barriers to innovation implementation in patient support programs"?

This thesis aims to explore the main barriers to innovation implementation in patient support programs. Main objectives of the thesis are the following:

• An extensive review of literature related to patient support programs, existing theoretical frameworks of innovation implementation with the focus on the health care system to identify boundaries in implementation of innovation.
• Empirically evaluate obstacles in innovation implementation in patients support programs in the health care sector.
• To stipulate managerial implications for health care managers and health care policymakers.
• To mitigate barriers of innovation implementation in patient support programs.

This is exploratory research to gain comprehensive insights into innovation implementation in the patient support programs. For this type of research, a qualitative research design is pursued to get a broader understanding of the topic. Interviews with health care professionals and industry representatives are considered keeping in mind that they are the main stakeholders and subject matter experts in patient support programs. Interviews with health care sector professionals provide valuable insights, experience, and challenges within the innovation implementation process in patient support programs.

Structure of the thesis is as follows:

• Literature review. This part is dedicated to an academic literature overview in to define the implementation and dissemination of innovation, identify barriers to innovation implementation diffusion. Also, the relevance of the research is described.
• Research methodology. In this part of the thesis, research design, and theoretical methods/frameworks are described.
• Empirical Research Results. This part of the thesis is dedicated to the analysis of empirical research findings.
• Discussion. The thesis is finalized with the results of empirical research and managerial implications for health care managers and policymakers.

Literature Review

This section was aimed at analyzing and reviewing the existing literature concerning support programs for patients, models, and theories of implementation and is the spread of innovations focusing on the health care field. It was essential to review academic articles to get the understanding and theoretical background of the innovations imperative parts spread and the application in the support programs for patients. The focus of this thesis was an exploration of implementation for the innovations seen in the support programs for patients. Innovation barriers identification assisted implications din forming management for health care policymakers and managers. Again, barriers identification in the implementation of innovation served as a basis for constructs mitigations.

Adherence

Annually, new, more effective, and more innovative pharmaceutical products are introduced to treat disease, enhance different adverse conditions, and in fulfilling unmet medical needs. Each treatment that is prescribed is required to give favorable results on a given patient. In order to accomplish the needed results with certain forms of treatment, one more vital element exists. According to Brown and Busell (2011), the element referred to as adherence, illustrated in the middle, is the most significant the section among the three, as shown in Figure 1 below.

Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 1. Treatment scheme- simplified (Brown & Bussell, 2011).

For a given treatment to function or gain the needed results, treatment prescription regimens adherence should be enforced. The WHO refers to adherence as the will by the patients to follow the guidance of health care physicians with restrictions on dietary or pharmacological regimens (Sabat, 2003). The literature review has subdivided the adherence process into three sections. a) Initiation starting with the initial prescription or the first initiation and treatment as agreed mutually with the clinician involved. b) Implementation, where the patients follow the accepted method and schedule of administration for the product of medicine; c,) Discontinuation or persistence that is the treatment remaining as illustrated by the professional or therapy termination with no initial consultation (Vrijens, Geest, & Hughes, 2012; Feldman et al., 2017).

It is vital to adhere to every regimen of treatment, but a significant role...