Obtaining Medication Through Alternative Avenues

By Dr. Fred Raleigh, Plus Magazine, Jan. 2007

Patient Assistance Programs and patient advocacy foundations: Obtaining Medications when your Insurance fails

There is a growing concern in America about the millions of our fellow citizens who cannot afford health insurance or who have had their health insurance cancelled. Fortunately there are many programs and agencies that are there to help you see if you can qualify for their specific program.

These programs not only provide information to just patients but they have information for healthcare professionals and care providers. Each site is different in who specifically it will appeal to.

Most of the programs, foundations or companies listed in the table below will require that you fill out forms and provide information about your income and health related matters. For those of you who may require assistance in completing these forms there are patient advocacy groups and foundations that can assist you. One such example is the HealthWell Foundation. In some, but not all cases these groups or foundations may also serve as a bridge between you and your insurance company when disputes arise or when manufacturer patient assistance programs cannot provide all you need.

I have provided for readers on the following page, a Table that list patient assistance resources table. Much of the tables material was originally printed in the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy Vol. 63 November 1, 2006 Supplement #7 page S14 The table includes the name of the assistance resource, a hyper-link or address to the resource’s web site and some pertinent comments about the actual site.

Patient Assistance Resources	Web address	Comments
Patient Assistance Program Resource Center	www.ashp.org (accessed 1-07)	Provides information on how to help patients obtain health assistance. Enter the name of the full program into the sites search engine and click go. On the page that comes up select the first option. On the next page select “Patient Assistance Programs” found in the left hand column.
Pharmaceutical Reimbursement Resource Center	www.ashp.org (accessed 1-07)	Provides information about how to help pharmacists and others obtain proper reimbursement under new federal rules. Once at the home page click on the right side under popular links: Resources Center. Then under practice resource centers click pharmaceutical reimbursement.
Association of Community Cancer Centers	www.accc-cancer.org (accessed 1-07)	Lists pharmaceutical manufacturer drug reimbursement hotlines and patient advocacy groups. Scroll down to the bottom of the page until you find the ACCC Information Tool Kit.
HealthWell Foundation	www.healthwellfoundation.org (accessed 1-07)	Provides financial assistance to eligible patients for certain out-of-pocket healthcare costs, including prescription drug coinsurance, copayments, and deductibles; health insurance premiums; and other selected out-of pocket healthcare costs. Once at the site click eligibility or FAQs
NeedyMeds, Inc.	www.needymeds.com	Provides comprehensive information about manufacturer and government assistance programs. Most can be found in the left hand column of the home page.
Partnership for Prescription Assistance	www.pparx.org (accessed 1-07)	Provides access to more than 475 public and private patient assistance programs, including more than 150 programs offered by pharmaceutical companies. Patients, care providers and healthcare professionals all can use this site. Each has a different box to click.
Rx Assist Patient Assistance Program Center	www.rxassist.org (accessed 1-07)	Provides templates for letters of medical necessity and appeals in the section of the web page for health care providers.

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