Optimizing ROI in your Patient Support Program

Pharmaceutical companies invest a lot of money and resources in patient support programs (PSP). It is therefore only logical that they want to know what that investment yields. That does not mean at all that they put profit before the well-being of patients.

On the contrary, by measuring the Return on Investment (ROI) of the patient programs, pharmaceutical companies can convince internal and external stakeholders and investors of the value of their PSPs.

By measuring the ROI of their PSPs, they can demonstrate that the program is running smoothly, make timely adjustments where necessary, predict results… All this benefits the quality of the patient programs.

Novellas Healthcare therefore considers it important to communicate transparently with customers about the ROI of their PSPs.
After all, the return on investment of a patient program is much more than purely financial returns.

When determining this, we take into account the following factors:

• Number of patients in the PSPs
• Number of nurses’ visits and digital contact points
• Discontinuations and abandonments
• Quality of life of the patient
• Disease-specific factors
• Therapy-specific factors

Novellas Healthcare reports on its PSPs on a monthly basis. We analyse the evolution of the number of participants, the number of care providers involved, the evolution of discontinuations and outages. For companies with a strong focus on patient engagement, we also analyse the factors that influence the quality of life of the patients.

1. Set realistic goals for the number of patients in the program.
2. Focus on specific healthcare providers and healthcare institutions that can act as ambassadors for the PSP.
3. Start small and scale up gradually. Start with 1 to 2 caregivers who smooth the path and then expand.
4. Build your PSP dynamically. Add or remove initiatives and actions based on trends and results.
5. Use real-world data. This gives you a more complete and correct picture of the effectiveness of patient programs. Analyzing digital touch-points can have a significant impact on ROI.

Read more: 5 tips to improve your Patient Support Program

It is important to measure the ROI of patient programs, evaluate the success of PSPs and demonstrate their effectiveness. However, how do you start?

Novellas Healthcare developed the following formula to measure the ROI of PSPs in four simple steps:

1. Number of treatments per year x costs per treatment x therapy adherence in PSP = turnover per patient within PSP per year
2. Number of treatments per year x costs per treatment x compliance outside PSP = turnover per patient outside PSP per year
3. Patients within PSP x (turnover per patient within PSP – turnover per patient outside PSP) = additional turnover per year
4. Additional turnover per patient – PSP cost per patient = ROI per patient

In the video below, Novellas Healthcare’s CEO Tom Torfs, gives more details about the calculation ⬇️⬇️

In addition to business reasons, there are several other factors that influence the ROI of patient programs such as budget constraints, the influence of healthcare providers, government support (e.g. Care@Home) … Novellas Healthcare can help pharmaceutical companies to maximize the ROI and success of their PSPs by increasing or decreasing the influence of these factors.

At Novellas Healthcare, we understand that measuring patient program ROI is complex and delicate. We can perfectly support pharmaceutical companies in measuring and optimizing the ROI of their current and future PSPs.

Book an inspiration session and discover how we can make your PSPs a success. Together we are building a successful future for patient-centred care in the pharmaceutical industry.