Prescription Access Program Picks Up Steam

As two buses criss-cross the country enrolling patients in a program for low-cost or no-cost medicines, one AAFP leader is actively promoting the initiative.

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America created the Partnership for Prescription Assistance last April as a single point of access to more than 475 patient assistance programs, and the Academy has been a partner in the PPA since its beginning.

"Prescription assistance programs have been around for a long time, (but) they've been very hard to use. Patients had no way to access them," said AAFP Board Chair Mary Frank, M.D., of Mill Valley, Calif. Physicians found the programs confusing and didn't use them, and patients didn't get the benefits available, said Frank. Now, the PPA makes it possible for most people to learn within 10 minutes whether they can match with an assistance program.

Frank was speaking to about 150 community members who had gathered to greet one of the PPA's "Help Is Here" Express buses -- complete with computers, phones and assistants -- that pulled into the physicians' parking area of Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego Jan. 23. Also present was talk show host Montel Williams, PPA's new national spokesman.

"There are 10 computers on the bus. You can register (for the program) right now," Frank told the crowd. She added, "We're finding that 70 (percent) to 80 percent of people who contact the program actually qualify for some benefits."

Frank told the crowd a story about two of her patients, a mother and daughter, who both ultimately qualified for the program and were each able to get the prescriptions they needed. "Both of them now are on the right medications, appropriate to their health problems, with financial aid that makes them able to stay with their medicines," said Frank.

She asked the community members present to spread the word about the PPA program. "You can educate your physician. When you do that, your physician … is going to be able to help a lot of other patients," said Frank.

In an interview after the rally, Frank said a woman who accessed the PPA program on the bus found she was eligible for assistance to obtain a drug she hadn't been able to get for a year. Another woman who registered for the PPA at the rally told Frank she was going to take information about the program to her physician's office, church group and two community centers.

Through the PPA, 1.3 million Americans have matched with assistance programs already, according to PhRMA.