NHMA Congressional Briefing
“Prevention Priorities to Reduce Health Disparities and Costs”
October 12, 2011
Pfizer Helpful Answers® is a joint program of Pfizer Inc and the Pfizer Patient Assistance Foundation™
Topics
 Uninsured data and statistics
 Resources available today: Pfizer Helpful Answers
 Future resources: the Affordable Care Act and Essential
Benefits
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The need for patient assistance programs
The Uninsured in the US
Health Impact
 Minority groups
disproportionately affected
 Nearly half of the uninsured did
not fill a prescription in the last
year, and 60% had medical
problems but did not see a doctor
or visit a clinic in the last year
Group
 1 in 4 uninsured people don’t fill
their prescriptions due to costs
 Total Uninsured in the US (2010):
49.6 million (16.3%)
% Uninsured
White
12%
Asian Amer.
18%
African Amer.
21%
Hispanic
31%
 50% of uninsured people with
chronic conditions skip medicines
 Result: The uninsured wait until
conditions become critical – and
more complicated and costly to
treat
Sources: Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, “The Uninsured: A Primer,” October 2009
Families USA “Fact Sheet – Shortchanged by Medical Debt,” November 2009
Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, “The Uninsured: A Primer,” October 2009
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: Uninsured Americans with Chronic Health Conditions: Key Findings from the National healthy Interview Survey, May 2005
US Census Bureau: Health Insurance Coverage 2009: Highlights. Received September 10, 2010
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Medication Adherence
 Half of all patients in the U.S. do not take their medications as
prescribed
 20% of new prescriptions go unfilled
 Annually, 125,000 deaths can be attributed to suboptimal
adherence
 Medication nonadherence costs an estimated $290 billion per
year in emergency-room visits and other avoidable medical
expenses in the U.S. representing 13% of total health
expenditures
Sources: Haynes, R.B., Ackloo, E., Sahota, N., McDonald, H.P., & Yao, X. Interventions for Enhancing Medication Adherence. Cochrane
Database of Systematic Reviews 2008, Issue 2. Art. No.: CD000011. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD000011.pub3; New England Healthcare
Institute. (2009). Thinking Outside the Pill Box: A System-wide Approach to Improving Patient Medication Adherence for Chronic
Disease.; Remarks of Steven C. Anderson, IOM, CAE, President and CEO, National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) at the
Sebok Pharmacy Lecture at Ohio Northern University on January 19, 2010. Retrieved from
http://www.nacds.org/user‐assets/pdfs/2010/newsrelease/SebokLecture.pdf.;
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Pfizer Helpful Answers: helping patients in need
get access to Pfizer medicines
 Pfizer Helpful Answers (PHA) is a family of
assistance programs for the uninsured and
underinsured who need help getting Pfizer
medicines.
 These programs provide Pfizer medicines
for free or at a savings to patients who
qualify. Some programs also offer
reimbursement support services for people
with insurance.
 Available in Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands
 One phone number – one phone call
 Someone to talk to (English and Spanish)
 The largest and most extensive patient assistance program in the industry
 Over 100 Pfizer medicines covered, including brands that have generic equivalents
 Best PAP image for 2 years in a row
1-866-706-2400
www.PfizerHelpfulAnswers.com
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The Partnership for Prescription Assistance
1-888-4PPA-NOW ● www. pparx. org
 More than 475 prescription assistance programs
covering over 2,500 medicines
 America’s pharmaceutical research companies launched
the program in partnership with health care, physician and
patient advocacy groups
 1,300 local and national member organizations, including: American Academy
of Family Physicians, National Association of Chain Drug Stores, NAACP
Public Prescription
Programs
For example:
Private Prescription
Assistance Programs
For example:
 Medicaid
Health Clinic
Referrals
 Refers patients to free/low cost
health clinics nearest
to patient’s zip code
 CHIP
 + Over 180 Other
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Barriers to reaching
multicultural communities
Barriers
Lessons Learned
Language
 Importance of communicating
in “native tongue”
 Accurate in-culture
translations, taking into
account dialects
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Partnerships
2
Go Grassroots
3
Test and replicate
Lack of Trust
 In pharma
 In medicines
Privacy Concerns
 Fear of providing personal
data
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Pfizer conducts a significant amount of outreach in the
Hispanic community due to the tremendous need
Advocacy & Partnerships
Health Forums and Events
National Hispanic Medical Association: Seat on NHMA Board of
Directors; seat on NHHF Corporate Advisory Council and NHHF
Board of Directors; regular sponsor of NHMA Annual Conference
National Council of La Raza:
Sponsor annual conference &
Family Health Expo
National Association of Hispanic Nurses: Indepth training about patient assistance programs with
chapter Presidents. Partnerships with local chapters
in AZ, NM, GA, IL to create Uninsured Health Guides
Global Healthy Living
Foundation: Conduct health
forums throughout NY metro (’09’10) and in TX and Chicago (’11)
Spanish Language Materials
Hispanic Federation: Conduct webinars about PHA with participating
community partners
Congressional Hispanic Caucus: Distribute information about
patient assistance programs
League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC): Sponsor of
annual convention
Nat’l Assoc. of Latino Elected/Appointed Officials (NALEO):
Sponsor national conference; participate in health panel and Summit
Grassroots
Pfizer Promotores Outreach Program: Empowering volunteers and
community health workers to educate uninsured Hispanics and their
advocates about Pfizer Helpful Answers, industry-wide patient
assistance programs and other health care resources available for the
uninsured. Now in 6 locations (TX: Dallas, Corpus Christi, Rio
Grande Valley, San Antonio, El Paso; NM: Albuquerque)
• Take Ones
• Tear pads
• Website
• Applications
• Call Center
• Health Guides
Earned and Paid Media
Spanish language:
• Matte releases
• Press releases
• Radio Media Tours
• Local print ads
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Pfizer Helpful Answers:
Helping Every Day
2010 Data*
Region
US National
People
Helped
1.1 million
Pfizer
Prescriptions
8.1 million
Value
$1.3 billion
5 Year Data* (2006 – 2010)
Region
US National
* Includes Wyeth Patient Assistance Programs data
People
Helped
4.5 million
Pfizer
Prescriptions
44 million
Value
$5.6 billion
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Pfizer Helpful Answers:
Impact on health behaviors
Results of Survey Conducted for Pfizer by Roper Public Affairs:
 9 in 10 Pfizer Helpful Answers participants surveyed say they “always”
or “usually” take their medicines as prescribed by their doctor
 6 in 10 report that since enrolling in the program, they visit their doctor
more often for regular check-ups (twice the rate of the uninsured not using
a patient assistance program)
 6 in 10 indicate that they keep informed about the latest health information
(twice the rate of the uninsured not using a patient assistance program
 9 in 10 indicate that participating in the program makes them feel more
optimistic about their health
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Patient advocate resources available
www.PfizerHelpfulAnswers.com
Click on:
“Community Resources” tab on toolbar to view materials available for download or
order
Examples of materials available:
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Over 30 million people
will gain health care coverage by 2019
With the implementation of health reform legislation, over 30 million
people who are uninsured today will have coverage by 2019:
Number of Uninsured (millions)
60
50 50
51 51
51
50
51
50
51
53
52
51
54
53
50
40
32
30
26
22
22
22
22
20
10
0
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Current
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
w ith HR
Source: Congressional Budget Office and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, 3/20/2010
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Medicaid and the Exchanges will play a major role
in reducing the uninsured by 2019
Without Reform
Uninsured
19%
Employer
Sponsored
Insurance
58%
With Reform
Exchanges
9%
Uninsured
8%
Medicaid/
CHIP - 18%
Medicaid/
CHIP - 12%
Employer
Sponsored
Insurance
55%
Private/
non-Group
11%
Private/
non-Group
9%
Total: 282 million non-elderly
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Robust Essential Benefits package will be
critical to the success of Health Exchanges
Comprehensive &
consistent
Ensure that a broad range of patient populations with diverse
disease states and health care needs have access to a similarly
wide range of treatment options, including pharmaceutical
treatments, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, health
care needs, and specific categories of disease and dysfunction.
Affordable access to care is important to improve health
outcomes and potentially lower health care expenditures
Affordable
access
• High patient out-of-pocket costs and high copayments can cause
people to delay or forgo needed treatment: For each 10% rise in
patient cost sharing, medicine use fell between 2 and 6% (2007 review
in Journal of the American Medical Association)
Affirm choice
of treatment
Ensure providers will be able to make treatment decisions based
on clinical evidence and individual patient’s needs.
Foster new
treatments and
innovation
Inclusion of new treatment options in essential benefits packages
should be presumptive and automatic once they are FDAapproved and available to the market to ensure patient access to
the best available treatment is without delay
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