Optime Care President and CEO, Donovan Quill, byline article featured on December 8, 2020: “Specialty Rx Pharmacists Play Critical Role Supporting Caregivers of Patients with Rare and Orphan Diseases.”
While the COVID-19 pandemic presents a number of challenges for all Americans, millions of people who care for patients with orphan and rare diseases have been grappling with unprecedented difficulties. Thirty million Americans living with a range of 7,000 rare or orphan diseases, now face elevated stressors resulting from immunosuppression, concern about potential infection and hypersensitivity to viral threats. Caregivers for these individuals are more important than ever, especially with delays in routine and preventive care, which have left patients with rare and orphan disease more vulnerable than ever.
Serving as an essential lifeline for these patients and their caregivers, specialty Rx pharmacists take a personalized approach and offer counseling, guidance and education based upon patient and caregiver needs. They also help caregivers manage the clinical and non-clinical issues associated with rare disease and provide expertise and support every step of the way. This approach helps to optimize the therapeutic value of a specialty drug by ensuring prescription accuracy, compliance and adherence to treatment.
This recently published article highlights a “patient-first” model of care to offer targeted specialty Rx pharmacy support, including the ability to contact the pharmacist 24/7 and annual reassessments help to ensure that goals of therapy are on track and every challenge is addressed to improve quality of life for patient and caregiver alike.
