Empowered Patient Podcast Replacing Paper with Digital Tools to Reduce Approval Obstacles Improve Access to Specialty Medications with Julia Regan RxLightning
Julia Regan, CEO and Co-Founder of RxLightning discussed the company's platform for streamlining the process of accessing specialty medications. The traditional process of getting the necessary consent and shipment of these drugs involves a significant amount of paperwork and delays in delivery. RxLightning aims to digitize and automate this process by removing the need for physical paper by using digital tools to connect all parties to ensure fast and affordable access to care. By eliminating paper-based processes, they have achieved a completion rate of 85% of applications within 24 hours.
Julia explains, "Specialty medications are always an interesting topic because, over the last 15 years, the definition of a specialty med has evolved with the new medications and molecules coming to market. So when we define specialty meds, we're talking about the high-cost medications that could treat rare diseases. Still, they also treat things like oncology, dermatology issues, GI, RA, and even allergy immunology. So, it varies across the spectrum, but these traditionally are thousands of dollars a month. Because of the cost and complexity of the medications, when providers make a diagnostic decision and determine treatment, there's just a ton of paperwork to get a patient on therapy."
"So one is access paperwork, everything from insurance coverage and cost to restrictions that the payer may have to affordability because of the cost as well. That could be everything from free drug grant programs to manufacturer programs. So RxLightning is dedicated to taking all those processes that traditionally are done on paper and are slow and making a digital experience to remove the paperwork and then connect the different parties across that patient journey to ensure expedited, fast access, and affordable access to care."
"Yes, it’s very much physical paper. We look at the specialty market for over 1,200 medications. And some of these medications could have hundreds of different types of paperwork to process and touch. So, it's complex for the provider and the patient. And when you talk about some disease states, it's not just one therapy that a patient's on. It's a combination of therapies to treat the disease to try to get a positive outcome. So, it's very overwhelming for many people involved in the process."
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