PATIENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS

Although nearly all pharmaceutical companies have patient

assistance programs to help low-income or uninsured patients
get access to medicines, few people are actually aware of
these programs. APCO Insight interviewed opinion leaders and
health care providers to understand awareness of these programs,
confidence in gaining access and information sources.

AWARENESS

The majority believe only a few companies offer patient assistance programs.
About how many companies are you aware of that have programs that provide low-income
or uninsured people with access to medicines for free or at a lower rate?

HEALTHCARE
Health
Care Providers
PROVIDERS

All/Most

Opinion Leaders

All/Most

35%

51%

Only a few
None

30%

54%

Only a few
None

14%

16%

While providers are aware of these programs through interactions with

pharmaceutical representatives, opinion leaders are left to research these programs
themselves, either through pharmaceutical websites or through fellow patients.
How did you come to learn about these patient assistance programs?
Health Care Providers

Opinion Leaders

Pharmaceutical company sales representatives

73%

Pharmaceutical company websites

60%

Pharmaceutical company websites

47%

Patients

47%

Fellow health care providers

33%

Insurance company website

30%

Patients

33%

Insurance representatives

27%

ACCESS

These programs are considered accessible. Confidence levels are slightly higher among opinion
leaders than providers, a step in the right direction as most think this is a patients responsibility.
How confident do you feel that you could help yourself or a patient gain
access to one of these programs? Please use a scale of 0 to 10 where 0
means not confident and 10 means very confident.
Not Confident

Very Confident

10

Health Care
Providers

7.2

Total Opinion
Leaders

7.3

7.5

Both opinion leaders and health care providers believe it is the patients
responsibility to find and access these programs.
Who do you think is responsible for researching and gaining access to these programs?
Multiple Choice Question

Health Care Providers

Opinion Leaders

Patient

40%

42%

Insurance Company

26%

19%

Primary Physician

14%

18%

Pharmaceutical Company

12%

14%

Non-primary physician (specialist, etc.)

7%

4%

Other

2%

3%

APCO Insight interviewed 287 Health Care Opinion Leaders (n=200) and Health Care Providers
(n=87) between October 9-22, 2015. Interviews were conducted online or over the telephone. Health
Care Opinion Leaders were defined as the top 10 percent most active and engaged segment of the
general public. Health Care Providers included generalists, specialists, nurses and pharmacists.
For more information, please visit rorindicator.com or contact Chrystine Zacherau at
czacherau@apcoworldwide.com