Introducing Accredo, Express Scripts’ Specialty Pharmacy

November 12, 2014

Here at the NYCDCC Benefit Funds, we understand that taking a specialty medication and managing a complex health condition can be stressful. Fortunately, your Pharmacy Benefit Manager, Express Scripts, understands this too. This is why, through Accredo, their specialty pharmacy, Express Scripts offers you the individual care and attention you need from specialist pharmacists and nurses who understand your specific health issues.

Accredo provides specialty pharmacy services tailored to each individual patient through condition-specific Therapeutic Resource Centers, which represent the top drug/disease categories managed by Accredo. Through these Centers, Accredo provides specialized support to help close gaps in care, reduce unnecessary costs, and optimize patient outcomes. Accredo also promotes the safe and effective use of specialty drugs, and provides patients with training, education, and clinical support, among many other important features.

Additionally, Accredo offers adherence-focused Specialty Care Management programs that provide disease-specific clinical support and interventions at no additional cost. An example is the expert clinical support afforded to all Hepatitis C patients, which is especially important given the new, “game-changing,” expensive medications that are now on the market. Accredo even has an app specific to managing Hepatitis C, which affected patients can download for their smartphones. (You can download Accredo Plus C from the iTunes App Store or visit www.accredoplusc.com to view screenshots and learn more about the app.)

Specialty Care Management

To encourage adherence (properly taking medications), Accredo’s Specialty Care Management programs empower patients, strengthen the patient’s relationship with his/her physician, and support the plan of care for complex treatment regimens.

In Accredo’s personalized model, highly trained clinicians evaluate each new patient based on the disease state, educate the patient about the drug(s) prescribed, and detail any potential side effects of drug therapy. At the initial assessment, educational needs and potential risk factors for non-adherence are discussed with the patient. The clinician also determines appropriate times for follow-up assessments to evaluate the plan.

Through routine assessments, the clinical team identifies patients who may be experiencing physical or psychosocial problems. If any problems are identified, the clinical team provides targeted patients with therapy support and proactively communicates with physicians to help them manage these cases.

Overall, Accredo provides patients with proactive, personalized patient care to improve adherence to prescribed therapy, optimize health outcomes, and reduce unnecessary drug and medical costs (such as emergency room visits).

Programs

Accredo’s suite of Specialty Care Management programs include:

• Asthma
• Cancer
• Cystic Fibrosis
• Growth Hormone Deficiency
• Hemophilia and Von Willebrand Disease
• Hepatitis C
• Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)
• Immune Disorders
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension
• Respiratory Syncytial Virus Prevention
• Rheumatoid Arthritis, Psoriasis, Crohn’s Disease
• Transplant

To learn more about Accredo, you can visit www.accredo.com, or call (888) 608-9010. You can also still order and refill prescriptions at www.express-scripts.com.