How pharma can complete more tasks without increasing staff Healthcare executives in Pharmaceutical and Specialty Pharmacy industries are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Their staff is overwhelmed with a backlog of tasks, including calls to payors and PBMs to verify patient benefit information. While the status quo has been to hire more people, candidates are nowhere to be found and this pain is becoming more acute. Continued staffing shortages demand a more immediate solution. Pharmacy Challenges by the Numbers: 60% Increase in job openings in last 5 years. Administrative positions are hard to fill: The annual number of job openings for pharmacy technicians industry-wide has grown by nearly 60 percent in the last five years, much of it since the pandemic began (AACP) ⅓ workforce turns over. The majority of pharmacy administrators reported turnover rates of at least 21-30% in 2021 (ASHP) Most expensive employees being used inefficiently: (89%) of pharmacy administrators reported using pharmacists to fill pharmacy technician shifts or perform technician activities (ASHP) For those companies fortunate to have the budget to hire additional staff, they are running into challenges as they execute their hiring plans. First, finding talent is difficult and more expensive to hire. Second, getting new employees to productivity levels is time-consuming and resource-intensive. Onboarding, training and certifying those individuals on the complex product and plan nuances is not an easy feat. Due to these challenges and more, healthcare companies are turning to AI to alleviate call backlogs and streamline administrative tasks. By automating phone calls and removing it from employee to-do lists, specialty pharmacies can further optimize operations and enhance patient care. Say hello to Eva, your new digital assistant A digital voice assistant can address staffing and hiring challenges by taking tedious calls to Payors off the plate of pharma and pharmacy team members. Eva, the Infinitus intelligent digital voice assistant, makes Benefit Verification and Prior Authorization Status calls quickly and accurately so that existing staff can do more with the limited time they have. She also ramps up as quickly as needed during seasonal surges and keeps abreast of changing payor requirements, which means less hiring and training headaches for management. Some of the information Eva can verify when calling a Payor or PBM, without your employee placing a call: – Plan Details (Deductible, Out of Pocket, Plan Type) – Network Status – Drug / Admin Coverage – Coordination of Benefits – Auth Requirements & Status – SP / BNB Access Eva has expertise in making calls for over 50 types of specialty drugs and recently made her millionth call on behalf of clients like AmerisourceBergen. Listen to her complete this benefits verification call with ease. Benefits customers have seen: “Infinitus helped us support 50% more patients at current staff levels by freeing up tens of thousands of hours per week. Our existing staff is able to spend more time with patients and is seeing significant productivity gains in their back office processes. The fact that we could launch something like this in less than 30 days is an anomaly in healthcare.” – Eric Willis, VP of Operations, TrialCard “Infinitus saved us millions in costs to hire, train, and manage seasonal staff by automating the work of 275 people in the first year, while giving us higher completion rates and higher quality rates from Day 1. The unbelievable part to my team was that the time from contract signature to going live was less than six weeks.” VP Operations, Patient Access Program If you or your organization is looking for ways to reduce the administrative burden of back-office phone calls, reach out. Attending Asembia 2023? Contact us to book a meeting onsite.
