Module 10: Hub & Patient Support Programs

As an experienced pharmacist, you’ve mastered the intricacies of dispensing complex specialty medications. You navigate prior authorizations, counsel patients, and manage inventory with precision. However, the journey for a patient starting a specialty therapy often begins long before the prescription reaches your pharmacy and continues long after the drug leaves your shelf. This broader ecosystem involves a critical intermediary: the Hub or Patient Support Program (PSP), typically sponsored by the pharmaceutical manufacturer.

Hubs serve as centralized coordinators, streamlining the complex path from prescription to therapy initiation and adherence. They manage intake, conduct benefits verification (BV) and prior authorization (PA) support, offer financial assistance navigation (copay cards, patient assistance programs – PAPs), provide disease education, coordinate adherence support calls, and facilitate communication between the prescriber, patient, payer, and specialty pharmacy. They are the air traffic controllers of specialty medication access.

For the Certified Advanced Specialty Pharmacist, understanding Hub models and effectively collaborating with them is no longer optional—it’s essential. This module demystifies the world of Hub services. We will dissect various Hub models, explore the critical data exchange pathways, analyze patient onboarding workflows, and define the service level agreements (SLAs) that govern pharmacy-Hub collaboration. By mastering this material, you will transform your perspective from being a single node in the network to understanding—and optimizing—the entire patient access journey, enhancing efficiency, improving patient experience, and solidifying your role as an indispensable partner in specialty care delivery.