The earnings call this morning sounded like a bunch of excuses trying to explain why we missed all earnings estimates. I have a simple fix for you: Take away the activation part of the card. I don’t know why we are so desperate for the demographic data that we are sacrificing untold numbers of prescriptions because the patients aren’t activating the cards. Last year at the beginning of the year, activation wasn’t required. And we had substantial growth even in the face of normal 1Q issues like deductibles, formulary changes, etc. Since January, when we were removed from so many formularies due to our price increases, I have gotten nothing but frustration from my offices. They want to write Trokendi but every time they do, they get callbacks saying “it didn’t work” etc. So I spend most of my days chasing down those issues and trying to convince my docs it’s not like that time we switched the rules for NDC. So maybe they’ll trust me this time. Sometimes, it’s the pharmacy not running the card correctly. (Which is a whole other issue in itself). But many times, it’s the patient not activating the card. And there are very few offices who are going to say TXR is worth all the hassle of being put on hold with the pharmacist for 10-20 minutes while they try to activate a card for them. I also think our price increases and formulary drops have resulted in fewer insurances actually covering TXR, which means higher utilization of the card is required. So you have higher need for the card with more steps necessary to utilize it than last year. Genius!
This is by design. Do you really think the company wants to cover scripts that are NDC blocked/or have a high copay?
Today’s person knows how to activate a card. Have you ever got a gift card before? Or, a new credit card to activate? The doctors just don’t want to write more than they have been doing. All of my offices tell me the paperwork has been much worse because of CGRPs and the staff is miserable
Yes we do. Straight up NDC blocks are rare and the high copays from deductible plans that we cover for 3 months eventually get paid for the other 9 months of the year versus if we didn’t cover and lost that patient for good.
I was referring to high copays, not high deductibles. You know plans that have Trokendi XR at a tier 3 or higher, which is more common than not. This means that the product can be "covered" but a $120 or more copay required. If you had relay autoload the GC and not the blue card at the pharmacy it would take care of all the problems 100% of the time. We won't do that, because we won't make money.
Not sure what world you live in. My top doctors have been going in reverse because they are so spoiled by the CGRP’s, no copay card monkey business, the cards are embedded into EMR & their patients experience a true white glove service from specialty pharmacies. Seamless prescribing & zero complaints from patients & staff. I have told my manager over and over & all I hear is our company can’t afford to do these things. Our co-pay card is getting so out of hand that they should come with an instruction manual. Yes people know how to activate cards theoretically, but I agree with my coworker who said they often don’t. Also, majority of the time they don’t take the entire brochure into the pharmacy & the pharmacy is running the card wrong. So many of my offices are fatigued with our card especially after seeing how simple things are with all of the “new & exciting drugs” that simply fall into their patients hands.
It’s out of hand & it’s been out of hand and it keeps getting worse & worse. I don’t know what home office is doing. Do our managers communicate all of our issues up to the ZD’s? I stopped sharing most of my issues with my RD because they take it personally as if I am creating a problem because I want to be a jerk, when really I am trying to make myself & them money.
I disagree I have had doctors honestly tell me there are WAAAAAY too many issues with our copay cards and that they want to Rx TXR but every time they do there is an issue. Every time - their words. I have heard the opposite about CGRP, that getting them into patients hands is seamless & virtually effortless. The cards are embedded into EMR, so they don’t have to hand out a card (no activation required) & the specialty pharmacy knows how to get the product in the hands of the patient. Happy patient, happy staff = happy doctor who is happy to prescribe. Pretty simple. “The doctors don’t want to prescribe more than they are doing” - what does this even mean? If our medication works & is providing patients relief & is a viable solution, why would they not be increasing? I believe some are not using more because they fear what obstacles they are going to encounter if they do.
This will be the last time I post on cafepharma. After years of trying to make this company better, management and leadership continue to acknowledge the obvious. I’ll leave you with this: Stop hot dogging it and get your shit together.
Surprise surprise everyone who I just got writing has been removed from my list and the best part is they all write for migraine... You know what the funny thing is every single one of those people will continue to get their prescriptions and our company is still going to make money off them but I don't... This whole scrubbing of the system doesn't seem to be benefiting anyone but our company and I understand the idea of protecting our company but knowing that these people actually write for migraine and they still got removed I don't even know what to say at this point
Had many targets removed. Almost all write for migraine. The “ scrubbing” is simply a way for the company to continue to make money from scripts without compensating reps. The downward spiral has just begun.
Just looked at my list. Same as above. Primary care providers, writing for migraine, no longer on my list. I’ve spent all day sending out resumes. Wish me luck, my brothers.
Agreed lots of shifty business. I have multiple non-targets on my Mosaics tool who had 25+ Rx, all straight up profit for our beloved company meanwhile... not even worth my comments other than at this point it’s all hogwash & greed.
