Navigating Prescription Costs with BILH Pharmacy

How BILH Pharmacy Helps Patients Pay for Their Prescriptions

As anyone who has ever been prescribed medications knows, they come with a price tag — sometimes a big one. At Beth Israel Lahey Health (BILH) Pharmacy, getting patients the medications they need is the first part of the job – helping them navigate prescription costs is the next.

Copay Assistance Many Patients Don’t Know About

Thai Nguyen, director of medication access services at BILH Pharmacy, knows many patients struggle to afford their prescriptions and there aren’t many financial support programs out there.

But that doesn’t mean they don’t exist; it just requires the right team of experts to find them.

When a medication is prescribed, Nguyen and his team work with patients to help them understand the structure of their plan, shedding light on their financial needs and options. Armed with this information, BILH Pharmacy goes to work finding all the funding options available to these patients.

“Commercial patients can qualify for a lot of copay assistance through the manufacturers,” says Nguyen. Many of the biggest pharmaceutical companies have programs for eligible recipients; most patients just don’t know about them. The BILH Pharmacy team stays in constant contact with drug manufacturers so they’re always on top of what’s available and how to access it.

For patients who might not qualify for these programs (like Medicare patients), Nguyen says, there are still plenty of options to get financial help through grants, foundations and other external sources. The BILH Pharmacy team is trained to keep their pulse on the funding landscape, so patients who don’t qualify for copay assistance with the manufacturer still have options.

The impact has been substantial. In 2024, the BILH Pharmacy team processed 86,000 prior authorizations for more than 47,000 patients needing financial assistance.

Cost Savings Extends to Patients Who Don’t Qualify for Assistance

Of course, sometimes financial assistance just isn’t there. But even in those cases, patients still stand to gain by working with BILH Pharmacy.

The pharmacy team works hard to streamline any inefficiencies that can drain time and money.

“Our team facilitates all of the clinical documentation required by the patients’ plans to get approval for the medication,” Nguyen says. His team will meet with patients long before the expiration of their prior authorizations, which keeps them from having to revisit their doctors, restart drug therapies or begin entirely new therapies.

Much of the rest of the work happens behind the scenes – often unknown to patients but always with their best interests at heart. The BILH Pharmacy team stays in touch with its patients’ providers to explore the different drug options available, with an eye to finding ones that are less expensive (but no less effective), potentially opening even more opportunities for cost savings.

“This program is vital to patient care,” Nguyen says. “We want to make sure patients can get on the therapy that was intended for them in as seamless a way as possible.”