It can be life-changing for patients when a promising new drug is approved for widespread use. But before a patient can start a new treatment that could improve their health or save their life, they often must go through a complicated process of verifying benefits, complying with prior authorization requirements, and considering financial implications before moving forward.

Lash Group, an AmerisourceBergen company, works with pharmaceutical (pharma) companies to streamline these key steps. The company provides ongoing patient support throughout their treatment journey under Lash Group’s umbrella of access, affordability, and adherence solutions. Lash Group leads with a high tech, high touch approach to patient support program design, automating as much as possible and augmenting with skilled and compassionate counselor support.

The administrative procedures can be particularly complex depending on a number of factors, including the therapy benefit profile. Following prescription, patients can enroll in support programs to help them overcome obstacles to starting and staying on the therapy. However, administrative steps to complete the enrollment process can be complex. To initiate patient support, providers and patients must fill out forms and submit paperwork, including providing patient consent and authorization for enrollment and disclosures. This all takes time.

For pharma companies that want to fast-track the patient journey digitally, Lash Group provides an online provider portal that streamlines complex paperwork. As a part of the Adobe Acrobat Sign Embed Program, Lash Group uses Adobe Acrobat Sign APIs to embed trusted, secure, and reliable electronic signatures into the patient enrollment workflow.

“For interested clients, we set up online portals to digitize document workflows, embedding Adobe Acrobat Sign in an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) fashion to dramatically improve the process,” says Katie Haupt, Digital Product Manager, Lash Group. “When we can use OEM technology like Adobe Acrobat Sign to streamline workflows while improving the experience for patients, prescribers, and payers that’s a big win all around.”

Developing valuable services for clients

For provider workflows that are subject to rigorous legal and compliance regulations, making sure documents have proper signatures is essential. Legal and secure signatures are required on key forms for enrollment, patient authorization, and consent. “Adobe's continuous effort to focus on compliant HIPAA and legal electronic signatures makes the company a valuable partner, as these are critical due to the sensitive nature of our business and the industry we support,” says Mirjana Williams, Product Manager, Lash Group.

Lash Group felt that incorporating electronic signature functionality directly into provider portals would add greater value for clients, improve experiences for pharma companies and patients alike, and help differentiate Lash Group services from the competition. After weighing the benefits of several different electronic signature solutions, Lash Group learned about the option to deliver electronic signatures using Acrobat Sign as an OEM partner.

“Embedding Adobe Acrobat Sign makes sense for our organization, compared to alternatives, because Adobe offers a variety of enhancements and configuration options that help us personalize client experiences. When there are specific features our clients request, we are in turn able to support them,” says Williams.

Working with the Acrobat Sign APIs makes it fast and easy for Lash Group to adjust the configuration layer and customize experiences for clients. Every client wants something different for their program, from different wording to a different font. Because any change in a form template can trigger clients’ medical legal review (MLR) process, which can take up to six weeks, the team has to make sure that changing things for one client doesn’t affect other clients.

Mitigating risk with secure and compliant e-signatures

Enrollment forms can be as short as three pages and as long as 17 pages. They can include medical history, medication dosages, and other highly confidential patient information that needs to be protected. By embedding Acrobat Sign into its digital experiences, Lash Group can more easily route documents directly to the correct signatories, helping mitigate risk while accelerating the time to capture signatures.

“We needed a partner we could trust for secure and compliant signatures. With electronic signatures powered by Adobe Acrobat Sign, we feel comfortable that they’re auditable and verifiable,” Williams says. “The solution also instills confidence with signatories and our clients.”

Traditionally, managing paperwork needing signatures involved a lot of faxing or mailing between stakeholders for physical signing. Lag times persist between faxes and when documents arrive on the desk of the right signers. Lack of delivery verification to intended recipients can also introduce further delays and security concerns. Acrobat Sign greatly reduces the required effort for Lash Group associates to manage the document journey for patients and providers, especially for forms requiring multiple signatures. They can spot whose turn it is to sign and follow up to offer further assistance as needed.

“As part of our program services, counselors can follow up on unsigned documents using an email option that allows for an electronic signature versus printing the document and faxing back. Being able to sign quickly with an electronic signature increases efficiency and reduces processing time,” says Williams.

The Lash Group team appreciates the flexibility of Acrobat Sign to easily manage the variability in compliance requirements across different U.S. states and cities, which can affect the number and locations of signature lines on a page. “Trying to keep track of that manually is a challenge. Adobe Acrobat Sign streamlines verifying all signatures have been completed in the right places,” says Williams.

Moreover, depending on the state, patient signatures are valid for different lengths of time, triggering re-signature later as patients continue receiving support. “This adds complexity and volume to our workflows. Adobe Acrobat Sign simplifies and speeds up our processes,” Haupt says.

Enhancing the patient experience

Reducing administrative burdens helps improve the patient's experience at a critical time when they're adjusting to a new therapy journey. Increasingly, many patients lack access to a fax machine to send back forms with a wet signature, causing inconvenience and delays in the process. Acrobat Sign makes it a snap to e-sign from anywhere, on any device. “People are more comfortable with digital technologies especially during the pandemic when people didn’t have access to in-person care and their technology,” says Williams. “We’ve noticed that patients increasingly appreciate the convenience of electronic signatures.”

In a recent Insights report, Lash Group found that benefit verification forms submitted electronically were completed more than five times faster than those submitted by fax and more than two times faster than forms submitted by voice, excluding time spent awaiting missing data. Electronic signatures represent a contributing factor to the improvements.

“It’s terrific when we can demonstrate to our pharmaceutical clients that we’re helping shorten the time to starting patient treatment. It’s the kind of value-add that makes an impact,” says Haupt.

Lash Group plans to increase usage of the embedded Acrobat Sign solution as it incorporates the new electronic signature functionality into more client provider portals. “With the SaaS offering from Adobe, flexibility and scalability are intrinsic, unlocking opportunities to expand its use as more of our clients take advantage of e-signing in the days to come,” says Williams.

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