Dear colleague,
We’re incredibly proud to have served over 190,000 people in just the first three months of 2021. But we know our assistance can only address some of our patients’ needs.
Financial navigation is a critical part of helping patients manage their care and costs. So this year, we challenged ourselves to step up our efforts to reduce our patients’ total out-of-pocket costs.
To start, we launched a pilot initiative focused on pairing PAN grant recipients with financial navigators that would apply to the Social Security Administration’s Extra Help program on their behalf.
Many pilot participants have already been enrolled in the Extra Help program, meaning they will receive additional assistance to pay for their health insurance premiums and prescriptions—even those that PAN does not cover.
While we’re encouraged by the progress we have made so far this year, we recognize there’s much more work to do. As always, we’re looking to you for insight and feedback.
Do you have resources at your organization to help patients apply for Extra Help or evaluate their insurance coverage? What would help you? Please reply to this email to let us know!
We’ll keep you posted on the results of our pilot. In the meantime, we’ll continue to do everything we can to keep our disease funds open as long as possible. Remember to reference our pharmacy FAQs for quick information and resources. And, of course, my inbox is always open if you have questions.
Kind regards,
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Ayesha Azam
Vice President of Medical Affairs
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- Program updates
- Support beyond co-pay assistance
- Pharmacy toolbox
- PAN voices
- Resources for you and your patients
- Upcoming events
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We’ve added several medications to our formulary in the last few months. Review the full list here. |
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Support beyond co-pay assistance |
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Reminder: Transportation assistance for all PAN patients |
Do any of your patients struggle to find or afford transportation to the doctor’s office or pharmacy?
We offer an added transportation benefit for patients with an existing PAN co-pay or premium grant that subsidizes multiple types of non-emergency medical transport, including rideshares and taxis.
Patients or their caregivers must apply directly for this program using our online patient portal.
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Peer support and disease-specific education for your patients |
You do so much to raise awareness of financial assistance programs, but we know patients may come to you with other needs. We partner with 20 leading, vetted national nonprofit organizations who can support your patients with disease-specific education and emotional support services.
By working together, we can connect patients with specific services, ranging from free eyecare resources at Prevent Blindness to patient hotlines with experienced specialists at the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America to peer support groups at the American Liver Foundation.
Although each organization’s services may vary, the common thread is patient support and education. We encourage you to explore our list of alliance partners to discover new allies in your patient care. |
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Advocate to lower out-of-pocket costs with one click |
The PAN community has delivered nearly 6,000 emails to Congress demanding lower out-of-pocket costs, but we still need your voice to amplify the call for more affordable healthcare.
Together, we can mobilize for long-term policy changes and ensure that patients don’t struggle to fill their prescriptions and maintain their health.
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PAN offers more than 70 disease funds for your patients. Many of our funds cover several specific disease subtypes.
One example is our Philadelphia Chromosome Negative Myeloproliferative Neoplasms disease fund, which covers the following subtypes: polycythemia vera, essential thrombocythemia, myelofibrosis, chronic neutrophilic leukemia, chronic eosinophilic leukemia, and chronic myeloid leukemia BCR/ABL Negative.
To ensure that you are able determine which disease fund appropriately fits your patient, please follow these steps:
- Visit our Find a Disease Fund page to find a full listing of all our disease funds.
- Click the disease fund you are interested in. Toward the bottom of each assistance program page, you will find a full listing of the subtypes and diagnosis codes covered under the fund.
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You can also use the search bar on any page of our website to search by a disease subtype or diagnosis code (ICD-10).
We value and support the indispensable (pun not intended!) relationship between you and your patients. If there is anything we can do to better assist your team, please don’t hesitate to email me directly.
Best regards,
Joan Zhang, PharmD
Manager of Medical Affairs
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Portal Pros: User accounts |
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To keep your organization’s information secure, we recommend that each portal user have a unique log in.
This will allow portal administrators to ensure each user’s profile and activity are tracked separately, while still offering each user access to all the organization’s patients through their individual account.
Portal administrators can add or remove user access in a few simple steps:
- Log in to your portal account and click on your name in the top right-hand corner of the screen.
- Select My Account from the drop-down menu to manage your account settings.
- Click on the Manage Users tab to review the users affiliated with your organization.
- Click Deactivate, under the Action column, next to any user who is no longer active. This effectively removes the corresponding user’s account. (If you wish to re-activate the account, click “Activate” for the desired user.)
- To add a new user, click Add New User and enter the required information. Then click Create User Login. A new user account will be created, and an automated email notification with log in details will be sent to the new user.
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Claims Corner: Insurance overpayments and claims adjustments |
We recognize there may be instances where your patient receives an insurance overpayment after their PAN claim is paid. While we don’t accept refund checks, we allow for claim adjustments to ensure the amount is credited back to your patient’s account. Any adjustment transactions will be reflected in the next pay cycle.
For single claim adjustments: contact the SS&C Health Help Desk at 844-616 9448.
For multiple claim adjustments (5 or more claims): visit https://www.argushealth.com/myargus/MyArgus and complete the Multiple Adjustments Request Form.
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FAQ: Does PAN require paper documentation? |
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Each time we receive an application, we confirm the patient meets program-specific eligibility criteria.
For the vast majority of patients, we can verify eligibility without requesting any documents. However, if we’re unable to verify eligibility, we’ll conditionally approve the application and request proof of income.
What to submit: Patients can submit their most recently filed 1040 federal tax form. If they don’t file taxes or if their taxes don’t reflect their current income, they can give us a call and submit a letter stating their household size and income.
This information must be received within 14 days of their application submission.
Who do we notify: We notify the applicant at the time of enrollment if the application is conditionally approved. We also directly communicate with patients to let them know if we need any documentation to keep them enrolled.
How can you help: If you submit an application on behalf of your patients and receive a conditional approval, please remind your patients to submit their proof of income as soon as possible.
If you have copies of their income documents, you can submit them via the portal’s secure messaging tool or by fax to 1-866-316-7261.
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Friendly reminder: Don't wait on hold! |
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Sending us a secure message through your portal account is often the fastest way to add patients to your account. It’s simple to send us a secure message and you can do it 24/7.
Within your portal account, select messaging from the top navigation on your dashboard. Click compose to start a new conversation.
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Outpatient clinic coordinator Zeenal Patel shares how she supports her patients during COVID-19 |
We recently spoke with Zeenal Patel, an outpatient clinic coordinator at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley, California.
What does your day-to-day look like?
We have three outpatient pharmacies, two of which are specialty pharmacies in HIV and oncology. Each day is rarely the same. I can be found in the pharmacy helping with workflow, in a meeting room with students, or going over oral chemotherapy regimens with patients.
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We want to spotlight your vital work! |
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We know this past year has been challenging for you and your colleagues, so we want to do more to honor your dedicated work and uplift your stories.
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On the line with Ian: Meet PAN’s patient and provider representatives |
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Meet Ian, a PAN Patient Support Specialist, who shares with us a little about himself, his humor, and why you can put your trust in our customer service.
What’s your favorite part of your job?
Knowing that I, alongside many others, am making a difference in people’s lives. Not to go overlooked are the many meaningful relationships I have formed from working with people from PAN.
What are three words you would use to describe yourself?
Three words that best describe me are amazing, incredible, and humble—just kidding. No, really, I would say laidback, comical, and generous.
What advice would you give to a provider interested in working with PAN?
The advice I would give to providers interested in working with PAN is that we strive for “white-glove” service. Providers can rest assured that the attention to detail and customer service we offer is second to none.
Tell us something that others would be surprised to know about you.
Others may be surprised to know that I collect toddler-sized sneakers. 4C specifically. In case anyone wants to know what to get me.
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Meet Maria and other PAN patients on Instagram! |
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We’re sharing more stories from the PAN community on Instagram, like this video of Maria, a recent grant recipient of our MS fund.
You can also get involved by tagging us @pan.foundation or by using the hashtag, #StandWithPAN to show your support. |
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Resources for you and your patients |
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Here are a few resources to bookmark and share with your colleagues or patients:
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We’re speaking! You’re invited to the discussion.
April 13-17
On 4/14 at 5:00pm ET, Amy Niles, Executive Vice President, will speak during a session called “Resources to patients, caregivers and survivors.”
May 13-16
On 5/13 at 2:00pm ET, Ayesha Azam, Vice President of Medical Affairs, will speak during a session called “Taking your financial navigation to the next level.”
We’re exhibiting! Stop by and say hello.
April 12-16
April 17
April 20, 22, 27, 29
April 28-30
June 4-8
June 7-10
June 9-11
June 26-27
July 14
July 19-22
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