The Brand-Driven Flywheel: Igniting Growth Through a Simple Patient Experience

Legacy patient support is no longer fit for purpose. For too long, fragmented manual systems have created data silos and delays, leading to lower adherence rates and refills, decreased patient and prescriber satisfaction, and failure to capture ROI for manufacturers. The industry needs to transform patient access, and it needs to do it now.

Direct-to-patient (DTP) models create a continuous loop of value, connecting seamless patient and provider experience with the strategic power of branding and data. By focusing on a simple integrated patient journey, the industry cannot only improve adherence and loyalty, but also generate insights that allow brands to continuously refine their strategy. In short, DTP creates a perpetual growth engine fueled by a frictionless patient experience – a brand-driven flywheel.

The need for change

Expectations have changed since patient support was first introduced two decades ago. Patients today want a simple, direct, retail-grade experience which offers them fast access, transparent pricing, and tailored support when they need it. But legacy patient support services were built to navigate access hurdles, not deliver an enhanced or simplified experience for those who most need help. 

At the same time, increased use of formulary controls like prior authorization (PA) and step therapy are often delaying treatment and increasing abandonment. Up to nine in 10 commercially insured patients are initially rejected when trying to begin therapy, and up to seven in 10 have still not received payer approval after a year. These challenges disproportionately affect lower-income and medically complex patients, raising concerns about equitable access to care and highlighting the need for a more transparent and patient-centered prescription journey.

The cost of bringing a new product to the market has also increased as development has shifted from large molecules, reaching large patient populations, to specialty drugs for smaller populations. In 2024, specialty drugs made up 75% of the drug development pipeline. This has resulted in fantastic breakthroughs across every therapeutic category. But it has also led to rising costs. For patients, this increases the price of medications with potentially dangerous results. One in five adults say they have not filled a prescription because of cost and one in seven say they have cut pills in half or skipped doses in the last year for the same reason. For manufacturers, increased investment means increased pressure to demonstrate that every dollar spent is delivering value for patients and payers, particularly in a Most-Favored Nation (MFN) era. 

What is DTP?

DTP is a unified, tech-driven approach which standardizes and simplifies the prescription journey, creating better outcomes for patients, providers, and brands alike. It combines access, fulfillment, and patient services into one frictionless experience.

An auditable, patient-first layer offers real-time visibility across the prescription lifecycle, allowing manufacturers to measure what matters – from promise-date accuracy to refill ease and patient and prescriber satisfaction – and continuously refine strategies to reduce time to therapy and drive more effective field engagement. 

When done right, DTP helps patients start and stay on treatment, reduces provider burden, and finally allows manufacturers to align resources with patient outcomes rather than intermediary margins.

Creating a frictionless patient journey

More than half of Americans take prescription medications daily, rising to more than eight in 10 for those aged 70-plus. But too many of these patients are currently being left frustrated by prescription delays, confusing co-pays and opaque pricing. To improve this patient experience, we need to build trust.

DTP simplifies the patient journey, delivering prescriptions more efficiently and affordably. There is a single system for everything from intake to delivery, meaning no baton passing, no coordination lags and no visibility gaps. Patients can view brand-specific information, confirm delivery and complete payment in minutes – just like they would in any other modern retail setting. This consumer-grade experience decreases medication start delays, makes it more likely patients will complete checkout on the first try and builds trust from day one.

Automatically implemented billing efficiencies also make medication more accessible and affordable, further increasing satisfaction and trust. Once a prescription has been filled, adherence is further supported with a personalized tech-plus-touch approach. AI-enabled reminders, pharmacist outreach when needed and proactive refill scheduling all help to improve refill rates, retention and days on therapy.

The effects of increased trust are cumulative throughout the patient journey. As patient satisfaction and understanding rise, abandonment decreases and persistence increases. Crucially, DTP meets people where they are to help them achieve their desired health outcomes and it works at the scale we need to truly transform the system.

Easing provider friction

The fragmented nature of traditional hubs means prescribers are left shouldering extra admin work and patient outcomes suffer. More than eight in 10 physicians say PA can lead to treatment abandonment and almost three in 10 report that it has led to a serious adverse event. When patient outcomes suffer because of delays, declining adherence and reduced refill rates, prescriber confidence is eroded, putting formulary access at risk.

By capturing, validating and processing prescriptions in one platform, we can eliminate manual admin for providers and avoid delays in patients accessing treatments. When prescribers see patients able to start – and stay on – treatment more easily it improves satisfaction, driving higher initiation rates and stronger brand uptake. DTP is a long overdue solution for not just patients but also overstretched prescribers.

Benefits for brands

For brands, DTP offers improved brand satisfaction, increased ROI and the ability to proactively address barriers and optimize outreach.

By validating prescriptions upfront, DTP platforms prevent incomplete or incorrect submissions from reaching payers, eliminating common points of friction that delay time to therapy. This results in faster PA cycles, fewer rejections and smoother onboarding to drive measurable improvements in patient access and adherence. At the same time, dynamic routing that balances affordability and profit margins allows brands to improve financial performance without compromising patient experience.

Instead of having to piece together fragmented data from multiple vendors and sources, DTP offers real-time visibility and localized insights across the prescription lifecycle from order to refill. This allows brands to proactively measure performance, identify risks early and make smarter, faster decisions to address access barriers, optimize outreach and improve pull-through. 

When manufacturers spend billions of dollars and up to 20 years to bring a new treatment to the market, they want people to have access to that treatment. They want it to be utilized because they have created a breakthrough which can drive better health outcomes. DTP moves the needle on the KPIs that matter to brands, especially when it comes to access, adherence and brand trust, because it simplifies a system which for too long has been siloed, inefficient and fraught with delays.

The brand-driven flywheel

We are operating in a new world of patient access and brands need to adapt to succeed. Technology-enabled DTP models offer the opportunity for perpetual growth, fueled by a truly frictionless patient experience. It is time to abandon an opaque, conflicted supply chain and legacy patient services, unify the prescription journey and deliver better outcomes for brands and patients alike.

Photo: claudenakagawa, Getty Images

This post appears through the MedCity Influencers program. Anyone can publish their perspective on business and innovation in healthcare on MedCity News through MedCity Influencers. Click here to find out how.