Clinically led services, support and access to medications help those with rare conditions

OFT’s pharmacy team is a part of a patient’s care journey from the moment they are prescribed a therapy, and ongoing through dose optimization and adverse effect management.

• This means that before a drug is dispensed, a pharmacist meets with the patient and caregivers to educate them about the medication and understand their personal goals for quality of life, and the team will continue to monitor, adjust, guide and support as needed to ensure those goals are met.

OFT’s co-located distribution and specialty pharmacy capabilities also allow the team to reduce touchpoints in the supply chain and get medications into the hands of patients sooner.

These integrated capabilities are making a difference every day for the patients we serve — like Skip, who was an OFT patient with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

ALS is a rare neurodegenerative disorder that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, and leads to progressive degeneration of voluntary muscle movement, resulting in muscle weakness, paralysis and ultimately, respiratory failure. Even though there are treatment options, there is still no cure for ALS. Even so, OFT helped make Skip’s quality of life the best it could be.

Pharmacies and pharmacists, often underrecognized in patient care, play a crucial role at the intersection of the care team. They connect providers, payers and pharmaceutical manufacturers, and support patients to provide the best possible care for patients at the lowest cost. Patients with rare diseases require high-touch pharmacy care and holistic, end-to-end support. And Optum pharmacists go above and beyond to make that happen.

Diana, an Optum Frontier Therapies pharmacist, stepped in when the wife of a patient with ALS was overwhelmed and exhausted from the mental load of being the full-time caregiver for her husband. The medication required specific mixing and timing, and she was concerned about its interactions with other medications. At the same time, she was also focused on ensuring her husband met his caloric needs with his tube feedings.

Diana was able to gather the list of the patient’s medications, including those not dispensed by Optum, and created a comprehensive schedule, providing immediate and ongoing relief — for both the patient and his wife.