Pharmaceutical Product Development (PPD) and Acurian announced a new patient concierge service designed to make it easier for patients and their caregivers to participate in clinical trials and to help pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients retain patients.
“We’re introducing this innovative concierge service to help patients navigate the complexity of clinical trials, while providing support designed to enable them to better understand trials and the trial process, participation logistics and technologies,” said Niklas Morton, senior vice president of site and patient access for PPD. “Our patient-centric service focuses on providing proactive trial guidance and an improved patient experience for individuals seeking life-changing treatments. This new service directly places the patient at the forefront of how we approach a trial.”
The patient concierge service, initiated by PPD’s Rare Disease and Pediatric Center of Excellence, can be utilized in a wide variety of studies across all phases, therapeutic areas and indications. The company plans to introduce other concierge services and capabilities to investigative sites and PPD Laboratories later in 2018.
The patient concierge serves as a single point of contact to proactively guide a patient through trial participation and manage trial logistics. Concierges are assigned to patients for the duration of a study and check in with them regularly. That ongoing interaction helps to build a one-to-one relationship, enabling a concierge to better assess and address patient motivation, satisfaction and other non-medical issues, while facilitating services aimed at retaining the patient in the trial. Some of the specific amenities the patient concierge provides include: appointment reminders and follow-ups; trial experience feedback; trial information; device training and assistance; transportation and reimbursement support; and medication reminders.