The Patient Access Network Foundation (PAN) is an organization which works to ensure that patients living with rare, chronic, or life-threatening diseases are not prohibited from receiving treatment due to their financial situation. PAN understands that even for individuals who have health insurance, out-of-pocket costs are often too high to manage. This problem has only continued to rise as more novel therapies are being created for rare diseases. While amazing advancements are being made, their exorbitant costs can limit which patients are able to obtain or keep up with treatment.
PAN has teamed up with generous donors to help ensure patients receive the care they need. The organization was founded in 2004 and since that time they have assisted approximately 1 million patients who are underinsured. This assistance is given through 70 different programs (which are disease specific) and total donations have equated to over 3 billion dollars so far.
However, despite the impact PAN has had on so many patients, they understand there’s still an issue with the system. Patients don’t have hours of extra time to research PANs programs and various other funding options. They have so many other things to worry about, and trying to figure out how they’re going to afford treatment can take a toll. So, PAN started working on a solution to this problem.
They developed an app called FundFinder which can help patients find the financial assistance they need.
FundFinder
The app allows patients to follow specific funds and then notifies them when the fund opens up. This means patients don’t have to continuously monitor funds. It’s especially useful because the app covers 8 different charitable foundations including PAN so patients are able to keep an eye on many funds at once. The app will notify patients by text or email when a fund becomes available.
Funds are given first-come, first serve and are of course determined by the criteria set by each organization.
Patients can access this app on their phone, tablet, or computer.
“Our goal is to make finding financial assistance seamless—so they (patients) can focus on their health and wellbeing.”
It will also help reduce the time healthcare providers spend on this cause, allowing them to focus more time on their patients.
Research has found that 53% of patients in America living with chronic conditions deal with some type of financial issue as a result of exorbitant treatment costs. Some are forced to take out loans or spend their savings on care. Some even struggle to pay for necessities like housing and food as a result of their treatment. If they don’t choose to pay for the treatment even with these consequences, they deal with the ramifications of non-adherence. This new app will hopefully help to improve patients quality of life and their ease of obtaining life-altering treatment.
You can sign up for this new program here!
You can read more about this app and the reasons behind its creation here.
