Unique Medication Assistance Program Helps Patients in Need

An elderly man needed medication after suffering a heart condition. He had been retired for 20 years and had a very modest, fixed income he managed by living in a small space provided by family, taking the bus for free as a senior, and relying on community resources for his only substantial meal each day. Due to the tight nature of his budget, he feared he would not be able to get the medicine critical to his health.

That’s when he met Beverly Bohus, a nurse and coordinator of the Medication Assistance Program at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center. After evaluating the man’s history, Beverly found he had served the United States in the military. She then helped him access a clinic free of charge through the Department of Veterans Affairs, allowing him to receive the care and medication he needed to stay healthy at a manageable cost.

This is just one example of the many unique cases that come across Beverly’s desk. She aims to reduce the burden of high medication prices for patients, which has become an issue for many on a national scale. According to a study published in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, per capita prescription drug spending in the United States exceeds that in all other countries and accounts for about 17 percent of overall personal health care services. By leading the Medication Assistance Program at Advocate Illinois Masonic, Beverly aims to change this one patient at a time.

“Every day I see how we can support those who come to us for care by wrapping our arms around them and working together to find the best solution,” says Bohus. “When someone can’t afford medication, they start rationing, borrowing or looking for it elsewhere. All of those so-called solutions can be very dangerous to a person’s health, and I work as hard as I can to make sure each person has access to an affordable, trusted source of medication in line with their physician’s care plan.”

Since 2013, the Medication Assistance Program has served more than 1,000 patients and distributed more than $6.5 million in medication. At the program’s inception, the main clients were expected to be those who were uninsured or underinsured. However, as the program evolved alongside the insurance industry, it became apparent the elderly and those in need of behavioral health services benefitted most from the assistance. “Considering the increased health care needs of those advanced in age or in need of behavioral health services, the cost of medication can quickly become more than a person’s social security or other income sources,” says Bohus. “When you also take into consideration the growing elderly population straining other available benefits, it can get to be a real problem.”

Beverly identifies patients who might be a candidate for the program by working with the Care Management team, physicians and talking with those who are uninsured. Each person’s situation requires its own unique solution, ranging from minimizing out-of-pocket costs to working directly with pharmaceutical manufacturers.

“I’ve been doing this for a long time, so I have the advantage of knowing what resources to use and when to use them,” says Bohus. “I love my job because I’m able to bring everything I have to offer to the table to help patients in need.”

In the end, Beverly says it’s all about making the lives of others not only healthier, but a little easier, too.

“It really comes down to the patients,” says Bohus. “They do want to stay healthy, and not being able to access medication has to be incredibly stressful, but I have never had a grumpy patient. When I’m working with them, their health is often on the line. We work together to lessen that stress and keep them healthy.”