OBJECTIVES: Access to innovative medicines is sometimes challenging due to issues related to affordability, attributable at least in part to the heterogeneity and design of health insurance coverage. A support program (Program) to help patients requesting assistance in accessing oral oncology agents was evaluated to determine if it facilitated their access to medication.  METHODS: Anonymized data from a random sample of patients enrolling in the Program in 2008-2009 and a random sample of control patients from Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) programs for lenalidomide and thalidomide were analyzed.  Specifically, patient characteristics, type of assistance provided, and dispensing outcomes (proportion successfully dispensed medication, time from prescription authorization to first dispense, reason for non-dispense, and proportion of Program patients seeking further assistance following their initial request) were assessed. RESULTS: A random sample of 1000 Program and 1000 control patients was evaluated. Most patients had a primary diagnosis of multiple myeloma or of myelosdysplastic syndromes.  Despite the expressed need for assistance in accessing medication among the Program patients, the percentage of Program patients receiving medication compared with patients in the control group was not statistically different (89% vs. 91%, respectively; p = 0.270), with a difference in median time to dispense of 3 days.  Ninety-two percent of Program patients successfully obtained durable access to oral medication. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that a support program for patients needing assistance in a complex health insurance environment can effectively achieve a goal of helping them to obtain access to therapies prescribed by their physicians.  Research should be conducted to better understand which elements of such programs are most valuable to patients, and therefore would be considered best practices for such programs.