OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to understand how US payers obtain information, specifically using digital methods, for decision making in addition to face-to-face interaction with pharmaceutical companies.

METHODS: An online survey was conducted in August/September 2017 in the US. Respondents needed to be voting members, advisors or pharmacists contributing to a pharmacy and therapeutic (P&T) committee in their organization.

RESULTS: In total, 189 P&T committee members were surveyed; 62 in hospitals, 45 in integrated delivery networks (IDNs) without health plans, 26 in IDNs with health plans, 41 in managed care organizations, and 15 in pharmacy benefit management. The majority (85%) of payers surveyed agreed that digital resources are essential to the process of making formulary decisions. Search engines and websites for healthcare professionals (HCPs) informed payers’ committee work more frequently than any other source, with 63% using HCP websites weekly to access professional information. In lieu of resource availability, online live webcasts with experts (64% of payers) and on-demand online presentations about prescription drugs (60%) have overtaken face-to-face conversations with pharmaceutical company representatives (59%) as a factor influencing formulary decisions. A total of 75% of payers stated that partnerships with pharmaceutical companies to develop patient support solutions may influence formulary placement if improvements in outcomes are demonstrated. In particular, payers were interested in working with pharmaceutical companies on patient-centered digital tools to reduce readmissions (74%), improve adherence (66%), address disease management (56%), improve care coordination (56%), perform patient self-tracking (50%), promote general health and wellness (50%), and enable remote monitoring (48%).

CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that payers in the US rely heavily on digital sources for formulary decisions, and are open to partnering with pharmaceutical companies to develop digital patient support solutions to optimize outcomes. Further work in this area is planned among EU and other global payers.