How We Help Health Care Professionals

Any health care professional involved in the prescribing of medicines or medical devices can benefit significantly from STI programs and their related smart cards, whether you are a physician, nurse, clinician, or diabetes educator.

Each program provides a unique benefit to your patient, whether that’s a free sample, the ability to stay with a trusted brand, or assistance with a co-pay, to name a few.

STI smart cards are widely recognized and accepted so your patient always has the convenience of taking it to his or her local pharmacy.  As a health care professional, you then have the comfort of knowing that the drugs you prescribe are dispensed in a controlled, coordinated, and professional environment.  And you don’t need to worry about the risks and liabilities of managing an inventory of drug samples at your office or clinic.

Here are some examples of how different types of STI programs can benefit you and your patients:

• With STI’s bridge to formulary solutions, you can be confident that the cost of a new medicine you prescribe will be covered at the pharmacy until such time as the patient’s insurance plan picks it up – avoiding the potential time waste for both you and your patient of having to provide an alternative prescription
• For drugs that are coming off patent and where, for a variety of reasons, you and/or your patient would like to stick with the brand instead of moving to a generic, STI’s bridge to brand programs provides a solution.
• STI’s patient assistance programs provide your patients with, in some cases, much needed help in managing the high costs of specialty drugs.  In addition, these programs provide the same convenience of being able to fulfill a specialty prescription at virtually any pharmacy.
• By participating in an STI patient experience program, you will get early access to new treatments for your patients as well as tools to allow you to educate your patients and track their adherence
• Health care professionals who do not get regular visits from sales reps can still receive STI smart cards via direct mail.  Furthermore, replenishment can be automated based on actual measured usage.

We are always innovating at STI and introducing new programs with new benefits.  As a health care professional, we encourage you to check in regularly with your sales reps to make sure you are aware of all of the STI programs they have to offer.

Here is what some health care professionals had to say about us:

“Sampling will always be an integral part of a physician’s daily routine. Traditionally we provide samples to our patients and see how they react to them the next time we see them, which in some cases could be weeks or months away. Traditional methods are flawed as we may miss monitoring the drug’s interaction with other medications the patient may be currently taking. Including a pharmacist’s involvement can enhance patient care and safety. 

"SmartSample™ breaks free from the traditional sampling model as it is a card which I can provide to my patients as I see fit and the patient then takes their SmartSample™ to a retail pharmacy of choice and redeems it there to receive their sample medication. This process is much easier for all parties involved, as convenience of the cards allow for me to spend more time with my patient as I can keep the cards on my desk and no longer have to make trips to the sample room.  For drug reps, they no longer have to worry about lugging heavy product around, making sure it is properly stored and making sure the product is not expired. If I run out of product it can easily be replenished this allowing the rep to spend more time with me to discuss the needs of my practice.” 

“When one of my patients expressed a desire to stay on a branded medication while there was a generic option available without paying extra for the branded medication, I turned to STI for a solution and discovered their bridging program. When a branded drug comes off patent and becomes eligible to go generic, the drug reps provide pharmacists and physicians with STI SmartCoverage™ cards that they can distribute to patients as they see fit.  This makes prescribing easier for myself and allows patients to stay on their preferred branded medication without paying extra.”