DIAGNOSIS
You're having difficulty finding success in clinics

PRESCRIPTION
Understanding the problems they face, and some creative thinking, will help you break through

No matter the boundaries of your territory, there are likely community health centers within it. Community health centers, or clinics, are found all over the United States: in rural areas, urban centers and everywhere in between – anywhere there are marginalized populations that have difficulty paying for healthcare.

Community health centers are dedicated to improving the health of those within their community, with a focus on providing healthcare services to those with little ability to pay. Community health centers offer outpatient services to underserved populations, whether they are uninsured or insured through low-income insurance programs such as Medicaid.

What makes community health centers different from other provider groups is the populations they serve and the specific challenges that go along with serving those populations. Once you understand these challenges, you can identify situations where your product is likely to be used and identify services you may be able to provide that may help community health centers achieve their mission.

Challenges facing community health centers

The specific challenges facing community health centers are numerous, but can be defined in terms of a few main categories.

Low reimbursement Many patients at community health centers are either uninsured or insured through a government program (e.g., Medicaid) that reimburses at a level lower than that reimbursed by private insurance companies. Thus, financial solvency of community health centers is often a challenge. Many community health centers receive funding from the city or town in which they provide services, which is crucial to their ability to keep their doors open. Many have also set up foundations to drive fundraising efforts.

Restrictive formularies Formularies associated with low-income insurance programs tend to be relatively restrictive because they focus strongly on containing costs. As such, generics are used whenever available and appropriate. New, relatively expensive brand name drugs tend to be harder to access, and may require prior authorization (PA) and/or higher copays. Physicians don't like filling out a lot of PA requests, and patients don't like paying higher copays, thus, less expensive, non-restricted, formulary products are often prescribed.

Patient education Changing a patient's behavior and encouraging that patient to adhere to a treatment regimen can be difficult no matter where that patient is being treated. However, consider trying to achieve this goal with a low-income patient who speaks English as a second language, has a sedentary lifestyle, smokes cigarettes, eats junk food, cannot read beyond a second-grade reading level and will not fill a prescription because of the $10 monthly copay – this challenge is likely to increase exponentially. Even if only one or two of these factors are at play, getting the patient to adhere to treatment can still be difficult.

With these three issues to contend with (low reimbursement, restrictive formularies and patient education), community health centers need assistance. If you can offer them some help, you may be able to increase sales of your product along the way.

Positioning your products and services

The way you need to position your products and services to a community health center largely depends on the specific challenges facing that center and what you and your products have to offer. However, given the three main challenges, you can consider some general options.

Funding and grants Community health centers are often in search of additional funding to enable them to provide the highest quality of care they can to the communities they serve. If you have the opportunity to work with others in your company to provide funding or a grant to a community health center, this may enable you to build relationships with those in the community health center who may prescribe your product. It may also help your company build a positive image in the community as a whole.