My Doctor Prescribed a Specialty Medication. What Happens Next? You’re Not Alone in This In my 18 years as a pharmacist—across hospital, clinical, and ambulatory care settings, and now here at Mercy Pharmacy Group—I’ve sat across from many patients in the exact moment this article is about: prescription in hand, relieved a treatment exists, and...

The cost of a specialty medication can become a source of stress before treatment even begins. A physician may have determined that therapy is medically necessary, yet the patient may still face questions about insurance coverage, prior authorization, deductibles, copays, coinsurance, and financial assistance. Mercy Infusion helps patients understand their benefits, estimate potential out-of-pocket responsibility,...

When a physician prescribes infusion therapy, one practical decision is where treatment will take place. Some patients receive care at home, while others visit an infusion center, physician’s office, hospital outpatient department, or ambulatory infusion suite. Neither setting is automatically better. The right choice depends on the medication, medical stability, monitoring needs, prior treatment experience,...

After more than 35 years working in specialty pharmacy billing, reimbursement, and operations, I have learned an important lesson: a specialty medication journey involves much more than filling a prescription. It is about helping a patient overcome every barrier between the physician’s office and the start of treatment. For many patients, one of the biggest...

When a physician recommends IVIG therapy, patients often have questions about why it was prescribed, how long treatment takes, where it can be administered, whether insurance will cover it, and what side effects may occur. IVIG stands for intravenous immunoglobulin. It is made from antibodies collected from donated human plasma and administered through a vein....