Patent ID: 8442842

Claim:
A pharmaceutical clearinghouse method used for institutional patient assistance programs (PAPs), the method comprising: providing a clearinghouse computer system having a processor coupled to a data storage device and a network connection to enable communication with external computer systems over at least one network; and using the clearinghouse system processor and data storage device: defining in the data storage device a network of financial need assessment (FNA) Agents that process patients' requests for drugs under the institutional PAPs and a network of pharmaceutical providers that provide subsidies under the institutional PAPs, wherein the clearinghouse system processor applies a set of uniform criteria for enrolling FNA Agents into the network of FNA Agents; receiving an electronic patient request from an FNA agent for a drug within a given and defined disease state that has been prescribed to the patient by a physician and is provided by an institution under a PAP; electronically determining a subsidy required by each of the plurality of pharmaceutical providers to fill the patient request, wherein the subsidy can be cash, in-kind drug, or a combination thereof; matching the subsidy to the FNA Agent to fill the patient's request; and informing the pharmaceutical providers of their allocated share of needed subsidy, and then collecting and disbursing or otherwise directing the subsidy appropriately to the FNA Agent, wherein the requested drug may or may not be manufactured by the pharmaceutical providers, wherein each pharmaceutical provider in the network of pharmaceutical providers funds all patients that are prescribed the pharmaceutical provider's brand up to a predetermined limit, wherein each of the pharmaceutical providers also contributes an allocated share of cash funds to cover all other patients requesting drugs provided by non-participating pharmaceutical providers, wherein the burden of supporting a brand of drugs manufactured by non-participating pharmaceutical providers is shared by the participating pharmaceutical providers in a manner proportional to the benefit derived by the pharmaceutical provider in the form of its own drug subsidies through the clearinghouse relative to the other pharmaceutical participants, wherein the clearinghouse system does not electronically reveal an identity of the FNA agent to the plurality of pharmaceutical providers or an identity of the plurality of pharmaceutical providers to the FNA agent, wherein there is no data exchange between the clearinghouse and the pharmaceutical provider or between the foundations and pharmaceutical providers that allows pharmaceutical subsidy providers to correlate their donations to the number of prescriptions subsidized by a charity.