Karina Castagna
SVP Access and Adherence
OptimizeRx
Advancing Digital Access at Point-of-Care
Karina Castagna believes every life sciences company must have digital omnichannel as a key pillar in its marketing and access strategy for point of care (POC) and point of prescribe to better serve both providers and patients. Ultimately, she helps industry utilize technology that connects the ecosystem from the manufacturer, pharmacy, hub, and payer to bring therapies to patients.
Karina joined OptimizeRx in 2021, where she has increased the digitalization of access to help move drug manufacturers away from manual processes. For example, she increased hub efficiency and utilization with a digital strategy for a specialty medication resulting in a desired 300% increase in prescriptions initiated through the hub to better manage the patient initiation process and a 60% increase in prior authorization submissions by HCPs to get their patients on a life-changing diabetes medication. She also launched pharmacy alerts, which is a critical pathway at point of prescribing that has helped to ensure physicians write the NRx to the correct pharmacy over 90% of the time when a specialty drug can only be filled at specific specialty pharmacies.
Prior to OptimizeRx, while at Amgen, she established the first pharmacy team focused on helping patients and doctors navigate reimbursement hurdles with the top 20 specialty pharmacies in the country. This work helped physicians and patients more easily access Amgen’s therapies resulting in tens of thousands of new patient starts. She was also successful in being the first to create a consumer-like call service by delivering on NPS scores above 90 within three months of launch for a first-in-class migraine drug to support patients with their therapies resulting in a positive culture around the brand both internally and among patients. Additionally, Karina brought the first POC electronic health record (EHR) programs to Amgen to expand access and awareness to Amgen’s patient support services and copay programs by giving HCPs the information they needed for their patients at the point-of-prescribe in the EHR.
Karina is also passionate about promoting the professional advancement of women within the healthcare industry, and serves as the Pacific Regional Chair for the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA).
