Erica Conroy, PhD
Director, New Product Development
CoverMyMeds
Helping Increase Medication Access
After falling in love with chemistry in college and learning about its application in drug discovery, Erica Conroy pursued a PhD in organic chemistry. Upon completion, Erica joined Vertex Pharmaceuticals as a research scientist, focusing on the design and development of small molecules for untreated diseases. She was surprised to learn about the challenges patients had when trying to access these medications. The impact CoverMyMeds was making on patient access drew Erica to make a career change that focused on helping patients receive appropriate and faster access to therapy.
Since joining CoverMyMeds, Erica has led the development of two healthcare information technology programs. Both, starting as white board ideas, are now scalable programs that support and advance CoverMyMeds’ mission to help patients get the medication they need to live healthy lives.
The first program, Clinical Alerts, enables face-to-face encounters between the pharmacist and patient. By creating in-workflow, clinical encounters, a pharmacist has the ability to fill a primary care role with their patient. The foundation of the program is immunization, but is quickly expanding to other gaps in care. To date, the program has been a huge success—increasing vaccination rates in pilot pharmacies by up to 450%—and is rapidly growing as it expands into other pharmacies.
The second program, HubExpress, focuses on improving prior authorization (PA) outcomes by leveraging technology to provide a “white-glove service” that ensures successful PA submission and denial follow-up, while minimizing disruption at the doctor’s office. When a call is required, PA experts ensure the highest level of service is delivered. By reducing administrative error, ensuring successful PA submission, and assisting in determination follow-up, HubExpress has further reduced time to therapy and patient abandonment.
Outside of work, Erica stays active in the community, with a focus on supporting women in healthcare IT and science. While in California, she served as the Chair of American Chemical Society, San Diego. Today, she is actively involved in ROX, a nonprofit organization that is aimed at helping young women when they’re at the highest risk of losing trajectory in a math or science career.
