The Doses He Never Should Have Missed

What happens when the medication you depend on to prevent a medical emergency suddenly doesn’t arrive?

In this episode of the PSM Podcast, host Shabbir Imber Safdar sits down with Donovan Guerrero, a 25-year-old engineering student living with Hemophilia A. Born with less than 1% of the clotting factor his body needs, Donovan relies on consistent preventive treatment to avoid dangerous internal bleeds.

 

After his insurer implemented an alternative funding program, Donovan’s regular shipments of preventive factor were interrupted. What followed was a year of uncertainty, missed doses, mounting anxiety, and three hospitalizations, including one on Christmas Day. At one point, he required 16 doses of emergency treatment in just three days to manage a suspected bleed that prevention likely would have avoided.

 

Shabbir and Donovan unpack how alternative funding programs work, why removing drugs from formularies can destabilize patients who rely on specialty medications, and how cost-containment strategies can end up increasing overall healthcare spending when prevention is replaced with emergency care. They also discuss the emotional toll of living month to month without knowing whether life-sustaining medicine will arrive on time.

 

Learn more about bleeding disorders at https://www.bleeding.org/, and learn more about AFPs at https://www.safemedicines.org/2024/04/afps-offshoring-patients-importing-risks.html.