AON Partners With Annexus Health to Help Patients Gain Financial Assistance

American Oncology Network (AON) announced today it has formed a partnership with Annexus Health, which will allow oncology practices in the network to access the Adparo technology solution to help patients in the financial assistance process.

A statement from Annexus Health says that through the partnership, the Adparo team of “experienced financial counselors—leveraging the Annexus Health workflow platform, AssistPoint” will help AON’s practices obtain financial assistance for patients receiving cancer care by streamlining the application process.

"The financial toxicity faced by cancer patients has dramatically increased over the years," said AON Chief Executive Officer Todd Schonherz. "At AON, we're committed to minimizing the financial impact of cancer on families. This partnership with Annexus Health will help to overcome these financial barriers and reduce these burdens.”

As the cost of new cancer therapies has climbed, more and more patients are in need of financial assistance or free drug programs to receive the best possible care. When executed well, patient assistance can make a tremendous difference for patients. But the process for qualifying for these programs can be arduous, and many small practices cannot afford to pay staff members to focus solely on patient applications.

In their statement, Annexus Health officials stated that the Adparo service will allow proactive contact with each patient to evaluate financial need, followed by eligibility verification and a look into what benefits might apply. If patients are eligible for programs, these can be managed through the AssistPoint platform.

"Annexus Health is in hyper-growth mode, and we're excited to partner with AON for an incredible expansion of efforts to generationally disrupt how the patient access journey is managed," said Joe Baffone, Annexus Health co-founder and CEO.

AON, founded in 2018, is an alliance of 107 physicians and 85 physician assistants in practices across 16 states. It allows practices to achieve economies of scale while pursuing value-based reimbursement models and creates protocols for practice management and administrative procedures.