Patient Assistance Programs

At the UC Irvine Outreach Clinics, we are committed to providing no-cost quality healthcare to all of our patients. Our dedicated volunteers serve as patient advocates, helping our patients to receive prescription medications through the Patient Assistance Programs (PAP) of pharmaceutical companies. The PAP programs allow those in need to obtain free medications if they fall under a certain limit of annual income, are ineligible for MSI, Medicare, MediCal, and do not have any medical insurance or prescription coverage. Each pharmaceutical company has their own assistance program with their own specific requirements and paperwork. PAP volunteers who run our patient assistance program act as intermediaries between the patient and the pharmaceutical companies. This allows our patients to focus on getting better, rather than worry about paying for important prescriptions or wade through confusing paperwork alone.

At the clinic, volunteers work with medical students to order medications that are obtainable through these programs. Our PAP volunteer sits down with every eligible patient and, by working together, ensures that the applications are filled out correctly. The forms are then mailed or faxed to the pharmaceutical companies.

Future goals

Future goals for the medications committee involve collaborations with local universities that have pharmacy schools, such as UCSD, USC, Western Health Sciences, and Loma Linda. Recruitment of volunteers with pharmacy technician licenses is also a goal that will expand the abilities of our clinic. In the end, however, our primary goal is to focus on patient enrollment in PAP programs and build relationships with our patients that will contribute to the improvement of their general health.