Patient hub services are shifting from basic benefit verification toward broader responsibility for specialty product onboarding and adherence management. In this Q&A, Traci Miller, senior director of Access and Patient Support at Sonexus, Cardinal Health, discusses how the role of the hub is moving beyond traditional administrative tasks to become a central point of coordination in the specialty drug channel.
Drawing on her experience, Miller identifies a transition from a transactional “service provider” model to a “true strategic partner” approach. She notes that modern hybrid environments often require the coordination of up to 15 different partners, creating a level of interdependence between these diverse stakeholders. To manage this complexity, Miller highlights the effectiveness of manufacturer-hosted partner summits to ensure all teams operate as a single, cohesive unit
Technological integration is also playing a critical role in redefining channel performance through digital intake and prior authorization processes. Miller cites data showing that these digital programs can reduce processing timelines from a standard seven-to-ten-day window down to just one or two days. Additionally, she explores how digital engagement through chat and text can reduce inbound and outbound hub call volumes by up to 300%, allowing for significant shifts in staffing and operational efficiency.
Access both parts of our video interview series with Miller:
Traci Miller on How Hybrid Hub Models Redefine Pharma Partnerships Traci Miller: Hub Data Can Drive Smarter Commercial Decisions
Editor’s note: This transcript is a lightly edited rendering of the original audio/video content. It may contain errors, informal language, or omissions as spoken in the original recording.
PC: From a market access and distribution standpoint, hybrid hub models are now expected to do far more than verify benefits and process prior authorizations. How has the expansion of hub responsibilities — particularly around specialty product onboarding and adherence — changed the commercial relationship between manufacturers, distributors, and hub operators?
Miller: That’s something that I’m really passionate about, having worked in the hybrid hub space for the past five years. I think the biggest difference between the hybrid hub and then also, like, looking at a traditional hub, is the level of partnership that’s required. And so in the past, it was like the manufacturer said, “Here’s the workflow, here’s the script, here’s the SLA. We just want you guys to go do it.” And it was more of a service provider versus a true strategic partner. But now it’s increasingly common to see in the hybrid world up to ten or fifteen different partners working with a manufacturer, and they’re really having to learn how to coordinate all those partners because there’s interdependence between all of them. And so one strategy that I recommend from my experience is an in-person partner summit that the manufacturer hosts. So all those partners get to know each other and learn how to work together in person. And so then when it’s executed successfully, you see all these folks in a room, everyone’s operating like they’re working on the same team, and that’s when the partnership is successful.
Where has automation had the biggest impact on access — whether that’s reducing time-to-therapy, cutting prior authorization cycle times, or streamlining specialty pharmacy handoffs — and what does that mean for a manufacturer’s overall channel performance?
So we’ve seen– I’ve worked on programs that have been hundred percent digital from the intake process to the benefit investigation process to the prior authorization process, and it can take the process from seven to ten days down to one to two days. In the program that I worked on, we had about forty percent of enrollments were actually processed and triaged to the specialty pharmacy the same day that we received them. So there can be a huge impact, in particular too with digital patient engagement. So that would be different channels like chat or text. That can decrease the inbound and outbound phone calls at the hub up to three hundred percent. So you can imagine the impact on staffing. The one program that I launched, they had about a million dollars in savings on headcount a year just using these strategies. And so ultimately, the automation makes the channel more efficient and predictable, but we also still need the humans in the mix to provide that empathy and that human interaction to our patients
Hub programs generate enormous amounts of patient journey data — from prior authorization outcomes to specialty pharmacy fulfillment rates. How are manufacturers leveraging that data to make smarter commercial decisions?
So one of the biggest values of a hybrid hub is the data story. And the reason why is because the manufacturers can see everything. They can see their coverage trends, PA outcomes, SP fill rates, down to the detail of discontinuation reasons. And so when the manufacturer is getting that data in real time, it becomes a roadmap, and that allows them to adjust their payer strategies, refine their distribution, and deploy resources where barriers are actually happening in real time. A key learning for me, though, in working with manufacturers on hybrid programs is to get the most out of that data story. They really need to have the main– their data team on their side and the hub team, data team to work together to define the logic and align on the logic for that data. And so this best practice actually turns access from reactive firefighting into proactive optimization.
How do you define the perfect balance between technology and human touch in a hub program?
So this is actually one of my favorite questions to get asked as a leader. I’m so focused on the people, and I really think that the ideal balance is when you have technology that’s removing the friction and the people are removing the complexity. So we, we like to use Sonexus automation for the predictable things, so eligibility, documentation, workflow routing, and then we train our humans to have the expertise to provide that empathy and clarity and personal support that patients and providers value so much. So for me, it’s not just about speed, but it’s every stakeholder from the provider, the payer, the specialty pharmacy, everyone operating off the same playbook, so the patient never knows the complexity that’s underneath it all.