Case Study: Omnichannel Support for People Living With Narcolepsy

Background

The Challenge

Narcolepsy is a rare, chronic, neurological condition that disrupts the brain’s ability to regulate sleep-wake cycles, leading to excessive daytime sleepiness and sudden sleep attacks.
Living with narcolepsy often means navigating unpredictable symptoms, stigma, and complex treatment requirements, which can leave patients feeling overwhelmed and unsupported.
Patients with narcolepsy also face complex barriers to treatment initiation and persistence, including access hurdles and having to navigate complex health systems.
These challenges directly impact adherence, making it harder for patients to initiate and persist with prescribed pharmaceutical treatments without tailored, ongoing support.

Our Behavior Change Approach

We first identified modifiable factors associated with nonadherence to the narcolepsy medication.
The behavior change strategy was centered on personalization, co-creation, and proactive engagement.
We used behavioral risk profiling to tailor support across digital and human channels, aiming to shift unhelpful beliefs and behaviors that impacted treatment persistence.
The aim was to empower patients to initiate, adhere to, and sustain their narcolepsy therapy with confidence.

An omnichannel, personalized patient support programme with digital tools and regular touchpoints driven by each individual's nonadherence risk assessment.
Nurses were trained in applying behavior change techniques and person-centered communication skills. They were also well versed in the impact of narcolepsy symptoms on a patient's ability to focus and the overall lack of social support. They were able to lend an empathic ear and build strong relationships over time.
Real patients were featured in emails and text messages, sharing helpful tips and their common experience in facing the day-to-day challenges.
A mobile app, informed by patient research and UX testing, facilitated medication and symptom tracking to show how adherence and improvements were correlated.

Patients in the program were 2x more likely to receive their first prescription compared to patients not enrolled in the program.
Patients were 4.5x more likely to receive their third prescription compared to patients not enrolled in the program.