“Every extra week of delay in treatment can reduce survival rates by up to 8%.”
Speed saves lives – yet, across therapeutic areas, delays between diagnosis, prescription, and treatment remain a critical weak point in patient care. Many pharma leaders recognize the importance of reducing Time to Start (TTS), but is it being prioritized with the same focus and investment as innovation itself? As the industry continues to advance in digital health and patient support, now is the time to ensure that tracking and optimizing TTS becomes a core success metric – not an afterthought.
In 2026, the pharmaceutical industry faces a defining challenge: patients, providers, and regulators now expect faster access, measurable outcomes, and seamless care delivery. Despite advancements in digital engagement, many patients still encounter long and avoidable gaps between prescription and treatment – a window that can mean the difference between stabilization and decline.
Time to Start (TTS) is the critical span between when a prescription is written and when a patient begins treatment.
The IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science shows that optimizing treatment pathways not only improves adherence but also enhances cost efficiency and patient satisfaction. For pharma leaders, TTS isn’t just a measure of operational efficiency – it’s a reflection of how well an organization delivers on its promise to patients. Reducing delays drives measurable improvements in outcomes, payer partnerships, and brand trust.
In this article, we’ll explore why Time to Start is becoming the next critical success metric, what leading organizations are doing to shorten it, and practical strategies to embed speed, coordination, and patient-centricity into every stage of care.
Why Time to Start Matters
- Patient Outcomes
Delays in starting prescription or therapy are directly linked to poorer health outcomes across multiple conditions. In oncology, for example, a BMJ meta-analysis found that every four-week delay in treatment is associated with a 6-8% increase in mortality risk.
Similar findings extend beyond cancer care. According to the American Medical Association (AMA), delays caused by prior authorization and administrative barriers frequently lead to worsened clinical outcomes, reduced adherence, and higher patient dropout rates. The AMA notes that these processes can compromise the effectiveness of care – highlighting that timely therapy initiation is a determinant of patient safety and quality of life.
- Market Differentiation
Speed to therapy has become a powerful competitive differentiator. Specialty pharmacies and pharmaceutical executives increasingly identify it as a key performance indicator tied to both brand reputation and patient loyalty.
As Pharmacy Times reports, top-performing pharma programs are now tracking speed-to-therapy as a measurable success metric – one that influences not only patient satisfaction but also formulary access, payer negotiations, and long-term brand trust.
In a crowded market, where therapeutic efficacy is often comparable across competitors, the ability to deliver therapy faster and more seamlessly can define which brand becomes the standard of care.
- Operational Efficiency
Long therapy start times also strain the healthcare system itself. Prior authorization and benefit verification delays add administrative burden for providers, disrupting care delivery and driving treatment abandonment. According to the American Journal of Managed Care, 94% of physicians say prior authorization causes care delays, and 78% of patients abandon treatment when access barriers become too high.
Reducing Time to Start not only benefits patients – it improves workflow efficiency, reduces provider burnout, and strengthens provider-pharma relationships by removing friction from the prescribing process.
- Regulatory and Payer Pressure
As value-based care models expand globally, pharmaceutical organizations face increasing pressure to demonstrate measurable impact. Payers and manufacturers are shifting focus from product dispensation to speed of therapy initiation, patient access, and real-world outcomes.
According to IQVIA’s article Patient Support Programs for EBPs: Three Imperatives to Measure What Matters, effective programs now track metrics such as time-to-fill, initiation therapy, and conversion from enrollment to treatment as part of a broader measurement strategy that aligns with payer expectations and value-based contracting.
Where Pharma Leaders Are Losing Time Today
Even the most innovative therapies can’t achieve their potential if patients face long delays before starting treatment. Across the healthcare ecosystem, common bottlenecks continue to slow down time to start – many of which are preventable through better coordination, automation, and patient engagement.
Prior Authorization Bottlenecks
Manual prior authorization (PA) processes remain one of the most significant sources of delay.
According to the Biologics & Biosimilars Collective Intelligence Consortium (BBCIC) Utilization Management Review, complex and inconsistent PA workflows create systemic barriers to timely care, particularly for specialty therapies. Providers spend hours navigating payer-specific requirements, while patients wait days or weeks for approvals – increasing drop-offs and (in some cases) worsening clinical outcomes.
Specialty Pharmacy Lags
Once approvals are in place, delays often shift downstream to specialty pharmacies. As Pharmacy Times highlights, fragmented systems, lack of visibility across dispensing networks, and communication breakdowns between prescribers, pharmacies, and patients all contribute to slower time to dispense.
Pharma leaders that actively collaborate with specialty pharmacy partners – integrating shared dashboards, real-time benefit verification, and automated patient outreach – are better positioned to shorten therapy initiation windows and improve adherence.
Insurance Coverage Errors
Insurance missteps also play a major role in therapy delays. Research published in Practical Radiation Oncology found that insurance preauthorization requirements frequently lead to postponed or canceled treatments, particularly in radiation oncology where coverage errors can cause patients to miss critical treatment windows.
These inefficiencies don’t just delay care – they add unnecessary administrative costs, reduce patient satisfaction, and impact provider trust. Proactive verification, payer data integration, and centralized case management can help mitigate these issues.
Fragmented Communication
In today’s digital ecosystem, patients often find themselves juggling multiple apps, portals, and touchpoints – each requiring different logins, consents, or forms. As BioPharma Dive reports, this fragmented digital tool leads to duplication of effort, confusion, and eventual disengagement, undermining both patient experience and program performance.
Pharma organizations that consolidate patient interactions into unified, secure platforms not only improve efficiency but also strengthen long-term engagement and loyalty.
Patient Education and Support
Beyond logistics, behavioral and emotional barriers continue to delay therapy starts. At RxPx, we consistently hear from partners that patients hesitate to begin treatment due to concerns around cost, side effects, stigma, or complexity. These fears, if not addressed early, can lead to therapy abandonment before the first dose.
Pharma programs that combine personalized education, transparent financial support information, and empathetic human guidance see significantly faster initiation rates and improved adherence – proving that sometimes the biggest barrier to timely therapy isn’t administrative, but emotional.
How RxPx Helps Reduce Time to Start
Reducing Time to Start is about more than operational efficiency – it’s about improving patient outcomes and strengthening pharma partnerships. RxPx streamlines every step between prescription and treatment, using integration, automation, and data to create faster, more connected patient journeys.
- Streamlined Prescription Fulfillment
Redundant communication between prescribers, pharmacies, and payers often slows therapy initiation. RxPx connects all stakeholders within a single coordinated system, enabling instant data exchange and centralized updates.
This approach reflects findings from Pharmacy Times, where integrated, pharmacist-led workflows were shown to cut time-to-dispense and improve patient access.
- Real-Time Prior Authorization Automation
Manual prior authorization (PA) is a major cause of delay. RxPx automates PA submissions, payer verification, and approval tracking to accelerate approvals and reduce manual workload.
Research from the American Journal of Managed Care shows that automated PA workflows significantly shorten turnaround times and improve satisfaction for both physicians and patients.
- Data-Driven Insights & Predictive Analytics
RxPx uses predictive analytics to identify and address bottlenecks early – whether it’s stalled benefit verification or disengaged patients.
According to research published on arXiv, predictive analytics in healthcare can reduce hospital stays and streamline care transitions, improving efficiency across the continuum.
- Integrated Patient Engagement
Delays don’t just come from systems – they come from patient uncertainty. RxPx integrates education, progress tracking, financial navigation, and real-time updates to keep patients informed and confident to start therapy.
Actionable Takeaways for Pharma Leaders
- Start Measuring TTS as a Core KPI
Make Time to Start a standard metric across patient programs. Measuring from prescription to treatment start provides visibility into where delays occur – and where intervention matters most.
- Map Your Current Bottlenecks
Identify where time is being lost. Whether it’s prior authorization, benefits verification, or patient hesitation, mapping your workflow highlights the true drivers of delay and allows for targeted solutions.
- Integrate the Ecosystem
Partner with platforms that connect payers, providers, pharmacies, labs, nurse services, and patient support within one ecosystem. Streamlined networks not only accelerate access but also generate unified data insights that pinpoint therapy-start barriers in real time.
- Balance Automation with Human Support
Automation drives efficiency, but patients still need empathy. Combining automated approvals, digital onboarding, and live nurse or patient-support interaction builds trust and improves adherence.
- Use TTS Data to Differentiate Your Brand
Payers and regulators increasingly value data that reflects real-world access and outcomes. Demonstrating reduced Time to Start shows your brand’s commitment to patient impact, operational excellence, and value-based care.
The Next Competitive Advantage
In 2026, pharma leaders won’t win by innovation alone – they’ll win by delivering therapies faster.
RxPx helps life sciences teams transform Time to Start from a challenge into a competitive edge. By uniting prescribers, payers, pharmacies, and patient support into one ecosystem, RxPx shortens delays, improves access, and strengthens adherence.
Partner with RxPx to identify bottlenecks and accelerate your Time to Start. Connect with our team today to learn more.
