Influence Intelligence

ROI2 Webinar Series Continues for 2012

Save the Date: February 15th, 1 p.m. EST

Inside the ACO: Pioneers Creating Accountable Care Organizations

Join us for an hour of engaging discussion and Q&A that examines the forces and factors contributing to the growth of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) throughout today's health care landscape. Panelists will include physicians, pharmaceutical pros, and executives with expert understanding of the operational and managerial issues surrounding ACOs.

Official invitations will be sent soon. If you are interested in receiving a direct invite, contact us today!

 

The Death of a [Pharma] Salesman?

Yesterday's Pharmalot ran an interesting piece that suggested rumors of the pharma salesman's death -- with apologies to Mark Twain -- have been greatly exaggerated. It's worth a read.

Our thoughts? The "downsizing" of field staff's (from a high of 105,000 to nearly 75,000 now) has been a boon to the CSO industry and digital agencies to name just two who are benefitting from this change.

It's clear that there is still a need/vale in s "rep service", but that is evolving into a tier strategy; reps to service the sample closet, MSL's for high end resource linking and disease management discussions, hospital/medical center reps focusing on education and the future physicians, national account people calling on key managed access customers.

The sheer volume of reps has and will continue to fall, but there has been a rise in "specialty reps" who are considered very valuable in the area of oncology, infused, injectable products and specialty pharmaceuticals.

The days of the "dine and dash" are gone, but the need and value of reps that can bring "clinical utility" and "practice value" for their products to key providers is still strong and growing. Our company, in fact, specializes in working to matching the needs of the providers with the type of rep needed.

The FDA -- A Killer Controversy

Always-provocative Fox pundit John Stossel expounded on the FDA's intention to regulate physician smartphone apps in his column last week. New apps are making it possible for docs to monitor patients from afar, with the same level of informational visibility they would have bedside.

The FDA is concerned these apps might be mistake prone and lead to misdiagnosis or inaccurate treatment. Understandable, says Stossel, but also unnecessary.

. . . the FDA basically says, "No, you just can't put something on your phone if it's a medical device. What if it doesn't work right? We have to approve it first."

That caution makes sense to people. Our first instinct is to say, "I don't want someone getting rich off a device that might not work right. It might kill me. I want the FDA to make sure everything is safe and effective."

But lawyer Jonathan Emord says our instinct is wrong.

"It is wrong because these regulations are costly, burdensome, and they prevent essential medical apps from getting into the marketplace," Emord said.

Emord's insights are worth weighing. In today's medical environment, rife with time constraints and cost consciousness, we need to empower physicians. Encouraging them to be innovative means they will better meet patient needs.

Burdening docs with more regulation and restriction ultimately costs patients. Let's stop inhibiting the healthcare industry and instead encourage efficiencies that ultimately help all.

The High Price of Cutting Corners - Improper Investigation an Issue at Ben Venue

An attention-getting read in today's Pharmalot illuminates the reasons why a division of Boehringer Ingelheim, the Bedford Laboratories unit Ben Venue Laboratories, was contending with what it classified as "capacity constraints". The reasons were tied to quality control:

In fact, we learned that inspectors from both the European Medicines Agency and the FDA visited its facilities and cited Ben Venue for various deficiencies at one specific facility that contributed to production slowdowns . . . the FDA issued a 483 inspection report last May . . . [that] contains a laundry list of problems, many of which Ben Venue failed to properly investigate . . . 

The takeaway? With the shortage and price constraints it will be harder and harder for manufacturers to keep up with quality standards.  This should be apparent throughout the industry: You can't cut corners where quality of medicine is concerned.

Thank You, Mr. Jobs

We want to join the world in saying farewell to one of the world's great innovators and entrepreneurs.

Steve, you taught us never to quit, to always implement ideas no matter how small you might think they are, to never regret, and to remain passionate.

You were a true pioneer with a humble approach in life, centered and grounded, demonstrating work-life balance as a father, husband and leader.

Steve, you touched people of every generation across the globe, providing us with the ability to access and share the real pleasures of life.

Thank you.

Latest Webinar Slides Now Available: Understanding the Importance of ACOs: Accountable Care Organizations in Today’s Healthcare Environment

Thanks again to everyone who joined us last week for a great introduction to and discussion of the impact Accountable Care Organizations are having on the healthcare and pharma industries. 

We'll be providing audio highlights soon. In the meantime, we made the slides available here.

http://www.slideshare.net/roi2webinar/aco-webinar-slides

Stay tuned -- a follow-up webinar is coming soon. In the meantime, we look forward to connecting with our friends at PharmaForce. See you there!

 

 

Pharma and Healthcare Pros: 24 Hours Until the ROI2 ACO Webinar

The conversation is teed up. The panelists are prepared. Response has been tremendous!

There is still space available. We hope you can join us!

Click below:

Understanding the Importance of ACOs: Accountable Care Organizations in Today’s Healthcare Environment

 

 

Webinar Panelist Profile: Two-Decade Pharma and Chemical Industry Vet Jim Smith

We're pleased to welcome Jim Smith, director of corporate accounts at Shire Pharmaceuticals, as a panelist on our Sept. 28 webinar: Understanding the Importance of ACOs: Accountable Care Organizations in Today’s Healthcare Environment.

A bit from Jim's bio:

 . . . responsible for the evaluation, reimbursement and contracting efforts within major accounts in each of the major trade classes, which include MHCO, PBM’s, wholesale trade and retail trade across the Shire product portfolio. He is also tasked with the design, alignment and implementation of marketing strategies within those account channels, which includes business planning, strategic and tactical planning. He is also responsible for new development of contracting strategies for in-line and new products, oversight of these contracting activities, including forecasting and reporting.

He has more than 20 years experience in the pharmaceutical and chemical industry holding various leadership positions. He has extensive experience in sales, sales management, training, marketing, commercial operations, corporate accounts and business development. Prior to his current role, he was the Director of Managed Markets developing distribution channel strategies and tactics for the brand teams. Previous to his managed markets role, he was the Director of Government Affairs Marketing across the Shire specialty product portfolio providing marketing strategies and tactics within the government sector.

We're pleased to have Jim on our panel! He brings tremendous experience and depth of perspective to the discussion.

We hope you can join us!

 

 

Dr. Barry Mennen to Lead Upcoming ROI2 Webinar on Accountable Care Organizations

On Wednesday, Sept. 28rd at 1 p.m. EST, ROI2 will host Understanding the Importance of ACOs: Accountable Care Organizations in Today’s Healthcare Environment. We are anticipating an informative discussion of the growing role Accountable Care Organizations are playing in today's ever-evolving healthcare environment.

ROI2 is pleased to announce that Dr. Barry Mennen will moderate the expert panel, which will include members of key healthcare and pharmaceutical industry stakeholder communities. 

Dr. Mennen is a board-certified pediatrician who practiced in upstate NY for five years before joining the pharmaceutical industry. He is licensed to practice medicine in New York, Maryland and Virginia, and is a certified medical publication planner. He has a BA from NYU, an MD from the University Of Cincinnati College Of Medicine. He finished his pediatric residency as chief resident at Albany Medical  Center Hospital.

His experience during the 30 years spent in medical communications includes advertising, public relations, strategic consulting, and CME and non-CME medical education. The last two positions he held before working as a consultant were Chief Scientific Officer, Euro RSCG Life Worldwide and mostrecently, VP, Medical and Scientific Affairs, Medical Communications Division, Quintiles. Dr. Mennen specializes in the strategic areas of market preparation, messaging and positioning of medical products especially in relationship to the changing medical landscape and the likely future directions of medical practice.

We look forward to Dr. Mennen guiding a lively 30-minute conversation, and then moderating the 15-minute follow-up session. Be sure to join us!

 

September 28th - Save the Date! ROI2 Assembling Expert Webinar Panel to Discuss Impact of Accountable Care Organizations on Pharma

Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) are fast becoming the major players in today’s ever-evolving healthcare environment. Where Pharma formerly concentrated on increasing and measuring influence on physicians and institutions, it must now re-align outreach efforts to build visibility and credibility among ACOs.

Join us on Wednesday, September 28 at 1 p.m. EST for a 30-minute panel discussion featuring experts from the medical and pharmaceutical communities. We'll spark dialog on how the ACO model is changing relationships throughout the healthcare industry, and how to identify and interact with ACO influencers.

Space is limited. Click here to register for this FREE webinar today!