Influence Intelligence

Dr. Hoangmai Pham, MD, MPH Joins This Week's ROI2 ACO Webinar

ROI2 is proud to introduce the newest panel member to our upcoming webinar --Understanding the Importance of ACOs: ACO Pioneers -- Dr. Hoangmai Pham, MD, MPH is the Director of ACO Programs at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Innovation Center and one of the architects of the Pioneer ACO Model. Dr. Pham will bring valuable insight to the issues surrounding the promise of ACOs.

Available slots for the webinar are filling quickly. Take a moment and register here to reserve your space. The webinar will take place on February 15th, 2012 at 1:00 pm

The conversation will include experts from the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, and be moderated by Dr. Barry Mennen, a board-certified pediatrician with more than 30 years of experience in medical communications and strategic consulting. Joining Dr. Mennen will be Matt Eyles, Vice President, Public Affairs & Policy at Coventry Health Care and Frank Messana, Director, Strategic Customer Contracting at Ipsen.

Space is limited! Click here to register now!

After the webinar, there will be a 15 minute Q&A session. The conversation will definitely be compelling.

 

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!

 

Scrutinizing the Ties Between Physicians and the Pharma Industry

Yesterday's Pharmalot ran an interesting examination of the ties between physicians and the pharmaceutical industry with respect to extra compensation.

A noteworthy point:

" . . .a recent survey by Medscape found that 48 percent of specialists feel they are unfairly compensated and 52 percent of primary care doctors feel the same way. To some, this may be a ‘glass-half-full’ scenario - roughly half of all doctors continue to feel compensation matches their efforts. But might the percentages also suggest some docs could be vulnerable to financial overtures?"

This speaks to a larger concern about the government's emerging presence in healthcare. It's arguable that if the government has its way, physicians will be government employees, which may provide even more incentive to supplement income. Physicians have definitely experienced decreased incomes due to constraints and high liability insurance.  Primary Care Physicians, for example, get the worst of it, while specialists are still able to sustain higher compensation.

Are further restrictions on relationships with Pharma the answer? Physicians are sought for their subject matter expertise, for their participation in educational efforts. Further interference would inhibit the consulting and speaking contracts many physicians enjoy, and often require in order to survive.

Further Thoughts on Who Should Prescribe: Could Nurses Be the Better Choice?

A few weeks ago, we raised the question as to whether or not it makes sense to separate diagnosing and prescribing powers between physicians and pharmacists. 

Let's add a third medical professional to the mix: nurses.

Perhaps they are ideally suited to prescribing medications. And why? Because they get far more face time with patients.

Today, more and more the patients don’t get enough quality time in front of their doctors. Insurance pressures and tight schedules mean that everyone is leaning on the pharmacist to be the prescription medication knowledge source.

Many times, however, the pharmacist is just fulfilling the script, pushing the generic based on the pricing pressures rather than what is best for the patient.  This happens to us all the time as patients. Many of us can attest to being prescribed a specific medication, only to have the prescription fulfilled by the pharmacist with a generic. Ask why, and they rightly claim that it costs less, and that insurance will cover it. A quick call back to your doctor, however, often reveals that the generic would not work as well as the original prescribed medicine.

How do we work around this unhealthy cycle? Nurses might be the answer. They see more patients, deal directly with medications, and can be far more emphatic about a patient following prescription specifics to the letter.

Are nurses the way to resolve the physician/pharmacist disconnect? 

 

 

 

Who Should Prescribe? Physicians or Pharmacists?

One of the more interesting aspects of health care is something many of us take for granted. When we visit the doctor, he or she will evaluate our health, diagnose any illness or condition, and then prescribe appropriate medication. And while the first two parts of this process make perfect sense, the third is actually somewhat curious when you consider the level of pharmacological training physicians have. Over the course of their medical education, doctors spend about six months studying pharmacology.

Contrast that with pharmacists, who spend six years in school learning not only about drugs themselves, but their deep chemical structure, near and long-term side effects, interactions, etc. That’s not to say physician don’t understand these at a fundamental level, but comparing six months of study with six years in any field pretty much speaks for itself.

Why, then, are the doctors the ones who prescribe medication, only to be filled by pharmacists? It could be very sensibly argued that doctors should be free to diagnose an illness, but the much more thoroughly trained pharmacist should be the one to prescribe the appropriate medication.

The reasons for the current state prescription protocol are rooted in generations of professional tradition. Centuries ago, the professional who evaluated your health might turn around and take the very medicine you need off the shelf right then and there. Physician and pharmacist were all but indistinguishable. Not so today. They are two very distinct skill sets, with two different educational paths. Perhaps that is why today physicians are not comfortable with drugs unless they are already very familiar with them. They stick with what is tried and true, hesitant to introduce innovations.

Is this role becoming too much for doctors? Perhaps pharmacists and physicians need to re-assess their relationship. It’s interesting to think about how care would be different if the responsibilities of diagnosing illness and providing ideal treatment were based more on experience and expertise, and less on tradition.

Of course, we'd be interested to hear what doctors and pharmacists think about the idea.

Categorizing Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) - Why Pharma Needs to Know the Specifics

Accelerating the awareness, and ultimate acceptance of a new pharma product in the marketplace is today dependent on the Key Opinion Leader. As we've previously discussed, the press-the-flesh sales tactics of old no longer get the job done. Now, it's about identifying and interacting with those influencers who are, in turn, going to evangelize on your behalf.

But simply labeling a physician or medical professional as a "KOL" is not enough. That label is a good start, but there's a mountain of additional detail that can be used to paint a more precise picture. ROI2, for example, invests considerable technology and time in to first identifying KOLs, and then categorizing them based on their most effective role (e.g. national, regional or local authorities; market drivers, scientific thought leaders, early adopters, rising stars, etc.).

There are dozens of potential KOL classifications, each with specific utilities. Once that is understood, it becomes easier to engage those KOLs by developing the proper peer network marketing plan. This allows you to concentrate on reaching out to advisory boards, contacting speaker bureaus, targeting sales and MC account managers, and shaping strategies for clinical trial investigators and publications.

Our system has more than 12 distinct KOL types, with evolving profile values that change based on myriad attributes and exchanges:

If, for example,  someone is well published in a topic, or involved academically or scientifically in a particular disease state, but he or she does not see patients, speak on that topic or has  a comparatively small network of followers, are they a KOL or are they better classified as a Thought Leader? If someone speaks educationally on a topic/disease and others listen, then the value of that person's ability to influence naturally starts to rise. 

This also raises an important question:  If there are those who adopt right away based on thought leadership, how can you know it was because of a single, specific thought leader, or if it was because of a new product indication? Perhaps they wanted to try it after they heard the thought leader, concurred with other peers and then validated through interaction with other innovators. ANd all of this doesn't even factor in additional variables including coverage assessment and spill-over effect by ZIP code, respective regions, states -- even national and global renown.

Essentially, we're trying to deterimine both what their reach is made of, and how far it extends. These are the scenarios we go through to give the most accurate assessment of KOLs and prospective KOLs possible. And that's how we can more precisely classify someone as a rising star, innovator, market driver, etc. With that understanding, information and influence efforts can be tailored accordingly, ensuring greater acceptance and success.

 

Additional Thoughts on the $44 Million Merck Serono Kickback Settlement

There's been plenty of discussion regarding the recent $44 million Merck Serono settlement.

Our thoughts:

There is an issue going on in the industry based on a fine line of marketing practices.  Going back and fining organizations 9-10 years later for practices that were predominantly accepted is an un-necessary waste of money and time.

Pharma already faces plenty of challenges with respect to“getting the knowledge out” about the benefits of new products and new indications on a existing product. They know that they are having to change the manner in which they conduct business.  Moving forward on the right path is the way to go.

We'd love to know what you think. Share some thoughts below.

Why does Pharma need to create customer-centric product education programs?

This is why:

Johnson & Johnson agreed Friday to pay $70 million to settle charges made by the US Securities and Exchange Commission that the company's subsidiaries bribed physicians in several European countries and paid kickbacks to Iraq to illegally obtain business.

Read the whole story here.