Every year, pharmaceutical brands find it increasingly difficult to break through among competitors and communicate the value of their products to payers and market access decision-makers. Value tools that communicate the benefits of a new product in an accessible and visually appealing way are helping them do just that. You can read more about market access communication tools by clicking here.
Previously, pharmacists used such tools mainly during negotiations with medical professionals and government officials. However, by demonstrating the product’s value to potential buyers, you can significantly improve your chances of gaining access to the market. In this article, we’ll discuss how you can use communication tools to improve your interactions with payers.
The traditional approach to market access and pharmacist interaction with payers
No matter how revolutionary a drug may be, its development is useless if the patient cannot access it or afford it for financial reasons. Therefore, gaining access to the market is the starting point for effective and efficient health care. High levels of competition encourage pharmaceutical companies to accelerate this process as much as possible, and payer engagement is an effective tool for maximizing results.
For a long time, pharma’s interaction with payers was limited only to the former’s desire to provide the latter with drugs by obtaining authorization and reimbursement through negotiations with healthcare decision-makers. At the same time, drug manufacturers have sought to prove the value of their products to physicians, government officials, and insurance agents, leaving potential and existing drug users unattended. However, payers can also influence the decision on whether a drug gets access to the market, though not directly.
On the other hand, traditionally, the interaction between pharmaceutical company representatives and consumers has been face-to-face. In terms of marketing influence, face-to-face meetings, media, and print advertising have been used most often. The use of digital technology for meetings and marketing promotion in the pharma industry only began about 10 years ago. Since then, however, investments by drug companies in digital marketing are now growing worldwide. Digital technologies are not only being used to interact with medical practitioners and officials. They are also being leveraged to interact with payers.
How to improve payer engagement with communication tools
Increase payer engagement in the market access decision-making process with digital communication tools that tell the value story, connect all stakeholders, and drive better outcomes. To improve payer engagement with these tools, try the following:
1. When formulating a product value proposition, be sure to include patient benefits
Typically, manufacturers, when articulating the value of their product, cite important points such as improved population health statistics, economical use of resources, or reduced insurance benefit costs. Often, however, they need to mention how patient care will improve with the new product.
2. Gather real data on the product’s results and show how your product benefits patients and improves their experience
Such data can be obtained from payer electronic health records. Real measures of effectiveness and cost-benefit always increase the value of a product in the eyes of payers.
3. Try using digital technology to bring stakeholders together to improve the speed, efficiency, and quality of care
This could be a specialized application for patients, specialty pharmacies, and healthcare providers that provides a support service from the drug manufacturer. Technology to optimize the member experience – telemedicine, electronic health records, diagnostics, electronic payment systems, etc. – can help you do this. This use of technology will improve care coordination and patient care. On the other hand, you will thus have a tool to collect additional data to help improve your products.
As you can see, pharma has great opportunities to interact with patients and collect additional data to add value to their products and improve patient care.
