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Guest Editorial
Year end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us. Hal Borland
K. Hariram
s we enter into the New Year - 2013, everyone around us may start asking what is your new year resolution? Do we really need to wait till the beginning of the year to make resolutions and commitments? Think of a ship which has decided to go on a new course but is still anchored in the shore. Will it be able to sail? Definitely, not. Think about it are we behaving like the ships in most cases? We make resolutions but forget to free ourselves from the shore. We are still tied to our limitations. Can we change our limiting beliefs? Making resolutions are important. What is more important is backing it with action plans and acting upon these plans within a time period. So commitments and resolutions can only be handled by a persevering and persistent mind, which is ready to unlearn, learn and relearn.
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As a part of your resolution, you may list out what you can and cant do in your work situation. This will help you to clarify your professional goals. They are:
Hone your sales presentation skills and also the negotiating skills to help your sales team. Use feedback properly to improve relationship at all levels. A COACH Learn to create a proper environment for performance improvement. Model professional attitude and behavior. As a coach, you provide each of your team members with specific feedback on strengths and weaknesses. Work with each person to create and implement a developmental plan to improve performance plus an agenda for ongoing training and development in selling skills, sales strategy, and product and market knowledge. So, take pride in being a Front-line Manager and enjoy working with your team members. Your only motto should be to make your team members successful.
Read the Extraordinary Career Growth of Mr. K Hariram from Medical Rep to Managing Director in the August 2011 issue of MedicinMan HERE.
is Designed to Empower Your FLMs with Business Management and Emotionally Intelligent Leadership Skills to Create Winning Teams.
anupsoans@gmail.com
Contents
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5. English Vinglish
Your field force must think clearly and cleverly before they can speak good English. Dr. S. Srinivasan
7. Force of Habit
How to make Repeat Rx of your brand a matter of habit for Doctors. Prabhakar Shetty
9. Hot on LinkedIn: Why Invest in People if Sooner or Later They are Going to Leave Us?
Prof. Vivek Hattangadi
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English Vinglish
Dr. S. Srinivasan
o, I am not knocking on Madam Sridevis Bollywood door. I am just sharing my own take on the way we use, misuse and abuse this foreign language while making a sales pitch to potential prescribers of our products. A disclaimer right upfront. My own English (or whatever passes for it) may sound abominable to some, so I wont make the mistake of judging others. In fact I may even wander around to the view that good English, let alone Queens English, is not a pre-requisite for achieving sales targets. Wanna throw eggs and tomatoes at me? No problem. I knew they were coming my way anyway. I know it is fashionable to lament the way our boys speak and write Hinglish. I also know it is equally fashionable to jump on the supercilious bandwagon of Anglophiles and Indo-phobes in the rarefied atmosphere of pharma marketing gurukuls. But I will resist such temptations.
The linguistic abilities of our boys are intricately linked with their thinking abilities. And for the latter, there is a third entity called understanding ability. If the last mentioned is below par, so will the other two be, no matter what language or dialect you try to use.
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Terminalia bellerica
Recently, I sat through a product launch session in a medium sized company. The USP of the product was a clever mix of herbs and known molecules. The trainer made a gallant effort to make the sales friends pronounce the name of the above mentioned herb. After 18.56 minutes of such labor, the boys could pronounce the name with some ease and even repeat it without looking at the visual aid. Great. But what next? The poor guys couldnt convincingly explain what this tongue-twister actually does beyond repeating the lines of the visual aid. I am not sure if these boys would go out in the field with confidence and clarity as to how this botanical wonder would work miracles in the patients body. One of the main reasons why our boys are not able to attract and hold attention of the doctor is that they dont build a semblance of logic in their detail talk. Our mind simply cannot capture, store and retrieve data or sound bytes unless they make some sense somewhere in the cerebral cortex. How many of our detail talks are really logic based? I can go on and on. To make a long story short, English or Vinglish, first get the semantics right. Syntax, diction and delivery will follow.
Dr. S. Srinivasan is former Sr. VP at Aventis. He is currently a lifecoach and Dean, Medical Education at MedicinMan Academy. Email: balanceistheessence@gmail.com
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Force of
Prabhakar Shetty
Habit.
abit is one of the most compelling forces that determines human and animal behavior. Habit is a repetitive behavior or action performed without conscious thought and is mainly controlled by the sub conscious mind, which works many times faster. Would you like to harness the powerful Force of Habit to boost your sales and career? Habits are deeply ingrained and determine our behavior and actions, for example: Do you stay at the same hotel when you are touring? Do you sleep at the same spot in your house? Does your family buy the grocery mainly from ONE shop? If the answer is yes, to all the above questions, you would have realized what Force of Habit is all about. You were under no compulsion to indulge in repetitive behavior or actions. But you were compelled by the Force of Habit.
A Doctor is on the path of developing an Rx Habit when he starts prescribing your brand. Repeat Rx reinforces the process of habit formation. The time span for developing a permanent habit could vary from weeks to months. When the prescribing habit is deeply ingrained in the mind of the Doctor, the prescription is a Reflex action of the Doctor and Rx as an abbreviation is indeed very apt.
Rx Habit Formation.
A Doctor is on the path of developing an Rx Habit when he starts prescribing your brand. Repeat Rx reinforces the process of habit formation. The time span for developing a permanent habit could vary from weeks to months. When the prescribing habit is deeply ingrained in the mind of the Doctor, the prescription is a Reflex action of the Doctor and Rx as an abbreviation is indeed very apt. 3) Treat each call as a continuation of previous visits and maintain a record of critical information like queries and comments of the Doctor. You may get some very vital clues there. 4) Acknowledge and express gratitude for Rx received and subtly let the Doctor know that you are quantitatively tracking the Rx and that you really value his contribution. The Doctor needs to know that you are sincere and committed. Your actions will speak louder than words. 5) Use Situational Detailing and hold the Doctors attention with some new aspect or proof. Create a pleasant setting for interaction. It ensures that messages are received and processed. 6) Ensure that the product is available for EVERY prescription without exception. Co-ordinate with the Stockist and his Salesmen to replenish stocks, especially within 3-4 days of your visit.
7 Essential Steps.
1) Focus on one product at a time. This ensures that messages get anchored in the mind of the Doctor and your product position keeps moving up the ladder of preferences. 2) Start your detailing with the main prescribed product to reinforce your earlier efforts and clearly indicate that the brand is CONSISTENTLY your priority. The Doctor must know your priority. This enhances top of the mind recall as well action in the form of Rx.
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7) Develop your information network to track frequency, quantity and regularity of Rx for your products and your competitors as well. When you have greater than 51% Rx share or if you get Rx on a daily basis for over 3 months, you may conclude that an Rx Habit has been established.
4) If you are unaware about the extent of Rx for your product, it may demolish Rx Habit formation. The Doctor concludes that you no longer have the fire in the belly. 5) Avoid parrot like standard detailing. The Doctor may stop paying attention to you. 6) Do not let an Rx bounce. Despite your usual best efforts the stocks available may not be sufficient for 2 or 3 patients. This will surely demolish Rx Habit at least up to your next visit and most often for months together. 7) Do not emphasize other products before Rx Habit formation is established. The Doctor may prescribe 3 or 4 more brands of yours, but at the cost of your priority brand. Steady Rx Habit for even one brand produces greater sales volume, than sporadic Rx of 3 or 4 brands. You are far more successful in generating Rx than what your sales figures indicate. Over 80% of your efforts got wasted. You did not know it as yet! Make the Force of Habit work for you to generate Repeat Rx and ensure progress in your career.
7 Essential Precautions.
1) Avoid emphasis on too many products at a time. It may halt the start of any Rx Habit. 2) Talk about the PRIORITY BRAND first. It is the anchor in his mind. It triggers the chain of thought that made the Doctor support you. Otherwise, you may demolish an Rx Habit prematurely. 3) Do not ignore or evade queries, concerns and observations of the Doctor. It may hurt his ego and demolish the process of Rx Habit formation.
Prabhakar Shetty is former Assoc. Director at Parke Davis. He is currently a Director at Acumen MMC. Email: prshetty@gmail.com Website: www.acumenmmc.com
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Linked
Hot on
Adapted from a discussion on Indian Pharma Connection (see here). Click on names of participants (in blue) to see their LinkedIn profiles.
et me begin by putting a few questions. Which of these concerns are important? Reducing attrition by preventing the high-quality medical representatives and field managers from leaving? Stimulating and retaining them? Attracting talent? Developing them to be future CEOs of the company? All of these can be achieved if people know that we are interested in their development; this can greatly reduce the rate of attrition. My experience of over 36 years in the pharma industry in India and the neighboring S.E. Asian countries is evidence enough to show that over half of all people have left a job is due to bad management (It is an irony that in one of the industrys top company I worked, the highest attrition rate was in their HRD!). Bad managers reduce job satisfaction and motivation, and the organization suffers from low team morale and poor performance even before people quit. And when they do leave, the company faces further disruption and loss of productivity, on top of the cost of recruiting and training a replacement. Does an organization know the cost of attrition? An exercise was done by the HRD of a client company of mine - a mid-sized but very ambitious, forward-looking Rs.850 crore company with field strength of 1200. They computed that if the rate of attrition of field personnel in their organization is reduced by just 1% (which is currently at 16%), the company can save up to Rs. 1 crore a year!
Strengthening people management skills is perhaps the most effective way to reduce attrition! When the organizational culture is based on respect, trust, and care very few people may leave. Field personnel and brand managers leave for reasons other than money - and an organization can address these issues. Most leaving field and brand managers seek opportunities that allow them to use and develop their skills.
Strengthening people management skills is perhaps the most effective way to reduce attrition! When the organizational culture is based on respect, trust, and care very few people may leave. Field personnel and brand managers leave for reasons other than money - and an organization can address these issues. Most leaving field and brand managers seek opportunities that allow them to use and develop their skills. In the on-going high-quality discussions in LinkedIn, many have expressed interesting view points. Dr. S. Srinivasan rightly puts it that the people development may have an undercurrent of 'benefit' to the company itself, but the biggest fallout is reduced rate of attrition. You will be in a spot if you train people and they leave. But, imagine a situation when you DON'T train them and they DON'T leave! so nicely put by Maneesh Johari. Well that cost (or loss) to
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the company will be tremendous. Joydeep Ganguly rightly observes If we don't train our people, we may not be able to present the correct image of our organisation to our customers. Like most of us, doctors too have the left and right hemisphere and very rightly differentiate the quality of people meeting him regularly. My observation is that just as we classify our doctors as A, B or C class, doctors too classify the medical representatives as A, B or C class and this has no relation to the organization or the reputation / image of the organization! It is based on the overall presentation, knowledge and communication skills. The objective of any training program should be to transform medical representatives and field managers to A Class! Untrained field personnel may not be able to convey the quality, the image and status of the company they represent. What a damning effect on his organization! I loved the observations of Sasidharan Menon he says: There are two types of leaders that you find in any industry - the one who builds his reputation as big as a hill and standing over the top of the hill so that others look upwards. Then there are the second type of leaders who dig holes around them so that others fall in and still look upwards! Training and attitudes of trainers matter. But what kind of training and development should we impart? Unfortunately, many trainers live in ivory towers and have lost touch with reality. Dr. Mandar Kubals observations are very interesting: There is a great disconnect between the ground reality of sales and the training methods and contents. Why dont trainers regularly come out on the field? Out of the numerous visits from the innumerable companies on a daily basis, I meet just one to two trainers in calls every five to six months. I feel there is a disconnect with the ground reality of sales and the training method and content. The lack of practical solutions coming out during training is making medical representatives look at it as an exercise in futility. Thats what I understand from my sales colleagues. The training managers should know how a good surgeon
If we don't train our people, we may not be able to present the correct image of our organization to our customers. Like most of us, doctors too have the left and right hemisphere and very rightly differentiate the quality of people meeting him regularly.
learns not through lectures or observations but through practice. A great portion of the time in training should involve learning in a simulated environment. Or else, as Soumalya Chatterjee says: life is a vicious circle, so, whatever we give comes back to us and vice versa... Adds Dr. Shalini Ratan: Having worked as a medical advisor myself I have learnt a lot from field work. Once I even changed my job to work more closely with sales rather than marketing. It is about the inner urge to learn and develop yourself too. And all this pays in the long run, I suppose. Her views have been echoed by Anup Soans: We need to train the trainers to go beyond the routine and inspire the First-line Managers and medical representatives to be self directed learners. Yes they must be on the field. As the father of modern management Peter Drucker said, Everybody in the organization should be selling or supporting those who are selling. I have always been emphasizing that apart from classroom training the first-line managers should be trained to train the trainers and no training is as effective as on-the-job training as during joint field work. Shashi Lad makes another very interesting observation: One practical way is to empower second -line managers to be field based trainers as they can ensure continuous learning for first-line managers and medical representatives, who are otherwise caught up with routine, day-to-day operations. This will also keep the second-line managers agile as otherwise they tend to just add another layer of redundant bureaucracy.
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Adds Dr. Ulhas Ganu: Inadvertent Informal Training because of exposure to the environment and the people around also makes a great contribution to the development by exposure to different stimuli. That possibly accounts for deviation in behaviour in spite of good training in schools or at home. And that is what on-the-job training is all about. Ajay Kumar Dua reflects the philosophy of Ken Blanchard CATCH THEM DOING RIGHT when he says: It is of utmost importance to ensure that all superiors must be trained to recognize the efforts put in by employees. In companies which do not believe in training and developing people, the employees should take steps to learn themselves - as Nittu Kumar says: Selfdirected learning is the ideal way. What exactly is self-directed learning? In its broadest meaning, self-directed learning describes a process by which individuals take the initiative, with or without the assistance of others, in diagnosing their learning needs, formulating learning goals, identify human and material resources for learning, choosing and implement appropriate learning strategies, and evaluating learning outcomes. (Ref: M. Knowles, Principles of Androgogy, 1972)
Developing people is a leadership skill and is one of the keys for us to be promotable. If we do not train our junior team-mates enough, we will have no successor. In actuality, we may be doing a task lower than our level, instead of leading, and creating new leaders. And in the end, blocking our own career progress!
enough, we will have no successor. In actuality, we may be doing a task lower than our level, instead of leading, and creating new leaders. And in the end, blocking our own career progress! Training should be about whole person development not just a few skills! Whether people stay with us or not, we should develop them. Even if someone leaves the organization after going through a development program, it is worth investing on people development. How many would leave? 10%? 20%? 30%? Even then the balance 50% 0r 60% or 70% would enhance their capabilities and contribute to the organization, isnt it? And which other better place than MedicinMan Academy and attending their sessions like Field Force Excellence conducted by MedicinMan Academy? Prof. Vivek Hattangadi is a Consultant in Pharma Brand Management and Sales Training at The Enablers. He is also visiting faculty at CIPM Calcutta (Vidyasagar University) for their MBA course in Pharmaceutical Management. Email: vivekhattangadi@theenablers.org
Conclusions.
We sometimes think of developing people as just a good thing to do, or as a favor for our team. However, our ability to coach and develop our teammates is much more than that. Developing people is a leadership skill and is one of the keys for us to be promotable. If we do not train our junior team-mates
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What Are Some of the Best Practices in Segmentation & Targeting in Pharma?
How Can Field Force be Enabled to Cover their Territories More Effectively for Increased Productivity?
Targeting and profiling are mutually dependent elements that help companies identify and gain a product's full market potential within a segment. Segments generated from customer profiles should reflect the goals of the company rather than general demographics of the customers themselves. The goal of profiling is to enable appropriate segmentation based on the relevant traits of customers as they apply to a company's offering.
representatives. It is the basis for customer segmentation and targeting, and is one of the most important elements of promotional process. Profiles are information sets that allow companies to define segments, as well as execute and measure strategy. Segments generated from customer profiles should reflect the goals of the company rather than general demographics of the customers themselves. The goal of profiling is to enable appropriate segmentation based on the relevant traits of customers as they apply to a company's offering. The challenge, however, is to create profiles that are "actionable" for the purposes of segmentation and targeting. Just as a segment requires relevant information in order to be established, target list needs to match relevant segmentation criteria with the actual goals a company has.
MedicinMan January
2013
In terms of best practices, Ive found that companies that use a campaign specific approach to targeting and segmentation (which is to say, they segment their customers and target them based on the goals for the specific campaign) are more likely to use their resources more wisely, and in a more optimized way than companies that simply apply the same (often purchased) generic target lists and which only use broad (and often useless) segmentation criteria. Regarding segmentation criteria, I think that one "best practice" is to move from simple quantitative criteria (e.g. the doctor has 60 patients with hypertension and prescribes a minimum of 28 Rx / week) to more qualitative criteria (e.g. the doctor is an innovative prescriber who values scientific data and strongly advocates his choices to other prescribers) and eventually, as the SF matures (through training, experience and refinement of profile techniques), to multi-dimensional criteria (e.g. the doctor is loyal, has medium to high Rx potential, and a low switch rate; she cares about scientific data but cares more about the cost of care; values companies that provide cost savings for her patients without sacrificing value, etc.). The benefit of multi-dimensional segmentation is that it enables multiple layers of segmentation to be applied, so that the customer can be easily re-classified and targeted (or not) depending on the current goals.
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Companies that use a campaign specific approach to targeting and segmentation (which is to say, they segment their customers and target them based on the goals for the specific campaign) are more likely to use their resources more wisely, and in a more optimized way than companies that simply apply the same (often purchased) generic target lists and which only use broad (and often useless) segmentation criteria.
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The generation of "digital natives" that comprise a large part of today's sales work force is communication and technology-savvy and more team-oriented. The people in this cohort don't rely on a simple vertical conduit of information from their managers. They constantly reach out on their own to get work-related information, often using social media. They are "push" unfriendly.
But because of four pervasive and inter-linked threads of change happening in many sales environments today, the power of push and pull is eroding. First, the increasing "democratization" of information creates a world in which customers and salespeople no longer rely as much on information from headquarters for making buying and selling decisions. Customers can learn much about a company's offerings online. Salespeople, too, can easily access information about customers and/or competitive offerings with the click of a mouse. As customers and local salespeople become better informed, the value of "push" gets weakened.
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Second, the generation of "digital natives" that comprise a large part of today's sales work force is communication and technology-savvy and more team-oriented. The people in this cohort don't rely on a simple vertical conduit of information from their managers. They constantly reach out on their own to get work-related information, often using social media. They are "push" unfriendly. Third, in many sales environments, customers are less dependent on salespeople to develop solutions to their problems. Customers are asserting control over the buying process, and therefore the selling process. More and more, salespeople have to collaborate with, rather than sell to, customers. Too much "push" and "pull" creates friction and dissonance and little success in such a world. Fourth, when sales processes are complex or require teamwork, the power of short-term individual incentives ("pull") gets weaker. Numerous studies have shown how incentives become a distraction to the completion of complex tasks. If "push" and "pull" are losing their power, then where should leaders go from here? It's time to step back from "push" and "pull" to focus on the "person." Just as sales leaders and managers have to adapt to the new realities of managing salespeople, so do salespeople need to adapt to the new selling environment. Success requires a different breed of salesperson a selfdirected synthesizer, problem-solver and team player. Gone is the celebrated model of sales success from yesterday the rugged individualist driven by personal achievement and money. Sales leaders and managers must build a sales team of people with the right characteristics (innate traits and abilities) for success in today's world. And they must align sales development programs (training, coaching, and mentoring) to help people develop new competencies (learned skills and knowledge). At the same time, salespeople must be armed (not "pushed" and "pulled") with a value-adding sales process, supported by the right tools, resources, and information. Sales force leaders, managers, and salespeople must adapt to a new way of working; those who can't adapt will not survive. It's time to help the people change, or to change the people.
Andris A. Zoltners is a Professor Emeritus of Marketing at Northwestern Universitys Kellogg School of Management. He and PK Sinha are co-founders of ZS Associates. Together with Sally Lorimer, they are the authors of Building a Winning Sales Management Team: The Force Behind the Sales Force.
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Competitive Intelligence
Turning Data into Actionable Intelligence
Competitive intelligence is the complete monitoring and understanding of what is happening to your competitors at all times. Effective CI is a continuous process that involves the gathering of raw data, matching of data to create information and the analysis of the information to generate actionable intelligence for the decision makers.
Competitive intelligence is the complete monitoring and understanding of what is happening to your competitors at all times. Effective CI is a continuous process that involves the gathering of raw data, matching of data to create information and the analysis of the information to generate actionable intelligence for the decision makers. CI is not industrial espionage. All information is gained through public sources & CI professionals do not engage in pretext to obtain information about rivals. The Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals code of ethics states members must: 1) Accurately disclose all relevant information, including one's identity and organization, prior to all interviews 2) Comply with all applicable laws, domestic and international
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3) Provide honest and realistic recommendations and conclusions in the execution of one's duties
CI Process.
Once the CI needs have been defined, existing knowledge must be reviewed to determine the gaps in the company's knowledge. A collection plan is then developed to fill these gaps. The collection plan identifies what types of information need to be gathered and from what sources. All potential sources of information are used effectively & internal and external sources are integrated. CI helps in the following: 1) Assessments of competitor intensity and strategic intent 2) Benchmarking of competitors R&D pipelines 3) Clinical trial assessments 4) Patent analysis and landscaping 5) Assessment of in-licensing potential 6) Commercial market assessment, future trends and direction 7) Competitor reaction to new market entrants 8) Generic launch intentions; etc. Social Media has emerged as a strong complement to the traditional competitive intelligence. It requires right experts collecting and channeling vital, accurate information that eliminates the need for extensive searches of traditional databases and published information. Companies track: 1) Facebook and twitter accounts of the companies to determine their strategies, new launches etc. 2) Conversation of patient in their posts or updates regarding various Pharma brands 3) Physician forums to gauge physician preference etc. To conclude, CI process can better understand the environment of the industry and deliver on the promise of a
Source: Mckinsey Quarterly, How Social Intelligence Can Guide Decisions.
fully informed decision support tool to contribute to the growth of the organization as well as development of competitive advantage for the organization.
Jasvinder Singh Banga works as an Analyst in IMS Health. His specialties include Pharma Forecasting, Excel-based modelling, Epidemiology and Market Assessment. He has done MBA (Pharmaceutical Management) from NIPER and is a Pharma graduate from Delhi University. Loves reading literature and history. Email: banga.jasvinder@gmail.com
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EBM allows the integration of good quality published evidence with clinical expertise and the opinions and values of the patients and their families or careers. EBM is done to improve quality of care by identifying and promoting practices that work and eliminating which are ineffective or harmful. Health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) is an integral part of EBM.
Cochrane reviews are systematic reviews undertaken by members of The Cochrane Collaboration, adhering to a specific methodology. The Cochrane Collaboration is an international organization that aims to help people make well-informed decisions about healthcare by preparing, maintaining and promoting the accessibility of systematic reviews of the effects of healthcare interventions.
Systematic Review
A systematic review is a scientific tool, which can be used to appraise, summarize, and communicate the results and implications of otherwise unmanageable quantities of research. It helps healthcare providers to evaluate existing or new technologies and practices efficiently and consider the totality of available evidence. Systematic reviews gain major importance to bring about a number of separately conducted studies, sometimes with conflicting findings, and synthesizing their results.
Health Economics
Health economics refers to obtaining a universal desire for maximum value for money by ensuring not just the clinical effectiveness, but also the cost-effectiveness of healthcare provision. Health economics is majorly dominated by a simple theoretical concept, that of costeffectiveness. In general, the concept of costeffectiveness implies either a desire to achieve a predetermined objective at least cost or a desire to maximize the benefit to the population of patients served from a
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limited amount of resources. Further, health economic analysis can be categorized as:
Method
Outcome Measure
Cost-minimization analysis
To analyze the available outcomes for competing therapies that are equivalent Health benefits are measured in natural units, reflecting a dominant common therapeutic goal for competing therapies Outcome is measured through the effect of any intervention on mortality (quantity of life) and morbidity (quality of life) Both costs and benefits are measured in the same unit money with the financial value of the costs being compared with the financial value of the benefits
Cost-effectiveness analysis
Health economics refers to obtaining a universal desire for maximum value for money by ensuring not just the clinical effectiveness, but also the cost-effectiveness of healthcare provision. Outcomes research studies refer to the results of medical care i.e. the effect of health care process on the health and well-being of patients and populations.
Mahendra Rai Senior Consultant, HEOR. Mahendra has a Masters degree in Pharmacy from the University of Delhi, India. He has worked on a range of HEOR & Market Access projects including value demonstration and medical communications. Mahendras total experience in the pharmaceutical industry is over 7 years with expertise in health economics, patient-reported outcomes, retrospective data analysis, epidemiology, and health services research. Richa Goyal- Consultant, HEOR. Richa has done Masters in Pharmacy in Pharmacology from Panjab University, Chandigarh. She has more than 5 years of experience in pharmaceutical research ranging from secondary research, market access, evidence based medicine, medical writing, systematic reviews to reimbursement analysis. She has good understanding of medical statistics and data interpretation. Apart from this, she also has a good knowledge and experience of medical communications industry.
Costutility analysis
Costbenefit analysis
Outcomes research
Outcomes research studies refer to the results of medical care i.e. the effect of health care process on the health and well-being of patients and populations. It covers studies evaluating the effectiveness of a particular medical or surgical procedure to examinations of insurance status or reimbursement policies on the outcomes of care. It also ranges from the development and use of tools to measure health status to analyses of the results of outcomes research to physicians or consumers to encourage behavior change. Majorly outcomes research includes patient/ physician reported outcome and quality of life studies. Further, HEOR can serve as an essential tool to evaluate the need, efficacy and safety of newer or existing drugs especially in emerging markets.
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Dr. Neelesh Bhandari ealthcare has been changing in drifts and shifts over the past few centuries. The drift can possibly be pinned from 1600s when medicine came to be widely accepted as an expertise separate from religion. The subsequent centuries saw us drifting into a scientific understanding of disease and its causes. The first dramatic shift came with the discovery of antibiotics in 1930s. We now had pills which could cure giant killer diseases and this led to the rise of a new behemoth, the Pharmaceutical industry. With regular discovery and later inventions of newer drugs, power seemingly concentrated with the Physician- the drug dispenser. The healthcare ecosystem settled into a physician centric system, with the doctor exercising complete power over the patient and all other stakeholders revolving around the doctor. This was always an unstable ecosystem because of the power imbalance among the stakeholders and the coming of internet has upset the traditional positions irrevocably. The internet was the second major shift. Tim Berners-Lee (father of Internet) made the biggest financial sacrifice in recent times when he refused to patent his hyper text transfer protocol and instead threw it open for the Aam Aadmi. Ordinary people used this new found power of instant low cost communication in wonderfully diverse ways and healthcare social media was born. People realized the power of information and sought more of it. This new communication platform totally changed the way healthcare stakeholders talked to each other. Lately, the patient has taken his rightful place as the center of the new healthcare ecosystem, with all other stakeholders working to woo that customer. The recent regulations regarding generic medications will only strengthen this new position. Since patient, and not the doctor, will now make the purchasing decision, all stakeholders in this ecosystem (Pharma, labs, hospitals) need to reconsider their strategies and focus on the true consumer.
Many savvy entrepreneurs have already smelt the coffee. Now, many stages of healthcare services can be accessed online. You can track your health using Smartphone apps and websites. When unwell, you can check your symptoms to arrive at a presumptive diagnosis online. Its easy to search for a suitable physician in your geographical area who you might want to consult. Compare rates and services at various hospitals. Book your appointments. Receive your lab reports and prescriptions in the comfort of home. Join social support groups and get information about alternate treatments or therapies. Store all your health records digitally and get second opinions from anywhere in the world. Doctors can monitor their patients remotely and even tweak treatments from a distance. They can discuss treatments and obtain referrals in secure online platforms. The effect of Internet and social media is just too huge to be ignored. To borrow an analogy from Jed Weissberg, MD, Senior Vice at Kaiser Permanente, the Choluteca Bridge is a metaphor for today's healthcare ecosystem. The Choluteca Bridge was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1930 with design strength to withstand the worst of hurricanes that affected the area. When Hurricane Mitch came in 1998, it destroyed 150 Honduran bridges, but not the Choluteca Bridge. Instead, the storm rerouted the Choluteca River. This rendered the huge, strong and beautiful bridge useless as it served no purpose in the changed environment. The true potential of healthcare social media has not even been scratched on its surface yet. The focus on cloud computing and Big data can work wonders in the field of medical communications. At Digital MedCom solutions, we currently tag 25,000 Indian physicians via weekly emails and popular social media platforms. Our aim to have an active social database of all 500,000 practicing Indian physicians (or at least the approx. 250,000 active onliners) within the next 2 years is not as farfetched as it may seem. All the stakeholders in healthcare, except the patient, seem to be ignoring social media at present. Unless steps are taken to remedy this inertia, traditional pharmaceutical industry is destined to go the Choluteca Bridge way.
Dr. Neelesh Bhandari is the founder and Chief consulting officer at Digital MedCom solutions, Indias first healthcare social media agency. You can contact him via email (drneelesh@digmed.in) or Twitter (@edrneelesh).
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Managers must explain to new team members that everything is being done to make them succeed in their jobs. Then they will start appreciating the Manager, and regard them as their mentor or guru. This belief will be reinforced in the minds of such Medical Reps once they start tasting success.
product-wise, reasons for the shortfall, action plan with timelines for improvement of sales, quantity and quality of efforts put in. Promotion of right products to right customers, contribution from each customer , quality of detailing of each product, etc. thus guide each team member to succeed. Managers can win the hearts of their team members in two ways. The professional way is to implement the above in all sincerity with each and every one in the team, thus helping them to succeed. Initially some of the Medical Reps, more so in the case of seniors, may not be comfortable with the regular follow-ups. However if the manager explain to them appropriately that everything is being made only to make them succeed in their jobs, they will start appreciating the manager, and regard them as their
6) Processing and approving Tour Expense Reports strictly as per Company policy and then sending to Head Office for timely reimbursements. Reasons for deductions must be explained properly so that mistakes are not repeated. 7) Conducting Sales Review Meetings in a professional way like discussion on achievement of targets -
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mentor or guru. This belief will be reinforced in the minds of such Medical Reps once they started tasting success in their job, become more confident, earn incentives regularly, grow in their career and start enjoying better quality of life. Such professional FLMs will surely grow in their own career, wherever they are, besides developing many future managers as well. The other way, the easier one, is to win the hearts of team members by turning a blind eye to non-compliance. The manager who adopts this route will surely drown themselves in the near future, and they may also take the whole team along with them. Field Managers should not make the mistake of choosing this easy but destructive route to win the hearts of team members.
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