As payer relationships become more important than ever, many companies are working hard to build and support teams that can communicate pharmacoeconomic benefits to payers. The members on these teams, often called outcomes liaisons or health outcomes liaisons (HOLs), meet with payers and provide detailed information on how products will help patients and how they will affect the budget of managed care organizations. Notably, many budget effects are positive. A product that can decrease the number of side effects, for instance, or reduce the number of days a patient is in the hospital, will likely save far more than it costs.
These teams were formed to provide a field-based group that could meet with payer organizations and truly speak their language. For an HOL to be taken seriously by clients, credibility is key. The most effective outcomes liaisons have clinical experience, science- and pharmacoeconomics-focused post-baccalaureate degrees. They also have an incredibly hard-to-find mix of abilities ? strong interpersonal communication and presentation skills, a background in science or math, and a willingness to spend a large percentage of their work time on the road.
Above all, health outcomes liaisons must be able to take highly scientific clinical trial results and translate them into information that has meaning for the payer. Nowadays, regulatory approval means nothing if a product isn?t reimbursed, and companies must prove the economic and outcomes value of their products in order to earn reimbursement.
It?s important that HOLs know what information payers are seeking and be able to deliver it. Knowing this, several companies recruit from inside managed care organizations. Speaking the payers? language is far easier for these hires, as they?ve spent time inside the agencies and have already spoken it day in and day out.
And even though HOLs are highly skilled when hired, many companies provide additional training when bringing them into the company. Initial training helps to explain how the company operates, and also provides any professional or educational background which the candidate is lacking. Ongoing training educates all of a company?s outcomes liaisons on the latest HEOR data ? including both that generated by the company and external data. Training also provides new tools and techniques for raising the quality of HOLs? relationships with payer organizations.
A well-qualified, well-trained staff of HOLs goes a long ways towards building a strong relationship with payers. This relationship will be critical as payers clamp down on prices in the coming years.
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Published July 26, 2012
Source: http://www.cuttingedgeinfo.com/2012/health-outcomes-liaisons-payer-communication-channel/
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