Vic Ho Medical Excellence consultant.
I am fortunate to have had a 20-year Biopharma career in medical affairs spanning MSL roles, leading and coaching teams of MSLs and developing and implementing excellence and capability training strategies for regional and global medical teams. During that time one challenge has consistently remained unresolved by all I have discussed it with. What is the best way to measure impact and trajectory of Field Medical effort? Flashbacks to passionate discussions with cross-functional leaders on why volume of MSL visits was inadequate to describe the value MSLs bring, mediating between countries struggling to compare their teams’ dashboard numbers with vastly different scientific engagement environments and brand team strategy meetings trying to decide where to best place headcount for patient benefit.
In 2023, after almost a decade clear of the breast cancer that had had such a profound effect on how I understood the importance of patient centricity in our industry, I found myself once again facing up to the “big C” with an intensive sequence of surgery, pharmacological cocktails and radiotherapy to eradicate the recurrence. My career had to pause again, but with an important difference, this time I was a member of a network of Medical Excellence Directors who were just as motivated to tackle the “MSL Measurements and Value Narrative challenge” as I was. So, I volunteered to drive the writing of a consensus over 8 months in 2023, in which we could all have a voice and to try to tackle this head on, across all our companies and geographies. To have a unified consensus on what might be possible not written by a management consultancy withholding answers in the hope of an advisory contract. To finally move away from activity-based Metrics to Impact Indicators for Field Medical teams.
Researching and revising the paper with the One Field Medical Excellence Group (OneFME) brought together by OneMSL, there were some key learnings that we strongly believe all MSLs and MSL leaders can drive as we unite on the new path to clarifying MSL value.
- It’s not too late to move away from Activity Metrics, in fact there has never been a better time as companies are embracing new omnichannel approaches to patient centricity
- We must shift from prioritising what is important for the company to measure and re-focus on what Impact looks like for the patient and the healthcare environment and its External Experts (EE)
- An Indicator of Impact is best co-written with the MSL and EE (even better if the patient can be involved directly too)
- We must trust our Leaders of MSL teams (especially where dedicated field leaders and coaches exist) to describe the MSL value narrative from the field to its impact on medical strategy and reserve CRM numbers as a diagnostic for MSL prioritisation analysis.
So, this is where you come in. Change is happening and all companies, no, all Patients, need you to step up and have a voice in that change. I suspect hitting an engagement target or counting the number of medical events delivered has never really felt meaningful for you, so now is your chance as an MSL or MSL Leader to explore the alternatives with your team. As I think about my journey as a cancer patient, I hope that the MSLs who assist my consultant in the future are measured on their ability to positively impact patient health outcomes or remove barriers to the effective resolution of complex clinical cases. Together let us see what is possible. You understand what your patients need and you have the ability to give a voice to the HCPs and EEs you serve in this Impact revolution.
Read the paper: FIELD MEDICAL IMPACT MEASUREMENT: A BIOPHARMA CONSENSUS Dec 2023, Ho et al for more information. Visit OneMSL to download your free copy of the full PDF document https://lnkd.in/dBNhW5VY
About the author:
Vic Ho
Vic is a Medical Excellence, strategy and coaching consultant with 20 years Medical Affairs experience from large pharma and biotech. She brings a perspective from Global, Regional and Country cross-functional teams including direct experience of Field Medical as an MSL and MSL leader. She has worked extensively in Medical Affairs in neuroscience, virology, cardiovascular, diabetes, rare diseases and oncology. For the last 7 years she has been responsible for building and running company Medical Excellence efforts, delivering programmes for: MSL onboarding, core-capabilities development, scientific and strategic prioritisation, cross functional account working, launch excellence, insights management, impact-focused goal setting and execution..
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