WHY DO TEAMS CONDUCT LEADERSHIP RETREATS?

Joel Gascoigne, CEO of software application company Buffer, says “I see our retreats as an essential part of the work we do together. I firmly believe that if we operated the company without these regular face-to-face gatherings, we would be less effective and feel less connected.” While you might not have a remote team or be the CEO of a multi-million-dollar company and voted by INC one of the best workplaces for 2018, a leadership retreat can act as a catalyst for bonding, learning, training and a change in perspective for the leadership team. A few strategies for retreats include determining what you want to achieve, what would people be doing differently after the retreat, who should be involved in the planning and should there be a facilitator.

What are you trying to achieve? The best retreats have a clearly stated purpose which you can work with the team to determine. What are the outcomes and what do you want people to do differently after the retreat? Is the purpose for team building, training, assessing progress or strategic direction?

Often having someone facilitate the retreat can be beneficial. There are several occasions when it’s best for you to consider outside help. A facilitator can act as a catalyst for stimulating and assessing progress with follow-up activities and can be an objective observer. It also allows the leader to be an active participant. The facilitator is there to help the business achieve their wanted results.

Here at The Brooks Group we offer Revolutionize Your Business: The Lessons of George Washington & The Largest Battle of the American Revolution. A flexible curriculum to building on the skills identified for business leadership, The Brooks Group has designed a two-day skill enhancement program that enables participants to understand their individual leadership strengths and weaknesses, assess their ability to forge and utilize a team to achieve their business objectives, establish performance expectations of themselves as well as their team, and practice these skills in a customized business simulation (that the participants actually build) which encourages them to think at the next level of management.

This blog was originally posted at https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2019/02/why-do-teams-conduct-leadership-retreats/

COMMERCIAL HEALTH PLANS PRIMER

Commercial health plan lives represent just over half of the US population, making this channel critical for account managers to understand. Most commercial insurers use pharmaceutical benefit managers (PBMs) to negotiate with drug manufacturers and to determine cost containment measures in drug benefit design such as prior authorizations and step therapy. This means the key decision makers affecting coverage and contracts span beyond the walls of the insurer even within a single channel.

In addition there are moving parts both in and outside the plan. Just take a look at the recent acquisition of Aetna by CVS to see how this supply chain is being disrupted. The deal gives consumers a one-stop shop of integrated benefits management and distribution; however it also gives the organization more leverage at the negotiation table with drug manufacturers.

To understand the decision making tree behind commercial health plan contracts and benefit design, an account manager needs to understand the landscape at the time, all the organizations that touch drug benefit design and contracts, and the key players within an organization that play a role. Consider The Brooks Group’s Commercial Health Plan Primer to support your account strategy in this channel. In this primer you will learn:

• Organizational dynamics within commercial health plans and the key players that directly and indirectly affect prescription utilization
• The key performance indicators utilized by health plans and the key attributes of the largest plans
• How market consolidation impacts health plans, as well as the current and future trends impacting key decision makers within commercial health plans

This resource will help you see through all the moving parts on a shifting landscape. Contact us to learn more and improve your performance with this overview of commercial health plans.

This blog was originally posted at https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2018/02/commercial-health-plans-primer/

MANAGED MARKETS PRIMER

Managed Markets account managers continue to face huge competition in an ever-evolving market. Whereas understanding preferred status and step therapy concepts were once mission critical, now account managers also need to acquire a deep understanding of value-based contracting strategy and be able to navigate large health systems, integrated delivery networks and accountable care organizations and identify key decision makers.

Due to payer and provider consolidation, evolving channels and federal policy shifts, deep managed care knowledge is increasingly essential to the account manager’s professional growth and success.

Meanwhile the nature of contracts is changing, too, with more pressure on pharmaceutical manufacturers to take on risk, a topic we explore in our recent Value Based Contracting blog.

Consolidation and risk-based contracting are just a couple of the trends The Brooks Group’s Managed Markets Primer explores. Other trends we explain and analyze are:

• Understanding organizations such as ACOs
• Evaluating the newest cost lever trends used by managed care organizations such as step therapy, tiers and preferred status, and more
• Quality metrics
• Stakeholders involved, including role of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs)

As the proportion of pharmaceuticals purchased through managed markets continues to rise, all account managers are on the hook for deep insights on managed care. Contact us to learn more about this resource.

This blog was originally posted at https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2017/12/managed-markets-primer/

TOP 5 ACCOUNT MANAGER SKILLS

In the professional world today, there is an increasing need for effective account managers. Account managers must learn how to balance a relationship with clients and the ability to meet specific goals for the organization and their customers. The following are five traits that are essential to any successful account manager.

1. Customer Oriented
Among the most important roles of an account manager is in building and maintaining relationships with a client. An account manager must be willing to go above and beyond for his or her client in order to build trust. This trust must be based upon a manager’s transparency and honesty with clients and to work for the client’s best interest. This customer-oriented approach is what keeps clients loyal to the organizations and to the account manager.

2. Knowledgeable
Account managers must also be knowledgeable on all matters concerning the client. Having an understanding of the organization’s business model, financials, goals, mission, and values is crucial in strengthening the company. It is also important for the account manager to understand the structure of the organizations and the strength and weaknesses in the company. They must also be topical on the competition and the marketplace at a national and local level order to advise clients on how to address the competition.

3. Goal-Oriented
Additionally account managers must be goal-oriented. A primary job of an account manager is to help a company set and meet its goals. These business objectives can be both long and short term; however an account manager must develop a strategic plan for each assigned account. They must address the key issues that stand in their way of success and craft strategies to overcome them.

4. Skilled Communicator
The account manager is the primary contact point for a client. Exquisite verbal and written communicate skills are vital for an account manager. One must be able to present in front of groups, discuss problems and concerns, and establish an open channel of communication with the client. A critical success factor is to articulate to their matrix counterparts the benefits of working in an integrated fashion.

5. Strong Business Sense
Finally, a successful account manager must have a strong business sense. This understanding of the competitive market can help anticipate industry shifts for the benefit of their client. The ability to analyze data and trends give the organization the ability to develop a successful business plan.

In order to be a successful account manager one must master these skills and apply them in the field. However, learning such skills on the job can be a difficult task. The Brooks Group provides industry-leading training programs for professionals seeking to advance their career. Whether you are a current or aspiring account manager or just seeking to enhance your skills, The Brooks Group’s Account Management training programs can help accelerate your career.

The mission of The Brooks Group is to ensure our clients possess the business skills to proactively access their Key Stakeholders and gain superior insights that enable them to build and position a unique solution that delivers mutual value. For more information visit The Brooks Group online or reach out to Peter Haines at Peter.Haines@thebrooksgrouponline.com.

This blog was originally posted at https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2017/10/top-5-account-manager-skills/

HEALTHCARE MARKET TRENDS

Losing the forest for the trees is all too easy in the healthcare world.  The evolving politics, disrupting technologies, innovative alliances and models of financial agreements between stakeholders each alone is the subject of mountains of dissertations. Who has time to develop the expertise needed to elucidate strategic insights and shine in the professional crowd?

With The Brooks Group’s Healthcare Market Trend Overview primer, you will take in the complete landscape and identify the main drivers of change in this ever-evolving market.  If you are looking for one primer that gets you up to speed on all the important healthcare trends headed our way in 2018, this is the one. It also serves as a launching pad for our other primers that allow you to deepen your insights into each driver of market growth and change.

From this primer you will learn to:

• Review key market trends and the implications for pharmaceutical companies and their customers
• Gain insight into the impact of coverage expansion on the healthcare market
• Understand how market consolidation affects healthcare stakeholders
• Review how alternative payment systems impact providers, payers, and pharma
• Understand how HIT has improved the overall coordination of healthcare

At a time when healthcare spend is projected to rise from 17.8 percent of the GDP in 2015 to 19.9 percent by 2025, developing the language and framework to discuss healthcare trends intelligently is an investment bound to bring returns in your professional growth.

This blog was originally posted at https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2017/10/healthcare-market-trends/

MANAGED CARE 101 PRIMER

Managed care is not what it was meant to be. Even 20 years ago one of the structural engineers of managed care acknowledged a significant discrepancy between the real managed care world and the quality-driven, low cost health care system its inventors had envisioned. However despite its questionable track record, managed care appears to be here to stay, evolving to meet the growing demands of patient advocacy and consolidated provider stakeholders.

From its inception following the Health Maintenance Organization Act of 1973 to today, managed care has transformed healthcare from a not-for-profit service industry to a market-driven competitive landscape in the name of quality and cost management. Now the status quo across all channels, managed care is as much blamed for the uniquely expensive cost of care in the U.S. as it is criticized for its creation of utilization management techniques that could lead to withholding of necessary care. Meanwhile these techniques such as prior authorizations and specialty tiers led to the rapid growth of patient advocacy groups, a new and important stakeholder to consider in any healthcare strategy.

How do you wrap your head around something so entrenched in our healthcare system that even the industry-shaking Affordable Care Act left it largely intact? How do you segment–and leverage–the aspects of managed care that are designed to drive cost, quality, and outcomes? How do you understand–and leverage–the choices patients have regarding seeing specialists or access to treatments?

To understand managed care requires a deep understanding of politics, economics, and social welfare. Luckily we have taken our deep understanding and created research to support your working knowledge of managed care. Our Managed Care 101 Primer will walk you through the critical components of managed care and current examples of where and how it is (and is not) working to drive cost, quality, and outcomes.

To view the full listing of The Brooks Group Primers, go here.

This blog was originally posted at https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2017/06/managed-care-101-primer/

EVOLVING LANDSCAPES: HEALTH PLANS & PBMS

Once seen as allies, more and more health plans and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are in tough PR and even legal battles with each other, as described in our recent blog. It seems every week one is on the tough side of antitrust laws as the other is hurling price gouging accusations.

The industry-wide impact of this and other battles could be seismic.

For starters, there is a strong trend toward value-based contracts as well as both vertical integration and horizontal consolidation. Additionally, some insurers are being left out of prescription coverage altogether by these innovative PBMs that are working with manufacturers to sell to consumers directly. This is a new market-based solution to the problems of high deductible health plans and lack of access to medication.

Understanding these market drivers for change, the structure and distribution of insurance enrollment, and the evolving competitive structure of the drug market are essential for your client facing teams to pivot their strategy with the changing tides of the healthcare industry.

The Brooks Group Primer: Health Plans and Pharmacy Benefit Managers

To gain deep knowledge on these trends and more, access the Brooks Group Primer on Health Plans and PBMs. This resource offers a review of the healthcare structure, the role of each key player, the trends and the market drivers that anyone in strategic roles in the healthcare sector can benefit from.

Learn more at http://thebrooksgrouponline.com/healthcare-primers/ or contact Peter Haines at peter.haines@thebrooksgrouponline.com for more.

This blog was originally posted at https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2017/05/evolving-landscapes-health-plans-pbms/