HEALTHCARE CONSOLIDATION

Consolidations continue to be the word in healthcare.  We ended 2018 with Takeda-Shire transaction closing for $62 billion with a primary focus on rare disease.  BMS topped this transaction early in January agreeing to buy Celgene and their Oncology portfolio for $74 Billion. Eli Lilly acquired Lexo Oncology for $8 billion expanding its oncology portfolio.

In late February Roche agreed with U.S.-based gene therapy specialist Spark Therapeutics for $4.3 billion. Basel-based Roche is buying Spark as rivals, including Novartis, also move aggressively into gene therapy, where treatments for rare, inherited diseases command some of the highest prices in medicine. Spark’s blindness therapy Luxturna is approximately $850,000 per patient.

Much of this consolidation has happened because of drug price pressures, looming patent cliff in 2024 with $251 Billion in drugs and the opportunity to strengthen drug pipelines especially in oncology and rare diseases.

Pharma isn’t the only place where consolidation is taking place.  In 2018 there were 90 healthcare system mergers which were close to the 115 transactions that occurred in 2017. Similar themes like the pharmaceutical industry to include financial pressures, value-based reimbursement, shrinking hospital margin and record healthcare spending.

Dignity Healthcare and Catholic Health Initiative finalized their deal early in 2019 with a new name Common Spirit Health. This system will have close to 139 hospitals and 700 sites of care in 28 states with $30 billion in revenue.

Baylor Scott and White called off their merger with Memorial Herman Health systems.  This would have been one of the largest healthcare systems in the country with 68 hospitals and $14 billion in revenue.  The decision to scrap the deal was not because of finances.  Some think it was because of the overlap of services and the mismatch of missions.  Many studies suggest that healthcare consolidation means increased medical cost.

Hackensack Meridian expands its behavioral health capabilities by finalizing its deal with Carrier Health based in Belle Meade, NJ. This will allow the health system to treat mental health and opioid addiction more effectively.

BioScrip, Inc. and Option Care Enterprises, Inc. the nation’s largest independent providers of home and alternate treatment site infusion therapy service are merging. The combination is expected to create a leading independent provider in the $100 billion U.S. infusion market. The home infusion market makes up approximately 12% of this market and is growing 5-7% a year.  Expected benefits include cost efficiencies, improved patient care, and more therapy offerings

A private equity firm will buy GE’s ambulatory care and workforce management software for $1.05 Billion in cash.  Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway & J.P Morgan healthcare venture finally has a name: “Haven.” The company said the name choice of “Haven” lines up with its mission to be a “partner” to care, providers, & to focus on healthcare.

A lot has happened in the 1st quarter of 2019 and expect more.  Follow the Brooks Group to stay up to date on the latest healthcare market trends. In this merger-frenzy era, The Brooks Group ensures your customer-facing team can still gain access to key healthcare stakeholders and proactively engage them in a process to uncover their critical issues business & clinical issues around Quadruple Aim. Armed with these superior insights your Team will be able to build and position the unique value proposition that delivers mutual benefit.

This blog was originally posted at https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2019/03/healthcare-consolidation/

INTRODUCING THE BROOKS GROUP LEARNING EXPERIENCE

We are excited to announce the launch of our innovative instructional design center of excellence: The Brooks Group Learning eXperience (LX).

The Brooks Group Learning eXperience Team is a new instructional offering that creates high-end learning content for organizations. It’s great for adoption training as well as prerequisite, refresher and certification courses.

Why us? For one, it’s created by experts in instructional design theory. This ensures that all of the team’s courseware is sound. Elevating its products even further, the LX Team relies on a production team including 3D artists and animators with experience supporting major video game studios; graphic artists with background in advertising and marketing; and professional voiceover talent from radio shows.

The E-learning, mobile learning and video learning courses that the LX Team creates are one-of-a-kind. They are not your everyday “page turner” training; these are interactive, immersive modules that learners want to use. Even better: they help to make information sticky, improving organizations’ adherence to business processes while reducing costs associated with poor performance or long-distance in-person training.

In addition to learning products, The Brooks Group LX Team also has an analytics platform to track learners’ progress. The solution also includes a talent asset management capability to quickly capture and visualize workforce strengths, weaknesses and suggested remediation strategies.

For more information and to discuss details for your organization, please contact Dan Donovan at dan.donovan@brooksgroupinc.biz.

This blog was originally posted at https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2019/05/introducing-the-brooks-group-learning-experience/

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/