The Unknown Side of Medical Information Teams

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC--(Marketwired - September 20, 2016) - Medical information teams have been expanding their duties, such as adding reimbursement assistance, according to a pharmaceutical industry report by Cutting Edge Information.

The report, Medical Information and Call Center Performance: Building New Practices to meet the Evolving Needs of HCPS and Patients, found that responding to unsolicited requests happens at 94% of surveyed pharmaceutical call centers. However, high percentages of surveyed medical groups also handle internal literature requests (63%) and adverse event reports (63%).

Local medical information teams handle strikingly different sets of responsibilities, depending on their geographic coverage. Data show that 75% of emerging markets medical information call centers, for instance, handle adverse event reporting, internal literature requests, and unsolicited requests. However, out of all emerging markets groups, only 25% reported aid with patient adherence, as opposed to only 6% of all surveyed companies' call centers that said they helped with this activity.

"Medical teams continue to take on more duties even to the extent of fielding product complaints and replacement, field force training and educational events for external companies," said Adam Bianchi, senior director of research at Cutting Edge Information. "However, it is still the task of receiving and responding to healthcare professional and patient inquiries that they consider the most important."

Medical Information and Call Center Performance: Building New Practices to Meet the Evolving Needs of HCPS and Patients details survey results and interviews with several of the top life sciences companies' medical information and pharmaceutical call center teams. The report, available at http://www.cuttingedgeinfo.com/research/medical-affairs/information-teams/, provides readers with in-depth analysis and benchmarks of the industry's most innovative companies.

With the best practices, insights and call center performance metrics that this report provides, medical information executives will be prepared to demonstrate value and argue for more resources for their departments and for their pharmaceutical call centers. Other benefits of purchasing this study include:

• Benchmarking your medical information teams, both internally and at the call center, against key performance indicators collected and analyzed in this study.
• Align budgets with call center volume and group responsibilities.
• Learn the advantages of implementing self-guided training programs to maximize efficiency.
• Boost efficiency by establishing clear processes for elevated calls.
• Explore call center operations for teams of different sizes and regions.

To learn more about the pharmaceutical call center and medical information study, please download the report brochure at http://www.cuttingedgeinfo.com/download/?ref=26221.

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