In recent years, medical affairs has evolved from a regulatory requirement to a service organization, providing services across functions in pharmaceutical companies. As medical affairs continues to evolve, access to technology is critical for staying ahead.
By selecting the right technology solutions, medical affairs teams can prioritize strategic innovation and value-added activities through automation of repetitive tasks, fewer errors, improved collaboration, data-driven decisions and more.
In the webinar, "Empowering Medical Affairs: Streamlining Operations with Technology," Michelle L. Chernock, Ph.D. and founder of Leaders in Medical Affairs, discusses how technology can empower medical affairs leaders at top pharma companies. She shared strategies and solutions to address the increased complexities in today’s dynamic healthcare and medical affairs landscape.
For too long, medical affairs teams have used manual processes for publications, medical information flow, document delivery, document development, decision making and even communicating medical affairs metrics. Unfortunately, these manual processes result in inefficiencies, errors and an increased administrative burden.
"When I ask medical science liaisons about the least favorite part of their job, the answer is always the administrative burden. Manual, brute force methods of completing medical affairs processes increase the risk of duplicated effort, unclear authority, poor decision- making delegation and errors."
— Michelle Chernock
As technology has evolved, medical affairs teams have started to evaluate new approaches to their work. In many cases, however, tech solutions may be assigned to medical affairs from other departments and aren’t ideal for medical affairs’ needs. Also, decentralizing processes can be a major obstacle, with teams resorting to manual tools that can be redundant and unable to integrate with one another.
Rather than simply accepting solutions from other departments, medical affairs teams must drive the selection and deployment of technology that is optimized for their unique requirements. This starts with identifying unmet needs and then communicating these needs to key decision makers in the organization. Once those tasks are complete, the next steps are procuring the budget, implementing the software, training users and measuring the value generated.
Software deployment for medical affairs departments often boils down to three options:
Although these solutions can be comprehensive and robust, they often have steep learning curves and require extensive user training. This can negatively impact adoption.
This approach can reduce costs and may leverage tools that are familiar to users. Using numerous solutions, however, may result in manual data transfer. Juggling multiple systems means frequent context switching for users, which is time consuming and error prone.
For startups and smaller companies, outsourcing can be cost effective. The downsides include loss of control over project timelines and communication styles, difficulty maintaining internal knowledge, confidentiality concerns and integration issues between internal and external teams.
Medical affairs professionals must have autonomy when selecting technology.
"I encourage you to take the attitude that medical affairs can and should drive and lead the process automation process."
— Michelle Chernock
The key is to find solutions tailored to specific workflows and compliance needs. With the right technology in place, teams are freed from repetitive tasks, allowing them to focus on value- added activities.
An ideal medical affairs technology solution has five characteristics:
Medical affairs technology solutions can enhance the bottom line of organizations by saving money through improved efficiency and elimination of duplicate efforts. They can also improve communication with authors and doctors by replacing repetitive emails.
This is important since physician relationships are fundamental to the mission of medical affairs teams.
In an ideal world, technology solutions will go beyond metrics and show the impact of medical affairs work. Information about the quantity of medical affairs activities doesn’t provide insights into the value of that work, such as which doctors volunteered to be on a guidelines committee.
"Consider what a medical affairs tech solution would accomplish. Will it save dollars? Improve your reputation? Or bring more doctors along the scientific journey? To create your business case, define your ideal scenario and what you need to get there."
— Michelle Chernock
As outlined in the webinar, adopting the right tools is essential for optimizing workflows, reducing administrative burdens, and demonstrating the value of medical affairs. PubPro, our publication management system, is designed to meet these needs by streamlining your entire medical communications process — from planning to publication.
With features like customizable workflows, centralized data access, and real-time collaboration, PubPro empowers medical affairs teams to focus on what matters most: delivering impactful, compliant scientific content.
Ready to see how PubPro can transform your operations?