Stanton R. Mehr, President, SM Health Communications LLC
Over the past few years, I’ve espoused the need for and virtues
of the mock Pharmacy & Therapeutics (P&T) Committee. One of our clients
pointed out that I’ve neglected an extremely important benefit of conducting a
mock P&T Committee. It is one that yields dividends in an area that cannot
be overemphasized.
How many of your account managers, and even National Accounts executives,
have sat in on a real P&T Committee? I’ll bet hardly any, as pharmaceutical
companies are pretty much persona non
grata when it comes to an actual, live formulary decision making for health
plans and insurers. Some internal and third-party sales education programs try
to give trainees exposure to the concept, but it is nearly impossible to get
first-hand views of a P&T Committee in action.
Beyond obtaining a coverage decision on your product or that of
your competitor, a rock solid mock P&T Committee will also provide a video
record (in the form of a live feed or postmeeting DVD) of the entire
proceedings. Most often, the people viewing the Committee meeting are product
directors, market access managers, and brand executives. That’s great, but when
the Committee members discuss a product’s shortcomings and benefits, wouldn’t
that be exactly what the sales team needs to hear? What would be the value of
learning the key drawbacks of a competitors product from the experienced
members of a P&T Committee? What would be the value of packaging those
comments, with the account team's strategy for addressing the same issues that will
be brought up in the field?
When we talk about our P&T Insight™ program to potential
clients, realizing this opportunity often gets their attention. Although we
don’t consider it the key deliverable of the mock P&T Committee, it is a
very attractive component, which complements sales training efforts, including
launch activities.
For more information on this important benefit of our program
and on P&T Insight™ in general, please contact me at stan.mehr@smhealthcom.com.
