Consulting Services
Often a client’s challenge requires a more comprehensive solution that combines payer industry acumen, market research, epidemiology, reimbursement analysis, and other variables that impact managed care strategy. The Zitter Group’s Strategy and Analytics Practice draws upon our deep expertise in managed care, and in healthcare as a whole, to offer clients customized products and solutions that meet their unique needs.
Payer Contracting
Payer contracting should not be driven solely by payer enrollment size, perceived control, and competitor rates. If that were to happen, all manufacturers would be acting on the same information, and game theory would point to overall value destruction as end game.
The Zitter Group’s proprietary analysis takes into account multiple variables that impact product accessibility, such as cost sharing, medical policy, epidemiology, and price elasticity, to determine the number of actual lives available to a given therapy. The analysis also takes into consideration payer market composition – a payer with one million lives concentrated in two markets has different strategic implications than a payer with one million lives scattered throughout multiple territories.
The Zitter Group’s solution establishes a data-driven approach for evaluating ROI in contracting decisions. It facilitates effective decision-making, including decisions to contract proactively to either capitalize on opportunities or minimize positional disadvantages.
Payer Segmentation
Too often, companies prioritize managed care accounts based on their size, or some other descriptor. Unfortunately, this means that one company’s key account list looks virtually identical to everyone else’s. More importantly, this approach doesn’t identify opportunities. The Zitter Group offers clients a powerful alternative that focuses on identifying and prioritizing those accounts most likely to represent the best commercial potential going forward. Using this approach, resources can be allocated to generate the best return.
Pull-Through Management
Many firms face an inability to prioritize which territories or accounts should receive pull-through investment. This is due to incomplete understanding of payer access at a given geographical territory, particularly on the issue of spill-over. Consequently, pull-through programs are not optimally deployed. There is uncertainty around how to quickly capitalize on key account wins and seize market share, and how to best minimize damage when an account is lost.
The Zitter Group offers a comprehensive data-driven approach for evaluating pull-through opportunities. By modeling all factors that impact product utilization, The Zitter Group’s proprietary analysis computes the true expected sales levels for each region, and subsequently evaluated for feasibility and fit to produce a priority list for implementation pull-through programs.
Sales Force Allocation
Sales force is a major investment, and even just one mis-deployed salesperson can be a costly proposition, not to mention additional opportunity costs.
The Zitter Group’s proprietary assessment of sales force allocation takes into account the unique characteristics and managed care dynamics in each sales territory, to produce a refined assessment of potential market opportunity vs. actual performance. Variables such as physician density and service area are also considered, as they present physical limitations on a salesperson’s ability to call on physicians.
The Zitter Group’s solution establishes performance benchmarks, and identifies both underperforming regions and areas that present opportunities for additional investment. The analysis can also be used to redraw boundaries in order to to promote equality among the sales territories.
Other Consulting Engagements
Our ability to provide strategic insights is certainly not restricted to the topics above. We offer clients customized consulting engagements that establish a framework in which first to analyze and then to solve the challenge. Drawing on best practices in the management literature and our own proprietary models, our consulting services provide clients with exactly the solutions they need in managed markets.
Want to learn more? Contact strategy@zitter.com.