MedTech reps need to balance their time between finding new business and managing the health of their existing accounts. One way to manage those accounts is helping customers meet their own business goals, such as treating more patients.
But MedTech reps face two separate challenges in helping their customers meet those goals. First, referring primary care providers (PCPs) may not be aware that a new treatment option exists. Medical technology is evolving so rapidly that busy PCPs simply don’t have the bandwidth to keep up with everything. Not a surprise when 80% of physicians report that they feel overworked. Second, treating healthcare providers (HCPs) often have no idea who has referred patients to them, either due to a lack of data or a lack of time to investigate.
Reps that want to create educational events or marketing campaigns that connect PCPs to the HCPs offering their newest treatment have no way to know who to target without a lot of legwork or guesswork. As a result, patients are often referred for either less effective treatments or no treatment, simply because their PCP isn’t aware that better options exist.
To address this gap, we’re introducing two powerful new features within AcuityMD Care Journeys. Referral Pathways and Upstream Care Journeys will give MedTech reps a clear, comprehensive view of a provider’s referral network for the first time ever.
MedTech companies have traditionally used explicit referral data to identify upstream referrers to their customers. However, this approach can be ineffective for multiple reasons:
The end result is that HCPs offering innovative treatments - and the MedTech companies providing them - have little visibility into the number of relevant patients in their area and what percentage they are treating.
Care Journeys already maps the connections between patients, providers, diagnoses, and treatments. Now, we are expanding those connections to enable MedTech companies to discover high-potential referral opportunities in just a few clicks. Both are powered by complete longitudinal data that fills the gaps left by relying on explicit referral data.
The new Referral Pathways feature in Care Journeys gives a powerful view of an HCP’s referral network. Unlike traditional referral data, which focuses only on incoming and outgoing referrals for a single provider, Referral Pathways highlights all referring providers within a customizable distance of an HCP and shows where those referrers are currently sending patients for treatment.
This makes it possible to spot high-volume referrers near your HCP partner who may not be aware of your innovative treatment. MedTech companies can now easily target these referrers for educational events, marketing campaigns, or other outreach so they understand the better outcomes your treatment provides and who offers it.
You can also double-click into individual PCPs to see the other HCPs they refer patients to for a full understanding of existing referral patterns. For example, do they refer the majority of their patients to providers within the same health system? With this information, MedTech companies may benefit from educating that health system on the better clinical and financial outcomes their technology delivers.
A patient’s care journey isn’t always as simple as a PCP making a diagnosis and referring their patient for one treatment. A broader care team is often involved behind the scenes conducting diagnostic tests, managing preliminary care, and ensuring that a specialist has the information needed to choose the most effective treatment.
Upstream Care Journeys reveals this complete network in a single chart, eliminating the time and guesswork reps have been using to try and piece this network together, with limited success.
For MedTech reps looking to position themselves as consultative partners to an HCP, this is the most comprehensive, presentation-ready view available to strategize how to improve their referral network. Reps can also identify PCPs referring patients for competitive treatments and connect with those providers to educate them on how their product results in better patient outcomes.
The MedTech sales landscape is complicated and competitive. Companies that can pinpoint the most relevant providers to educate on new products - rather than guessing and hoping - will have a significant advantage in the market.
With Referral Pathways and Upstream Care Journeys, MedTech teams can move beyond limited referral data and unlock a complete view of diagnoses, referrals, and treatment options, making it easier to build consultative relationships, drive better patient outcomes, and expand existing business.
To learn more about how Referral Pathways and Upstream Care Journeys can unlock new strategies and opportunities for your team, request a demo today.
