Two primary trends are disrupting the use of scientific data and drug information and highlighting how the Medical Affairs workforce can be more valuable stewards of patient outcomes: the growing focus on patient outcomes and population health and the complexity of care created by scientific advancements. By refining their roles from disease and product specialists to curators and connectors of outcomes-focused information, Medical Affairs professionals can help today’s extended ecosystem of providers, stakeholders and decision-makers capture, understand and use science to support better decisions. Learn more how pharmaceutical companies can develop their Medical Affairs organizations into more strategic stewards of patient outcomes in the workforce of the future.

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Good science:
The new role of Medical Affairs in an outcomes-focused world

2. Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture.
Two primary trends
are disrupting how scientific data and drug information are
used and highlighting how the Medical Affairs workforce
can be more valuable stewards of patient outcomes.

3. Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture.
Trend 1:
Patient outcomes and population health
As the healthcare industry shifts its focus
from volume to value, many more
stakeholders – from population health
clinicians to pharmacists and administrators
– are joining physicians in making decisions
aimed at improving health outcomes. All of
these stakeholders need to know more
about the solutions, services and drugs that
are available.

4. Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture.
Trend 2:
Complexity of care
Scientific advances are making it possible to
understand and treat disease at a more
granular level. In addition to making
treatments paradigms more complex, these
advances are producing more data than
healthcare practitioners and decision-
makers can effectively use.

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Information overload is
likely to get much worse
More emphasis is being place on the reliability, rigor and relevance of the drug information
that underpins decision-making. That information must be accurate, trustworthy,
discoverable and actionable. Often, it is none of the above.
More than 40% of life sciences companies expect to see data volumes
increase by at least 50% in the coming year.

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Becoming curators and connectors
By refining their roles from disease and product specialists to curators and connectors of
outcomes-focused information, Medical Affairs professionals can help today’s extended
ecosystem of providers, stakeholders and decision-makers capture, understand and use
science to support better decisions.
To play a much more strategic role in the delivery of patient outcomes, Medical Affairs will
need to re-imagine every aspect of their roles.

7. Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture.
Who are the customers?
Medical Affairs professionals will continue to be a vital source of information for physicians
looking to improve the health outcomes of their patients.
But they will also drive solutions for a broader network of decision-makers and opinion
leaders, including healthcare administrators and business managers, as well as pharmacy
and therapeutic committee members at hospitals and health systems.
Additionally, they will support other stakeholders such as population health managers, who
work with hospitals and health systems to manage the healthcare outcomes and costs of
specific patient populations.

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What services can be provided?
Ensuring the safe and appropriate use of drugs has always been— and always will be—the
most important role for Medical Affairs personnel.
But they now have the opportunity to serve as trusted experts to their extended network of
stakeholders. Further, by helping capture, understand and use science from many sources,
Medical Affairs can assume a prominent role in minimizing complexity and improving patient
outcomes.

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What skills will be needed?
In addition to deeper scientific knowledge in areas such as
population health, the Medical Affairs workforce will need
critical skills – such as collaboration and judgment skills to
achieve a broader reach and greater impact.

10. Must-do for the Medical Affairs workforce of the future:
Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture.
Determine the
relevance and
trustworthiness of
online and offline
information.
Search for insights
that might inform
adherence strategies.
Compile data that help
their customers
understand patient
adherence and devise
solutions.

11. Ways pharmaceutical leaders can ensure that Medical Affairs continues to
deliver the services and solutions that meet customers’ growing
expectations and demands:
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Rally organization-wide support for a new Medical Affairs vision.
Constantly evaluate medical strategies, as well as roles and
resources they will need in the workforce of the future.
Invest in the skills, technologies and training that will bring that
vision to life.
Measure the effectiveness of Medical Affairs’ efforts to drive
continuous improvement.

12. LEARN MORE
about how Medical Affairs can have a greater
impact on the healthcare ecosystems they
serve with our full report:
Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture.
Good science:
The new role of Medical Affairs
in an outcomes-focused world