Best Practices in Creating Efficient and Effective Medical Affairs and Market Access Teams in Medical Devices

Industries Profiled:
Medical Device; Diagnostic; Health Care; Pharmaceutical; Science


Companies Profiled:
Aerin Medical; Baxter International; CDx Diagnostics; CMR Surgical; GE Healthcare; Hillrom; iRhythm Technologies; Inc.; MEDICEM; Tandem Diabetes Care; Teleflex; Thermo Fisher Scientific

Study Snapshot

Best Practices, LLC engaged 13 leaders from 11 leading medical device companies in this research through a benchmarking survey. Over 85% of participants serve at the director level or above.

Key topics covered in this report include:

• Medical Affairs Staffing and Investment
• Market Access Staffing and Investment
• External Engagement and Medical Education
• Thought Leader and Payer Engagement
• KPIs Used by Medical Affairs and Market Access Teams

• KOLs and DOLs per MSL: MSLs at Med Device firms typically support 24-30 KOLs and 5-11 DOLs.

• Key Thought Leader Activities: At large companies, ad board and IIT support is the most-valued activity for thought leader engagement. At smaller companies, relationship management is most-valued.

• Total number of FTEs devoted to the Medical Affairs function
• Percentage of total FTEs devoted to each of the listed medical responsibilities – Total benchmark class
• Percentage of total FTEs devoted to each of the listed medical responsibilities – Large companies segment vs. Mid-small companies segment
• Total investment (in USD million) devoted to entire Medical Affairs division
• Percentage of medical budget that is not devoted to costs tied directly to employees such as salaries, travel & expenses, and incentives/bonuses
• Percentage of medical budget that is devoted to each of the listed Medical Affairs-related activities – Total benchmark class
• Percentage of medical budget that is devoted to each of the listed Medical Affairs-related activities – Large companies segment vs. Mid-small companies segment
• Budget and staffing allocation to each of the listed Medical Affairs-related activities
• Structure of the Medical Affairs function – Total benchmark class
• Structure of the Medical Affairs function – Large companies segment vs. Mid-small companies segment
• Reporting of the Medical Affairs function – Total benchmark class
• Reporting of the Medical Affairs function – Large companies segment vs. Mid-small companies segment

• Total number of FTEs devoted to the Market Access function
• Total investment (in USD million) devoted to entire Market Access / Managed Markets division
• Percentage of Market Access / Managed Markets budget that is not devoted to costs tied directly to employees such as salaries, travel & expenses, and incentives/bonuses
• Structure of the Market Access function
• Reporting of the Market Access function

• Percentage of payer presentations involving MSLs in the meetings; Average number of MSLs involved in each payer presentation
• Number of medical education events supported by benchmark organizations each year; Average number of FTEs devoted to managing/supporting each medical education event
• Total number of programs supported by medical education organizations in the last fiscal year
• Average number of programs conducted by one medical education FTE in the last fiscal year
• Percentage of medical education programs supported by vendors
• Average number of medical and scientific congresses (virtual or in-person) attended by one MSL at benchmark organizations
• Average number of scientific publications published in a year
• Number of payer meetings held by one Market Access associate or representative

• Average number of key opinion leaders (KOLs) and digital opinion leaders (DOLs) managed by each MSL
• Most valued thought leader engagement activities – Total benchmark class
• Most valued thought leader engagement activities – Large companies segment vs. Mid-small companies segment
• Importance ranking of thought leader activities to the Medical Affairs organization – Total benchmark class
• Importance ranking of thought leader activities to the Medical Affairs organization – Large companies segment
• Effectiveness of listed metrics to track thought leader engagement success
• Percentage of intelligence-gathering work involving proactive collection (targeted, directed, focused on a specific topic of interest) vs. reactive collection
• Effectiveness of primary sources for insight generation within Medical Affairs
• Effectiveness of secondary sources for insight generation within Medical Affairs
• Best practices in insight sharing – Total benchmark class
• Best practices in insight sharing – Large companies segment
• Internal functions with whom insights are shared – Total benchmark class
• Internal functions with whom insights are shared – Large companies segment
• Performance KPIs used by Medical Affairs teams – Total benchmark class
• Performance KPIs used by Medical Affairs teams – Large companies segment vs. Mid-small companies segment
• Impact/outcomes/strategic KPIs used by Medical Affairs teams – Total benchmark class
• Impact/outcomes/strategic KPIs used by Medical Affairs teams – Large companies segment
• Topmost valued things provided by medical teams to thought leaders and KOLs
• Improvement areas for medical teams to improve thought leader engagement
• Most valued payer engagement activities
• Importance ranking of payer engagement activities
• Effectiveness of listed metrics to track payer engagement success
• Percentage of intelligence-gathering work involving proactive collection (targeted, directed, focused on a specific topic of interest) vs. reactive collection (unprompted, undirected, spontaneously provided by external meetings)
• Best practices in insight sharing
• Internal functions with whom insights are shared

• Average number of Market Access associates/representatives brought in on each payer meeting
• Average number of payers managed by each health outcome liaison (HOL) or equivalent Market Access field representative
• Performance KPIs used by Market Access teams
• Impact/outcomes/strategic KPIs used by Market Access teams
• Topmost valued things provided by medical teams to payers
• Improvement areas for medical teams to improve payer engagement