Best Practices in Leading Medical Education Programs: Benchmarking Education Program Services, Trends & Effectiveness at Pharmaceutical Companies

However, regulatory changes have tempered the sponsorship of some medical education programs by pharma companies, as well as some third-party providers of such services. Therefore, organizations need to reinvigorate their approach to deployment of CME programs to successfully navigate the complex regulatory landscape.

Best Practices, LLC undertook this research to examine how pharma companies will deploy medical education programs and how they will measure their effectiveness and value. In particular, this study investigates emerging Medical Education trends at pharmaceutical organizations regarding funding, staffing, program types and structure for this function or group.

Study Snapshot

Best Practices, LLC engaged 23 leaders supporting medical education at 19 top biopharmaceutical & medical device companies through a benchmarking survey. More than 65% of participants are at the director level. More than 80% of participants are from the United States.

Key Findings


· Companies Supporting More Of Multi-disciplinary Education Programs: Two out of three companies support multi-disciplinary education programs. The primary drivers of multidisciplinary education programs are increasing focus on health outcomes (67%) and holistic approaches towards treatment (56%).

· Use Of Technology In Program Delivery To Increase: Around 32% of programs that were deployed using technology were online on-demand, while 24% were live webcasts. Benchmark companies see technology-based programs growing in double-digits in next 2 years. Fifty seven percent of companies see tech-based education programs growing above 30% or more in the next two years.

Table of Contents


· Executive Summary, pgs. 3-9

· Research Overview, pg. 3

· Participating Companies, pg. 4

· High Level Key Findings, pg. 5

· Key Findings & Insights, pgs. 6-9

· Role Played By Medical Education Groups, pgs. 10-14

· Medical Education Groups: Regional Focus, pgs. 15-17

· Collaborative & Multi-Disciplinary Approaches To Medical & Clinical Education, pgs. 18-28

· Value Of Medical Education Formats, pgs. 29-33

· Medical Education Program Mix, pgs. 34-37

· Technology & Medical Education, pgs. 38-41

· Measuring Effectiveness & Future Directions For Medical Education, pgs. 42-51

· Benchmark Class Demographics, pgs. 52-56

· About Best Practices, LLC, pgs. 57-58

List of Charts & Exhibits


· Roles played by Medical Education function in conducting key thought leaders activities

· Roles played by Medical Education function in conducting key activities related to professional societies

· Roles played by Medical Education function in conducting key activities related to education programs

· Roles played by Medical Education function in conducting key compliance related activities

· Percentage of total medical education programs deployed across different regions

· Trends in regional education

· Use of multi-disciplinary programs to support medical education

· Drivers of multidisciplinary education

· Most effective programs in supporting improved or beneficial patient outcomes and evidence-based medicine

· Mix of multi-disciplinary programs provided through accredited and non-accredited programs

· Therapeutic/specialty areas combined for multi-disciplinary programs

· Anticipated trends in multi-disciplinary education

· Venue of medical education programs

· Percentage of company-sponsored accredited and non-accredited education programs presented through professional societies/associations programs

· Trends regarding the number of grants to professional societies/associations for accredited and non-accredited medical education programs

· Types of professional education that are the most valued by physicians

· Curricular topics that physicians value the most

· Impact/effectiveness of different types of professionals who assume education roles with physicians

· Sources of product/therapy information that physicians value the most

· Factors influencing medical education program growth

· Mix of company-provided education programs versus external third-party supplied programs – development and deployment/delivery

· Medical education program delivery formats

· Use of technology for program deployment

· Future trends for technology-based education programs

· Effectiveness of different performance metrics employed to show the value of medical education group

· Critical success factors for improving medical education

· Obstacles/pitfalls encountered while achieving objectives