INBW20: Can Pharma and IDNs Collaborate? A Conversation With Stacey Richter and Dave Dierk, Co-Presidents at Aventria Health Group

When not hosting the show, Stacey is co-president of Aventria Health Group, a marketing agency and consultancy. Aventria specializes in helping pharmaceutical, employer, pharmacy, and health system clients improve patient outcomes by creating and leveraging collaborations with other health care organizations. For more than 20 years, Stacey has innovated better-coordinated health solutions benefiting all stakeholders and, most of all, the patient.

Dave is a 30-year veteran of managed-markets marketing. After working in consumer marketing with AT&T and health care publishing with Elsevier, Dave made the move to medical advertising and communications at KI Lipton, Inc. Subsequently, he became a cofounder of Pinnacle Health Communications. Dave is an accomplished strategist, providing innovative customer marketing, access, quality, and health intervention solutions for large clients and has directed the development of numerous industry-leading campaigns in primary care and specialty markets. He has supported clients in disease areas that include oncology (Bristol Myers Squibb [BMS], Novartis, Eisai), virology (BMS, Merck & Co.), pharmacy (American Pharmacists Association, Merck, Novartis), and blood disorders (Novo Nordisk), to name a few. Dave has helped more than 15 clients achieve top rankings in their respective categories. He is also an active member of the Pharmacy Quality Alliance.

00:30 Collaborating with “large organized customer groups” aka IDNs and health care stakeholders.
01:36 Pharmaceutical companies working with IDNs.
04:58 “Historically, Pharma trained ... their representatives on the brand; secondly ... on [their] selling skills.”
05:17 “What they don’t do well ... is training them on understanding customer objectives and needs.”
05:56 “What a customer wants to buy is impact.”
07:57 “It’s basically Pharma meeting on a level playing field with peers.”
08:42 The more stakeholders take on risk, the more they will demand seeing outcomes from Pharma.
09:09 “Pharma can’t ... prove its value in the absence of having collaborative relationships.”
09:30 One of the most important roles that Pharma can play.
10:42 The barrier with market share.
13:13 Enabling a brand to be successful.
13:39 Solving the customer's problems.
13:50 Creating a near-term and a long-term plan.
16:00 How Pharma can be a collaborative partner throughout the entire patient journey.
16:58 Pharma’s barrier in not striving for the ideal.
22:39 Barriers in pharma collaboration with IDNs.
24:28 “Consider these plans a living document.”
24:45 “It’s a commitment to invest the time, invest the energy.”
27:24 “The much more valuable brands are [the ones] that build upon their successes.”
29:44 “How can we work together to find a solution that is approvable?”
31:03 How Aventria might be able to help mitigate some of these challenges.