Developing Metrics to Show the Value of Medical Affairs

OBJECTIVE Establish value metrics for Medical Affairs. CHALLENGE The Medical Affairs community has long since focused on defining metrics, to assess (and ultimately improve) their efficiency and demonstrate their value. However, metrics to demonstrate the value of Medical Affairs remain elusive, and development of standardized metrics applicable to any Medical Affairs organization is complicated by inherent differences in this function across organizations. SOLUTION Rather than a prescriptive “one size fits all” approach to value demonstration by Medical Affairs, we instead describe a framework of key considerations and guiding principles. This framework should enable Medical Affairs groups to develop value metrics tailored to individual organizational needs. OUTCOME The guidance we propose encompasses the following: It may seem obvious, but metrics must measure something meaningful; therefore, they should be aligned with common outcomes shared across functions. These can be complemented with more easily measured surrogate metrics that measure the success of individual steps or goals required to reach each broader outcome MEANINGFUL METRICS Demonstrating value may not be appropriately assessed using quantitative metrics (though they are easily measured). Combining quantitative and qualitative metrics can provide more robust metrics QUALITATIVE METRICS Understanding how Medical Affairs and different functions can collectively contribute to a common set of outcomes, via inter-related but distinctive goals, can demonstrate Medical Affairs value within an organization. It can also identify areas of synergy for improved efficiency CROSS-FUNCTIONAL COLLABORATION Metrics are only useful if they are well tracked; it is important to agree timing of assessments, and a tracking method that is not cumbersome