Stephanie Baum
Big data analysis is an invaluable resource in healthcare and life sciences. Data can tell a pharmaceutical company which drugs a medical specialist prescribes and where they are based. This knowledge is key to identifying which doctors are most likely to prescribe their FDA-approved drug. At the same time, the ability to quickly and easily identify which physicians are out-of-network can support a hospital or a payer’s recruitment efforts.
It’s not surprising that data aggregation and analytics companies have multiplied in recent years, making it more challenging for any one company to stand out from the many players in this sector. Any good executive knows healthcare analytics companies must set themselves apart with their technology or face a race to the bottom on price.
One of the biggest challenges for healthcare analytics companies is ensuring their data is accurate and not outdated. A company’s analytics are only effective if the information they analyze is correct, which isn’t easy in the healthcare field. Physicians move to different hospitals and retire; payers struggle to continuously update these and other changes to ensure the list of in-network physicians in their care plans is up-to-date. Adding more complexity to the health data landscape, payers and providers often change their metrics for pharmaceutical coverage.
To cover this constantly changing landscape, PurpleLab has more healthcare systems in its data warehouse than rival companies, receiving data from a variety of sources and leveraging quality control to ensure this information is accurately captured and validated. The company’s Provider Reference Files do the heavy lifting. By de-siloing data, they give payers, provider and pharmaceutical companies access to provider information, claims data and analytics with a unified vocabulary for organizations across the healthcare ecosystem.
Provider Reference Files are designed to give users a window into the physician referral network and decision-making process that physicians, hospitals, health systems and payers use to make patient treatment plans, as well as financial decisions for their organization. Additionally, companies can gain insight into physician referral patterns, physician influence, care teams, and integrated networks. Using this information, biotech and pharma companies can refine their drug commercialization strategies and make informed choices.
Pharma companies can also leverage Provider Reference Files for sales, marketing, insight and analytics to support customized messaging and educational materials aimed at supporting healthcare professionals when making clinical decisions on patient care.
One challenge for pharma companies is reducing the time it takes to execute clinical trials. PurpleLab simplifies the process of site selection and can hone in on which qualified site would be the best fit for a particular clinical trial. Additionally, knowing which physicians are high referrers and key opinion leaders enables pharma companies to focus their promotional and educational outreach efforts. In this way, companies can raise awareness among these physicians and increase the likelihood that the physicians will prescribe their drugs.
“Intuitive design and fast and easy access allow customers to access data elements important to their needs,” according to a PurpleLabs spokesman. For example, hospitals and payers use HCP affiliations and referrals data for physician recruitment for network adequacy and optimization. Pharma’s clinical trial protocol design teams can leverage HCP-HCO affiliations data for efficient and effective site selection and investigator recruitment.
We often see data solutions in action when a healthcare company is reviewing their compliance with federal and state network requirements for access to care. Working with advanced data analytics could also help them identify out-of-network physicians to support their recruitment efforts. PurpleLab’s insights can enable them to examine physician performance by geography, spot industry trends, strengths and weaknesses, and opportunities for growth.
Similarly, a pharma company can utilize Provider Reference Files to identify key opinion leaders (KOLs) who have significant influence within specific therapeutic areas. By examining data on treatments performed, clinical trial participation and referral patterns, companies can pinpoint KOLs who are thought leaders in their field. Engaging with these KOLs can enhance product credibility, shape market perceptions and drive adoption among other healthcare providers.
With comprehensive data on more than 2.3 million physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants, including contact information, organizations can leverage PurpleLab’s Provider Reference Files to gain insight on the drugs payers cover and which hospitals include them in their formularies. This can provide helpful, timely insights for other hospitals and payers seeking to assess their market performance.
PurpleLab’s ability to provide comprehensive data to pharma companies, providers, and other healthcare organizations gives its users the ability to make informed decisions in a market where consolidation and price pressures are shifting the healthcare landscape more than ever before. And in this climate, the healthcare and life science companies with access to the most reliable data insights will be well-positioned to make informed decisions to ensure their long term growth and profitability.
Photo: Feodora Chiosea, Getty Images