SUCCESS WITH S3: A CASE STUDY
Integrating Complex Medicare Training With
sanofi-aventis
Industry Background
Administered through private plans, Medicare Part D is the outpatient drug benefit for those over 65 years of age. Medicare Part D requires various out-of-pocket costs from the Medicare beneficiary, including premiums, deductibles, copays, and coverage gap prescription costs. Over the next 10 years, Medicare Part D coverage will undergo profound changes that will affect coverage for beneficiaries.
sanofi-aventis Situational Analysis
As a pharmaceutical company with significant prescription volume within the senior segment, sanofi-aventis is positioned to benefit greatly from sales in the Medicare space. However, prior to S3 training and development with sanofi-aventis, internal sales teams were challenged by the complexities of selling within the Medicare Part D context:
- Company sales professionals did not have the business acumen or background to deliver an integrated brand/Medicare message
- Individual sanofi-aventis brands were creating and distributing disparate Medicare sales pieces without clear direction and without verification of ideal Medicare messaging and clinical content
Program Development
To help the sanofi-aventis sales team better understand Medicare Part D and capitalize on the business opportunities that changes in Medicare Part D coverage may provide, S3 created a comprehensive, organization-wide multimedia platform with both enduring and follow-up components. Through a strategic, stepwise methodology, S3 educated a diverse group of internal stakeholders and sales professionals about Medicare Part D so they could, in turn, be conversant with the benefit and able to act as a resource to help providers navigate it. In addition, the sales force was provided with direct-to-health care professional tools about the Medicare Part D benefit to aid in their discussions.
Training
The overwhelming success of this program hinged on tailored, multi-phase, internal training by S3:
- Teams attended area-specific, train-the-trainer live sessions over a 6-week period (leader guides and participant guides were customized for each meeting)
- The Medicare Part D platform was rolled out to sales professionals at area meetings over a 4-week period
- Teams completed best-practices workshops and case study reviews on Medicare Part D background and coverage gap that provided “hands on” use of tools
- Included extensive prework, training, surveys, and knowledge assessment
- Reinforcement e-mails over the course of 6 months provided ongoing education and updates
In the end, this Medicare Part D platform and training:
- Increased company-wide sanofi-aventis familiarity with Medicare Part D
- Enabled sales representatives to effectively communicate with customers about and within the Medicare framework
- Provided the context to understand the business opportunities available
Through integration of useful resources that were simple and clear, sanofi-aventis sales professionals were able to educate customers about different drug benefit levels and assist their patients. This, in turn, enhanced the value of sanofi-aventis sales professionals at the customer level.
As a testament to its success, the Medicare Part D platform was presented as an interactive workshop at The Society for Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Trainers annual meeting in 2010.
For information about our general training approach, please view our Customized Training Platform.
