The daily life of the pharma sales rep (PSR) contains many important tasks and activities. In the past we’ve written articles about pre-call planning, in-field execution, call recording and sample management. Today’s article is all about, what is often considered the second main responsibility of a PSR, organizing continuing medical education (CME) events.
These events are increasingly important because they allow PSRs to develop their relationships both internally and externally, while reinforcing the stature, dedication, and authenticity of the healthcare industry.
There is a lot of preparation, research and organization that goes into the creation of these events. In today’s article we’re breaking down the three-step event process, criticisms of industry sponsors, the benefits of CME, and the rise of e-CME events.
CME Events
Continuing medical education (CME) is sometimes referred to as Continued Health Education (CHE), or simply Medical Education (ME). It is any educational tool or resource (live events, written publications, online media, etc.) used to help those in the medical field maintain competence and learn about new developments in their care areas or general disease categories of interest.
CME supports highly skilled professionals who embrace a commitment to continuous learning and applying new knowledge. Also, in some countries such as the United States, CME is required for medical professionals to maintain their licenses (American Medical Association, 2006).
In the best case scenario, both the HCPs in attendance and the ones presenting at your CME event will be KOLs (key opinion leaders). These are leading or influential physicians that are highly respected by their peers. They lead the market in product knowledge and their opinions or testimonials are well received and valued by their peers.
Today we’ll be focusing on CME events. These include seminars, conferences, dinners, etc. and they can be organized by:
- PSRs and their pharma companies;
- Professional associations;
- Hospitals; and,
- Educational institutions.
During these events various qualified individuals present on relevant health topics in order to attract and educate healthcare providers (HCPs). All content for CME is developed, reviewed, and delivered by knowledgeable PSRs and other experts in a particular clinical area. The most effective PSRs tend to have these 7 habits. Presentations can include traditional lectures, interactive lectures, small group discussions, or case reviews. All CME events should be appropriately accredited for physicians to receive their credits (CAMH).
Planning Stage
This is where organizers select a topic for the event and determine which guest speakers (if applicable) should be involved. Note: it is important that if they are a PSR, that they not speak directly to the product they are promoting if they want this event to be accredited! We’ll talk more about the regulations for CME events later on this article in ‘Criticisms of Industry Sponsorship.’
Once they have selected a topic and speakers/activities they should apply for accreditation by an accrediting body such as the AMA. Then they must determine the budget required and seek approval/collaboration with other members of sales teams, as required.
The next step of planning is logistics – including the invitations, location reservation, food, etc. There is a lot of hard work and dedication that goes into coordinating these kinds of live events.
Execution of the Event
During the event there are many important activities that PSRs must complete. They must attend and facilitate event, meet with invitees, network, provide presentations, distribute valuable and relevant content pieces, etc.
Post-Event Performance
Important information from the CME event should be updated and recorded in your company’s CRM system. This will help with tracking and regulatory compliance. PSRs must also submit any related expenses to their home offices, and log “Event-Type” calls for each attendee that they interacted with.
Also, to demonstrate their effect, CME events should have a measurement system. Measuring the number of attendees, their fields of practice, levels of participation, and general post-event retention surveys are also good indicators of the success of an event (Pharm Exec, 2005).
Criticisms of Industry Sponsorship
Over the years there have been many criticisms about pharma’s sponsorship of CME events, the main point of contention being that when drug or device manufacturers financially sponsor a CME event, they are creating a favourable bias towards their products.
(Berliner, MD, 2006)
In past there have been instances of companies sponsoring CME activities that encourage the use their products for off-label uses. This is entirely unacceptable and unethical, and it will definitely damage your reputation and result in a hefty fine (Department of Justice, 2004). Another instance of CME event misconduct was when pharma manufacturers were caught rewarding high-prescribing HCPs by directing CME organizers to overpay them for their participation in CME events (NEJM, 2009).
In order to combat this, there are many guidelines and governing bodies such as PhRMA, ACCME, and AMA, who regulate CME events and control the input from pharma.
For example, “… the Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education which is an umbrella organization representing medical associations and bodies of academic medicine from the United States, Canada, Great Britain and Europe. The pharmaceutical industry has also developed guidelines regarding drug detailing and industry sponsorship of CME, such as the Pharmaceutical Advertising Advisory (PAAB) and Canada’s Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (Rx&D).” (Pharm Exec, 2003)
Other guidelines for CME events include content controls: all program content is required to be free from commercial interest, however CME providers/organizers may pitch topics designed to attract commercial sponsorship (NEJM, 2009).
When participating in or sponsoring a CME event do not attempt to bend the rules and control the content. Your goal should be creating partnerships in the medical field, and providing educational materials that will benefit the healthcare community, not sell your products. It is essential that before engaging in any CME events, you make sure to familiarize yourself with all relevant guidelines, governing bodies, associations, etc. in your home country/state.
After all, “accreditation organizations recognize that quality CME/CE requires financial support from the pharmaceutical industry, and they are happy to help you comply with their guidelines.” (Pharm Exec, 2003).
To learn more about what healthcare providers want from pharma, and how to deliver authenticity check out our detailed infographic.
Benefits of CME
PSRs are constantly fretting over the state of the pharma sales process, they are faced with the daunting trends of declining access, declining trust, and cost controls. These increasing demands make fostering strong and valuable relationships with HCPs extremely important for continued success (Pharm Exec, 2003).
CME events offer education and learning opportunities highly valued by physicians. In a survey of physicians who recently participated in a CME event:
(Pharm Exec, 2006)
Participating ethically and responsibly in a CME event enhances the value of your product, increases your credibility and provides you with potential sales opportunities by educating physicians from the managed care perspective (Pharm Exec, 2003).
In order to improve the image of ethical CME event sponsorship or participation, it should be reinforced that all PSRs associated be highly knowledgeable, skilled, professional and most importantly credible. Also, by focusing on the educational aspects of the event, you will be able to improve clinical knowledge and HCP outreach, helping your practitioners to become better diagnosticians, with the right tools and information (Pharm Exec, 2003).
Online CME (e-CME)
Over the past few years we have seen the rise of electronic continuing medical education (e-CME). This practice appeals to modern HCPs (especially millennial HCPs) on many levels, as it allows them to earn their mandatory industry credits and expand their knowledge, while not taking time away from their patients and practices (DeBelle, 2006).
e-CME is an excellent way to cut costs and save time for physicians, because hosting or sponsoring a live CME event can be extremely costly, and HCPs often cannot attend because of their busy schedules.
The flexibility of e-CME is unparalleled. “e-CME provides an extensive archive of events, available on-demand. Even physicians who attend the live event can use e-CME to review and refresh the content of the live meeting.” (DeBelle, 2006). Users can simply visit an app and download CME content. Alternatively, companies or organizations can host events via an easy-to-use app, inviting KOL and other HCPs to participate in a communal seminar from the comfort of their home or office.
(DeBelle, 2006)
However, all of these apps or CME tools must be easy-to-use, enjoyable and interactive for HCPs, otherwise they won’t return.
Since partnering with Indegene, we’ve looked at ways to enhance the stature and efficiency of PSRs; e-CME events are one such solution that can be delivered through our Pharma Sales Enablement.
For more than half the price PSRs can host digital events, (and if these events are recorded they can be shared with HCPs well into the future). KOLs can be brought in from anywhere in the world, and meeting times can be set during creative time slots that accommodate more live participation.
A great benefit of e-CME is the increased measurability. Measuring the effectiveness of CME is important. Typically during live events organizers have limited forms of measurement such as attendance, and the post-event surveys (that rarely get filled out).
Alternatively, an e-CME platform can track content views and usage, has detailed activity reports for every seminar, logs the number of participants and how much time they spent per session, as well as provides you with a breakdown of those participants’ specialities, questions and responses. The right e-CME platform will also accommodate post-seminar follow-up requests and technical support issues (DeBelle, 2006).
It was found that retention levels following a one-hour lecture at a live CME event was as low as 10-20% of the material, and only if it included strong audio/visual tools (Pharm Exec, 2005). This problem can be fixed by e-CME, where users can easily access seminar content after the event, ask questions in a more private environment, and request additional information.
Conclusion
CME events are an excellent way to invite participation and interaction with typically unreachable healthcare providers. They are an efficient venue for communicating important information and they are moving towards electronic channels.
E-CME is the future of CME events; it cuts costs, eliminating wasted time and resources, and connects large networks in a more intimate setting - creating a better learning environment.
If you’re interested in transforming your CME events and breaking into e-CME event, request a demo below and let our product experts show you just how easy this can be with the right solution.
