Background:

A U.S. Biotech organization had fielded a customer-facing team of Community Liaisons (~30) to augment the sales efforts for their HIV franchises within targeted markets. The Community Liaisons (CLs) responsibilities include the following:

• Focus on the timely delivery of clinical information on the treatment of HIV, and the role of the organization’s products in the treatment of this disease to culturally diverse patient populations.
• Establishing strong working partnerships with key institutions and organizations serving these communities, such as AIDS Service/Community-Based Organizations (ASOs/CBOs), Addiction/Methadone Clinics, Faith-Based Organizations, cultural/ethnic organizations, and specialty and community pharmacies.
• Interface with a range of Allied Health Professionals including social workers, case managers, treatment educators, discharge planners, outreach workers, and others directly or indirectly linked to the community and when appropriate, may serve to facilitate linkages from these institutions, organizations, and professionals to underserved patients to improve access to care and treatment for HIV.

Challenge:

The CL Team was comprised primarily of senior sales representatives with extremely high therapeutic acumen and significant experience and proficiency in calling on Physician Practices and other traditional sites of care. The Team’s initial area of focus was on community and public health centers, where the CLs had a high level of comfort and confidence. A year after its launch, Sr. Management determined that the CL Team should engage alternate sites of care, with a focus on Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs).

As the CL Team had little to no knowledge of and experience with these organizations, BCA was asked to develop and implement an ACO learning platform that would increase the participant’s competence, confidence and comfort when engaging these customers

Solution:

BCA developed a multi-phase, ACO Learning Continuum that utilized a combination of self-guided e-learning modules and classroom training. The stepwise approach was employed to address both the knowledge and skills required when calling on ACO customers. Additionally, the design featured an ACO customer panel and a core set of enduring materials to support the CLs application efforts.