EXTENDING EDUCATION TO A WIDER MEDICAL COMMUNITY

Alloutcoach

In this special episode I interviewed the winners of the first ever month-long Medical Affairs Innovation Olympics competition in pharma and biotech in the fall of 2022, CEO and Co-Founder of Discreedly, Vinay Tharayil, MD, BCMAS and Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer, Gibu George, MD. My guests discussed why education and interactions between pharmaceutical companies and healthcare providers need to evolve and how they are extending the reach and awareness of quality, fair-balanced medical education to not only academic physicians but those in the community using their platform, Discreedly.

1:55 - Vinay Tharayil - Background. GSK Vaccines. Medical Affairs Excellence and Operations at Astellas. Passion for Medical Affairs and the MSL role. MSLs bring lots of value to the healthcare system but often go under the radar.

4:59 - How they came up with the app @Discreedly

5:27 - Vinay and Gibu's vision and philosophy of Medical Affairs

5:46 - What makes Medical Affairs critical today in influencing health care?

6:43 - Main driver for Medical Affairs is education, scientific exchange and communication

8:53 - We want to bring medical education to the community of physicians, not just academic hospitals. Discreedly aims to increase the reach of Medical Affairs to a wider audience, including the community level physicians whom we typically do not target or educate.

11:57 - What is the relevance of a pharma company communicating more information to ensure access to care and health equity today?

13:33 - We can follow patients in EPIC via electronic health records, to be able to provide pricing information immediately.

14:14 - Putting the Provider in the Captain's Chair to be able to govern the direction of the frequency of the communications they prefer with Pharma, to allow access to quality medical information in a centralized platform.

15:12 - Physicians can search product information including formulary coverage, tier level on the health plan all at their fingertips.

15:30 - We are also exploring making social determinants of health related data available to them as well.

16:06 - Why did you call the platform "Discreedly"?

18:15 - How would pharma companies use the Discreedly App?

18:24 - Back-end channel for Pharma in this platform. Med Affairs companies will be uploading content, products, disease state related information, formulary, media that may be generated. MSLs may also be available on demand, virtually, ready to engage and educated HCPs. Providers can schedule meetings with Field MA or Medical Information. The program enables real time live chatting with HCPs, live updates / notifications.

21:39 - How do the users ensure alignment with their compliance and regulatory policies to guide what information may be shared on this platform?

22:19 - What part of the Discreedly program makes it more appropriate for the community level physicians?

23:29 - We secured a partnership with Doximity and use their SSO. They do not have to create a new account if they are already registered with Doximity.

25:30 - Extensive research of preferred formats of medical education shows high variability - the way many community oncologists learn about new treatments is a private WhatsApp group

27:02 - How does your program improve quality of healthcare at the clinical point of care?

27:17 - Integration of Electronic Medical Records (EMR)/EHR data

29:47 - Can the patient's health data be submitted by their provider or hospital?

33:26 - Message to those interested in Medical Affairs or this platform

36:13 - How are you stretching yourselves and lifting others in your next project?

36:36 - Key Lessons from Vinay and Gibu: "Be bold. The only way you will find the answer is by asking the question and taking that first step. By being bold you find out that you are capable of a lot more than you think. Be ready to adapt."