3 Key Skills Medical Insight Leads Must Master

Strong insights don't happen by accident. Learn the three core skills Medical Insight Leads need to build a strategic, actionable insights process for their Medical Affairs teams.

Key Takeaways

• Medical Insight Leads need three core skills: a proactive insights strategy, confidence-building data collection, and a structured process for turning insights into action.
• A reactive, ad hoc approach to insight generation produces data that is hard to act on; aligning insights collection with specific decisions fixes this.
• Building confidence in data requires combining multiple sources, including field medical insights, advisory boards, social listening, and medical information.
• Insights-to-action meetings, paired with documented decisions and feedback to contributors, are what convert insights into real strategic change.

Last month, Scott Thompson, Co-CEO of Acceleration Point, led a webinar on the important role of the Medical Insight Lead within Medical Affairs teams. Drawing from over a decade of experience working directly with medical affairs teams, Scott shared three essential strategies for Medical Insight Leads to excel in their roles. In this article, we focus on the strategies that insight generation leaders must master to take their teams' insight generation process to the next level.

Insights Strategy

One of the fundamental responsibilities of a Medical Insight Lead is to proactively manage the insights strategy. Scott pointed out that many teams take a reactive approach to insight generation, often bringing back random insights based on what they happen to hear in engagements. He emphasized the importance of a strategic approach:

"In order to make insights insightful, we have to understand who we're bringing those insights for, what decisions they're trying to make, and then go get data that helps support that decision."

—Scott Thompson

This means aligning the insights strategy with the organization's decision-making needs. Insight Leads should work closely with strategists and other key stakeholders to identify critical areas requiring data, formulate key insight questions, and ensure that the data gathered is both relevant and actionable. The Medical Affairs Professional Society's insights framework makes a similar point: insights collected without a clear connection to medical strategy are difficult to prioritize or act on, regardless of volume.

Gather Confidence-Building Data

Confidence in data is crucial for making informed decisions. Scott stressed the importance of collecting comprehensive and reliable data from various sources. To build this confidence, Medical Insight Leads should integrate structured and unstructured data collection methods, leveraging multiple sources such as field medical insights, advisory boards, social listening, and medical information from sources like MedInfo. Combining data from diverse sources into reports based on key insight questions ensures a robust dataset that is actionable.

"We need volume, we need specifics, we need breadth. We need it from specific specialties and different sources because the more of that we have, the higher our confidence is in that data so we can make a decision off of it."

—Scott Thompson

Facilitate Action from Insights

Transforming insights into actionable strategies is a critical step that often gets overlooked. Insights-to-action meetings are necessary to evaluate the data's confidence level, potential impacts of actions, and ensure commitment to specific actions.

"Big organizations struggle to take action on insights unless there is a documented, facilitated, planned, purposeful process for getting that done."

—Scott Thompson

These actions could range from strategic changes in medical plans to prioritizing education or generating further insights based on emerging signals. Documenting decisions and providing feedback to all contributors is vital for maintaining MSL engagement and continuous improvement.

Where Kwello Fits In

Kwello supports Medical Affairs teams across this full insights process. Kwello's Accelerated Insights Method™ connects data collected from the field, advisory boards, social listening, and publications back to an organization's strategic priorities, so that insights move from collection to decision-making with a documented, traceable path. Connect with our team to learn more.

Watch Scott's full webinar recording on the Medical Insight Lead role.

FAQ

What is a Medical Insight Lead?
A Medical Insight Lead is the person on a Medical Affairs team responsible for managing the insights process: collecting field, social, and advisory board data, prioritizing it against strategic decisions, and ensuring it leads to documented action.

What is the most common mistake in medical insights generation?
According to Scott Thompson, the most common mistake is taking a reactive approach, collecting whatever insights come up in engagements rather than defining in advance what decisions the data needs to support.

How do Medical Affairs teams turn insights into action?
Through insights-to-action meetings that evaluate the data's confidence level and potential impact, paired with a documented, facilitated process and feedback to the people who submitted the original insights.

Further Reading:

• Directed Insight Generation → https://www.accelerationpoint.com/resources/directed-insight-generation/
• How Data-Driven Approaches Can Help Pharma Field Teams → https://www.accelerationpoint.com/resources/how-data-driven-approaches-can-help-field-teams/
• Making Insight Generation Important to MSLs → https://www.accelerationpoint.com/resources/making-insights-important/
• Medical Affairs Strategy: Challenges & Planning Tips → https://www.accelerationpoint.com/resources/medical-affairs-strategy-challenge-planning-tips/