Job Description
The Executive Director, Patient Access COE (ED) will lead a cross-functional team responsible for managing and developing U.S Patient Access Hub and Coupon/Voucher programs to achieve U.S. patient access objectives. The ED will oversee the strategic design, development, and execution of our company's Patient Access COE in the U.S. market. This includes the creation of patient access strategies for all products at each stage of their lifecycles, offer structuring for copay programs, ensuring government compliance, managing high-impact vendor relationships, leveraging consumer data analytics, and continuously improving patient access and engagement initiatives.
Key Responsibilities:
- Serve as the primary point of leadership for the Patient Access COE, working closely with senior leaders in Sales, Marketing, Legal, Compliance, Medical Affairs, and Finance to integrate patient access initiatives seamlessly into commercial operations.
- Drive strategy for US patient access initiatives, ensuring alignment with overarching commercial and brand strategies.
- Maintain compliance with federal and state regulations, including government programs such as Medicaid, Medicare, and 340B, ensuring programs remain compliant with legal and medical guidelines.
- Mitigate and proactively manage the significant legal and compliance risks associated with patient access programs on behalf of our company, which has been an area of recent US Federal litigation with fines in the hundreds of millions.
- Possess a comprehensive understanding of the copay landscape, both within the organization and the broader external market, including competitor copay programs and industry trends.
- Lead a diverse team of Associate Directors, Senior Specialists, and supporting roles (15+ FTEs), with oversight of additional contractors (200+), ensuring high performance and engagement across the team.
- Manage vendor relationships with copay, voucher, and hub service providers, holding vendors accountable for compliance, performance, and delivering strategic patient access outcomes.
- Strategically partner with Marketing to ensure an in-depth understanding of each brand's strategy across all business units, facilitating the execution of tailored patient access programs through all appropriate channels.
- Explore new models and strategic alliances to optimize patient access, including partnerships that improve patient health equity, access, and engagement.
- Lead program innovation, identifying opportunities to enhance access models and improve the customer/patient experience.
- Demonstrate the ability to navigate ambiguous areas, influencing decisions on the design and functionality of patient access programs, while providing expertise on pharmacy, payer, and program administrator operations to drive quicker, compliant decision-making.
- Provide financial oversight for patient access programs, managing budgets for hub, coupon, voucher, and sample programs, ensuring fiscal responsibility and alignment with company objectives.
- Ensure optimal end-to-end customer engagement with patient access programs by overseeing operational workflows from program development through execution.
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Education:
- Required: BA/BS degree
- Preferred:Advanced degree (MBA, MPH, or equivalent)
Required Experience and Skills:
- Minimum of 12 years of experience in Pharmaceutical Marketing, Pricing, Reimbursement, Patient Access, or related fields, with at least 5+ years in a leadership role.
- Proven success managing large cross-functional teams and high-value vendor relationships in the pharmaceutical space.
- Demonstrate expertise in our company's internal processes and policies, especially in compliance, Medical/Legal review of materials, reimbursement procedures, and related policies.
- Strong expertise in vendor management, including budgeting, contract negotiations, financial oversight, and operational audits.
- Deep knowledge of patient access programs, copay assistance, and U.S. pharmaceutical reimbursement.
- Experience leading multi-million-dollar budgets and overseeing patient access projects at scale, from strategy to execution.
- Demonstrated ability to influence senior-level stakeholders and drive strategic initiatives across multiple business units.
- In-depth understanding of U.S. pharmaceutical market dynamics, including the pharmacy and medical benefit landscapes.
Preferred Experience and Skills:
- Experience with U.S. Patient Support Programs, including familiarity with programs such as copay assistance, PAP (Patient Assistance Programs), and oncology or specialty therapies.
- Oncology, Immunology, or PAH (Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension) experience.
- Strong understanding of the compliance landscape, including FDA, OIG, and CMS regulations related to patient access programs.
- Leadership: Proven ability to lead and inspire high-performing teams, both direct reports and cross-functional teams.
- Strategic Thinking: Ability to identify market trends, anticipate barriers to access, and develop long-term solutions to patient access challenges.
- Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills; able to present complex information clearly to a range of stakeholders.
- Collaboration: Strong ability to collaborate across functions, influence key stakeholders, and partner effectively across Marketing, Legal, Compliance, Sales, and Operations.
- Project Management: Expertise in project management, ensuring on-time, in-scope delivery of complex access programs.
Travel: Up to 20%
Current Employees apply HERE
Current Contingent Workers apply HERE
US and Puerto Rico Residents Only:
Our company is committed to inclusion, ensuring that candidates can engage in a hiring process that exhibits their true capabilities. Please click here if you need an accommodation during the application or hiring process.
We are an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, or disability status, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. For more information about personal rights under the U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment laws, visit:
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We are proud to be a company that embraces the value of bringing diverse, talented, and committed people together. The fastest way to breakthrough innovation is when diverse ideas come together in an inclusive environment. We encourage our colleagues to respectfully challenge one another's thinking and approach problems collectively.
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U.S. Hybrid Work Model
Effective September 5, 2023, employees in office-based positions in the U.S. will be working a Hybrid work consisting of three total days on-site per week, Monday - Thursday, although the specific days may vary by site or organization, with Friday designated as a remote-working day, unless business critical tasks require an on-site presence.This Hybrid work model does not apply to, and daily in-person attendance is required for, field-based positions; facility-based, manufacturing-based, or research-based positions where the work to be performed is located at a Company site; positions covered by a collective-bargaining agreement (unless the agreement provides for hybrid work); or any other position for which the Company has determined the job requirements cannot be reasonably met working remotely. Please note, this Hybrid work model guidance also does not apply to roles that have been designated as "remote".
San Francisco Residents Only: We will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records for employment in compliance with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance
Los Angeles Residents Only: We will consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local laws, including the City of Los Angeles' Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance
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Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA, also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, Rahway, NJ, USA, does not accept unsolicited assistance from search firms for employment opportunities. All CVs / resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at our company without a valid written search agreement in place for this position will be deemed the sole property of our company. No fee will be paid in the event a candidate is hired by our company as a result of an agency referral where no pre-existing agreement is in place. Where agency agreements are in place, introductions are position specific. Please, no phone calls or emails.
Employee Status:
Regular
Relocation:
VISA Sponsorship:
Travel Requirements:
Flexible Work Arrangements:
Hybrid
Shift:
Valid Driving License:
Hazardous Material(s):
Job Posting End Date:
11/12/2024
*A job posting is effective until 11:59:59PM on the day BEFORE the listed job posting end date. Please ensure you apply to a job posting no later than the day BEFORE the job posting end date.
Requisition ID:R319909