Managed care training courses are essential for your sales team’s success, whether your representatives are selling virtually or in-person with customers. But when was the last time you refreshed this foundational portion of your training curriculum?

In our experience, managed care and managed markets training can quickly become stale because of the rapidly changing nature of healthcare today. That’s why we are constantly updating our managed markets training courses.

For more than 50 years, CMR Institute has been helping sales reps improve their performance with all types of customers. We’ve covered managed care since HMOs became widespread in the 1970s and since Medicare adopted an early form of value-based payment, the Prospective Payment System, in the 1980s.

Of course, the managed care landscape has changed considerably in recent years. Alternative payment models, new cost-containment strategies, and innovative payer-provider partnerships have made it harder for your sales team to stay informed.

To help your sales team confidently return to the field, you can use your team’s current downtime to give them a deeper knowledge of the key trends shaping the managed care environment.

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Customized Managed Markets Training: A Client Case Study

One way you can use this time is to create a managed markets certificate program.

For example, we helped one company develop a customized certificate program for its managed markets team. A key goal: to increase account supervisors’ confidence when speaking with clients about their needs and reduce their reliance on team leaders.

The resulting program includes a total of 30 modules, and participants receive a certificate for every 10 courses they complete. And now, they are better equipped to have higher-level conversations with customers.

Managed Markets Training Today

Effective account managers and supervisors should be fluent in a wide spectrum of managed care topics. In fact, your entire sales team should speak the language of managed care, as physicians and office managers must navigate prior authorizations, formularies, and other utilization tools that affect patient access to products.

Here’s just a sample of the managed care and managed markets knowledge that your sales team should possess:

Knowledge of your product’s formulary status and a clear understanding of how pharmacy & therapeutics (P&T) committees work. This is critical, as your customers don’t have time to answer basic background questions. They expect your reps to know their business before they meet with them.

A deep understanding of what the customer values—including which outcomes matter most. Both payers and providers want patients to receive high quality care and a positive patient experience at an affordable cost. With this in mind, sales teams can take a more collaborative approach to problem-solving and offer personalized solutions to customers. Your sales team should also be able to use data during customer conversations to demonstrate the value of your product.

A recognition that cost concerns will continue to be top of mind for customers. Even though several payers have loosened some of their management strategies during the pandemic, they will likely return to stricter practices in the coming months. That is why sales teams need to understand the latest tools like formulary exclusions and patient cost-sharing that your customers use to manage utilization and costs.

Assess Your Managed Care Training

So is now a good time to refresh your managed markets training content? Consider these questions:

  • Does your training program explain how organized providers and payers perceive value in the current environment?
  • Does your training cover the latest value-based payment models, such as bundled payments?
  • Does your program describe the new breed of product decision-makers, including members of the C-suite, supply chain, and mid-level providers?
  • Does it explain organized providers and delivery models like IDNs and ACOs?
  • Does your training cover how health plans and PBMs manage the utilization of your product?
  • Does it offer practical solutions for account teams looking to partner with your managed care customers?

Our team can quickly analyze your current course lineup and suggest off-the-shelf or customized solutions to fill in any gaps you may have in your curriculum.

Managed Care Training Courses

Given the fast pace of our changing industry, it can be easy to overlook several areas of your managed care and managed markets training. Yet these important topic areas shouldn’t be shortchanged as you roll out new training on COVID-19 protocols, virtual selling, and other timely topics in the weeks ahead.

We offer a wide range of managed markets training courses, including:

  • An Overview and History of Managed Healthcare
  • Major Healthcare Payers and Managed Care Payment
  • Opportunities for Representatives in Managed Healthcare
  • Managed Care and the Expanding Care Team
  • Cost-Containment Strategies in Managed Healthcare
  • The Managed Care Pharmacy
  • Strategies for Managing the Pharmacy Benefit
  • Current Issues in Managing Healthcare
  • The Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee
  • Hospital and Managed Care Formularies
  • Formulary Design
  • Criteria for Product Approval to the Formulary
  • Hospitals and Post-Acute Providers in the Managed Care Environment
  • How Trends and Forces in Managed Care Are Impacting the Pharmaceutical Industry
  • Impact of Value-Based Healthcare on the Sales Environment
  • Information Technology in Managed Healthcare
  • Alternative Payment Models

These managed care and managed markets training courses, as well as other resources from our extensive educational library, can serve as the foundation of your own customized certificate program. Or they can augment your existing course lineup with relevant, up-to-date content.

Our account planning resources can also complement your managed care training program. This includes modules and tools such as:

  • The Account Management Process
  • Strategies for Effective Account Management
  • Interactive Business Planning Tool

Developing a Successful Managed Care Training Program

Right now, many pharmaceutical and medical device companies are turning to remote learning to help their sales teams return to the field with better customer and market knowledge. 

We’re here to help prepare your sales team to have more engaging and relevant virtual and in-person calls with your most important customers. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us at (800) 328-2615 or at solutions@cmrinstitute.org to learn how we can help you create a custom home study program.

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We can provide you and your teams with a custom home study program, allowing for opportunities to upskill while you work remotely.

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We're here to help.

We understand that a real-world education looks different for all learners. That's why we partner with real-world training experts to develop customizable learning pathways that meet your unique needs.

(800) 328-2615
solutions@cmrinstitute.org