VGM & Associates, a large post-acute healthcare service organization, serves thousands of different providers of all sizes, from single independent practices to large chains in region and country.
PROBLEM
When challenged to provide them with more accurate business information, VGM knows that the needs of all of its members are quite different. There is a need to help members better understand and become more effective in their respective markets, which means they want to find and treat more patients.
“We’re always looking for ways to deliver a higher level of market intelligence and enable our members to help them do business more efficiently, whether it’s identifying who the key doctors are prescribing prescriptions. specific products in their market or discover which payers are actively paying for Ryan Ball, vice president of VGM Market Data, a division of VGM & Associates, said:
He continued: “VGM basically only has access to country data, and our members need more targeted, specific information to better run their businesses. “So we saw an opportunity to provide them with local and regional information, particularly trade claims data, to give them a better picture of the regional market and the disease.” people they serve.”
PROPOSE
VGM has turned to LexisNexis Risk Solutions, a provider of localized market data, among other things.
VGM serves the durable medical device supplier market, so there are quite a few vendors capable of identifying volumetric information about diagnoses, what procedures have been performed, or which medications can be used. prescribed by a particular doctor.
“Specifically for DME products built under the HCPCS code, we found that LexisNexis Risk Solutions was the best choice based on their relationship with healthcare and all their expertise. that they have,” Ball said.
“When the supplier initially offered to us, they gave us a targeted view of the relevant physician market.
“So instead of looking at the millions of doctors we can see actively diagnosing obstructive sleep apnea or COPD, we can look at the 100,000 doctors we can see already. actively connected with a request to purchase a CPAP machine or an oxygen concentrator,” he continued. “So we can really zoom in and get a lot of nuanced information that other vendors can’t provide.”
He added, LexisNexis Risk Solutions has all the data and information needed to provide VGM members with accurate insights regarding the running of their operations.
“The supplier has a ton of relevant commercial claims data that was previously not commercially available,” Ball said. “And since then, VGM has just continued to build our relationship. Our members feel that the information they receive is exactly what they need.
“Being able to get your services into the hands of the right patients is a win-win,” he said. “Ultimately, we can provide access to physicians – possibly to providers and patients who are deviating from a geographic perspective or to providers whose services really relevant – keep those operations going and serve the patients.”
He added that the more those providers can focus on patient care and the less they have to focus on sales and marketing, the better off the community will be.
MEET CHALLENGES ONLY
VGM first started working with LexisNexis Risk Solutions when the supplier’s MarketView product was new.
Ball explains: “While we started within the first few years of our partnership to offer our members something similar to a Microsoft Excel workbook, that data is now made available to the public. feed directly into our web-based data visualization tool called VGM Market Data”.
He continued: “The presentation was a real game changer in terms of data positioning for companies. “We can go much deeper and really show our members the value. We can really target demographics based on their market area in a way that we don’t. could have done before.”
That’s been a boon for VGM over the past few years.
“So what we did was basically take that underlying data set and create a much easier way for our customers to interact with it,” he said. “You know, sales managers, obviously marketing executives and people who work at the executive level, there are a couple of different use cases here for them.
“A lot of people at the executive level are being asked to quantify their market share and develop some seriously detailed growth plans,” he continued. “To do that, they need to understand their competition and what opportunities they have to expand. So they have some hard questions to answer, but now they have the tools and data. Is it necessary to find the answer?”
RESULT
VGM and its members now have access to near-real-time claims data updates, and claims data from the national level has now been narrowed down to the local level for better response. company needs based on geographic scope and focus.
“And for us, when we started feeding MarketView data into our visualization platform, we had more members sign up and we saw an increase in revenue for our services. ,” Ball reported.
“But our members also noticed their own improvement,” he added. “They can better navigate the complex supply chains we have in DME right now, and many of them have been able to find new patients, expand into new markets, and actually achieve new goals.” our business goals. The feedback we’ve received has all been very positive.”
A member of VGM, DASCO, a medical device supplier, reported that sales increased by 5-8% year-over-year using VGM Market Data. As the data provided has improved, so has DASCO’s revenue. “And the story is the same for a lot of the members,” Ball said.
TIPS FOR OTHER PEOPLE
“Don’t create a concise and broad-targeted approach when looking to meet a market need,” Ball advises. “Come up with a targeted approach that allows you to really focus on where you want to grow. What is the most important area where you feel you can make the biggest impact? You must answer the question. Only then can you develop a strategy and find assistive technology.
“Anything you use needs to be able to really zoom in and out of things, otherwise its value will be limited,” he continued. He also further advises that one also needs to be able to use any data provided.
“Even if one provider offers the best data in the world, it’s useless if you don’t understand what it means,” he concludes. “It’s just going to be on the shelf. So you have to figure out how to really integrate it into your underlying business, then hold people accountable for what you ask them to do.”
Follow Bill’s HIT coverage on LinkedIn: Bill Siwicki
Email the writer: [email protected]
Healthcare IT News is a publication of HIMSS Media.
