Rare Disease Therapies and the Case for Outcomes-Based Agreements
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Treatments for rare diseases, such as spinal muscular atrophy or CAR-T therapies like tisagenlecleucel, hold transformative potential for patients. Yet, they often come with significant challenges—uncertainties around long-term efficacy, high costs, and the need for tailored patient selection. Outcomes-Based Agreements (OBAs) offer a structured way to address these challenges, aligning financial risk with therapeutic outcomes. However, their implementation requires careful consideration and planning.
The Promise and Practicalities of OBAs
1. What Makes OBAs Valuable?
OBAs shift the focus from upfront costs to real-world outcomes, creating a more sustainable framework for funding innovative therapies. They enable:
• Risk Sharing: Payers and manufacturers align costs with actual therapeutic results.
• Patient-Centric Focus: Treatments are tied to measurable improvements, emphasizing value rather than volume.
• Increased Access: By mitigating cost risks, OBAs can support the introduction of high-cost therapies in resource-constrained settings.
2. Implementation Challenges
Despite their promise, OBAs are not without hurdles:
• Administrative Complexity: Managing OBA agreements involves data sharing, contract monitoring, and performance assessments—all requiring robust systems.
• Data Availability and Quality: Real-world evidence is critical, but gaps in data collection, reporting, and standardization can limit success.
• Stakeholder Collaboration: Successful OBAs require alignment between payers, manufacturers, and healthcare providers. Misaligned priorities or unclear accountability can derail agreements.
How Lyfegen Supports OBA Implementation
Learning from Global Examples
Lyfegen’s Agreements Library—featuring 6,700 public agreements and 20 pricing models from 33 countries—offers invaluable insights into how OBAs have been implemented worldwide. By analyzing these examples, stakeholders can identify models that best suit their unique challenges, reducing the trial-and-error phase of implementation.
Streamlined Scenario Analysis
The Lyfegen Drug Contracting Simulator enables stakeholders to simulate OBA scenarios using real-world data. From adherence-based contracts to outcome guarantees, the Simulator helps users:
• Assess feasibility through scenario modeling.
• Forecast financial implications with real-world inputs.
• Compare multiple pricing models to find the most suitable solution.
Simplifying Administration
Managing the administrative burden of OBAs is crucial. Lyfegen’s tools offer:
• Centralized contract management for version control and compliance tracking.
• Automated data processing to ensure performance metrics are accurately reported.
• Detailed dashboards and trend reports to facilitate collaborative decision-making.
Key Considerations for OBA Success
1. Feasibility Studies Are Essential
Not every therapy or market is suited for OBAs. Conducting thorough feasibility assessments helps determine the viability of such agreements.
2. Data Plans Need Clarity
Reliable outcomes-based contracts depend on well-defined metrics and data collection processes. Establishing these frameworks early is crucial.
3. Commitment from All Stakeholders
OBAs thrive on collaboration. Shared goals, transparent communication, and clear accountability among all parties can ensure smoother execution.
Conclusion
Outcomes-Based Agreements represent an important step forward in addressing the challenges of high-cost, high-impact therapies for rare diseases. With the right tools, insights, and preparation, healthcare stakeholders can unlock the potential of OBAs to improve access, manage costs, and focus on patient outcomes.
Discover how Lyfegen can simplify your journey to outcomes-based contracting. Schedule a demo today to explore our solutions in action.
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As value-based contracting (VBCs) becomes the standard, the role of clinical trials has shifted significantly. They are now essential not only for demonstrating safety and efficacy but also for enhancing financial performance. By creating trials that meet the criteria of VBCs, pharmaceutical companies can increase their financial gains, minimize pricing risks, and facilitate smoother negotiations with payers.
According to a report by Deloitte, aligning clinical trials with value-based pricing strategies can lead to improvements in revenue predictability and cost management by as much as 20% for drugs with high market access potential. This improvement stems from linking trial outcomes to real-world efficacy, which reassures payers and reduces the financial risk for manufacturers by basing pricing on demonstrated effectiveness
For CFOs and Pricing Directors, the Financial Impact is Clear
For CFOs and Directors of Pricing, the financial implications of optimized trials in a VBC framework are significant. When trial designs focus on outcomes that matter most to payers—like reductions in hospitalization or improved quality of life—pricing becomes more flexible, and revenue can be projected more accurately. McKinsey & Company points out that outcome-based models also provide a safeguard against pricing volatility, allowing pharmaceutical companies to stabilize revenue by tying payments to real-world performance metrics.
Efficiency Gains through Outcome-Focused Trial Design
Beyond revenue predictability, operational efficiencies are another key benefit. A focus on outcome-based trials reduces the time and resources needed to negotiate with payers, as the trial data itself becomes a compelling point in payer discussions. For Market Access Directors, outcome-driven trial designs support quicker market entry and stronger, data-backed negotiations that build payer confidence.
Lyfegen’s Platform: Streamlining Trial Optimization for Value-Based Contracts
Optimizing clinical trials for VBC is complex, but Lyfegen’s all in one platform simplifies this process. By enabling real-time pricing simulations based on clinical outcomes or financial goals, Lyfegen helps pharmaceutical companies design financially viable reimbursement contracts and align them with value-based pricing. This empowers pricing teams to model financial outcomes, enhancing both operational efficiency and contract efficiency.
Interested in learning how outcome-focused trials can support your pricing and financial goals? Lyfegen’s Simulator offers the tools you need to optimize clinical trials for success in a VBCs framework.
Schedule a demo today to explore how we can streamline your pricing and contract strategies: https://www.lyfegen.com/demo
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In value-based contracts (VBCs), clinical trial outcomes are no longer just about proving safety and efficacy—they’re now critical to driving drug pricing and market access strategies. As payers and healthcare systems shift towards outcome-based models, trial data is becoming the foundation for negotiating both price and reimbursement.
Payers are increasingly prioritizing data from real-world evidence and clinical trials for value-based arrangements. The real-world data aligns closely with payers' needs to predict the cost-effectiveness of drugs and determine coverage. For Market Access Directors and Directors of Pricing, this means that clinical trial results can either accelerate or hinder the process of getting drugs to market. Strong trial outcomes not only justify premium pricing but also provide a solid basis for faster, smoother payer negotiations.
This is especially crucial in markets where budgetary pressures and stringent healthcare regulations make it difficult for new therapies to gain market access. The ability to present data-driven evidence of a drug’s real-world impact can significantly shorten time to market and improve access.
Novartis’ Zolgensma, a gene therapy for spinal muscular atrophy, used a value-based contract with installment payments and performance guarantees, adjusting reimbursement if outcomes fell short—demonstrating flexibility for high-cost therapies in outcome-based pricing models
For CFOs, using clinical trial data means greater financial predictability. By tying pricing to outcomes, companies can secure more stable revenue streams, with lower financial risk from market variability.
Are you ready to leverage clinical trial data to improve your pricing strategy and market access? Lyfegen’s Simulator helps you model pricing scenarios based on trial outcomes, ensuring a smoother path to market and better payer alignment.
Schedule a demo today to see how we can support your pricing and market access strategies: https://www.lyfegen.com/demo
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The pharmaceutical industry is increasingly moving towards value-based contracts (VBCs), where drug pricing is tied to real-world patient outcomes rather than traditional volume-based models. This shift is transforming how clinical trials are designed and executed, and it’s profoundly impacting drug pricing strategies.
According to the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science, value-based contracts are expected to account for a larger share of pharmaceutical revenue, with the global market projected to reach $1.3 trillion by 2026, driven by the need for more outcome-driven healthcare solutions.
For CFOs and Directors of Pricing, this shift provides new opportunities to de-risk pricing models. By linking drug prices to clinical outcomes, pharmaceutical companies can reduce financial risk while ensuring that prices reflect the actual value delivered to patients. In this context, clinical trials become critical—not just for regulatory approval, but for pricing strategy development. The data generated in trials helps justify flexible, dynamic pricing models that payers can support.
Moreover, value-based contracts align perfectly with reducing healthcare costs while improving outcomes. This model can also strengthen relationships with payers, who increasingly demand proof of value before agreeing to reimburse drugs at premium prices.
Interested in transforming clinical trial results into smarter, value-based pricing? Lyfegen’s Simulator offers the solution by streamlining pricing models and linking them directly to trial outcomes, helping you reduce risk and enhance financial predictability.
Schedule a personalized demo today to see how we can help you transform your pricing strategy: https://www.lyfegen.com/demo
Related Post: Value-based pricing vs best price? Medicaid's best price problem
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Introduction
Donald Trump has been elected as the 47th President of the United States. With healthcare remaining a critical issue, it’s valuable to revisit some of Trump’s past healthcare reforms and examine a particularly controversial policy that could significantly impact drug pricing in the U.S. From efforts to lower out-of-pocket costs to transparency initiatives aimed at increasing competition, Trump’s past healthcare policies reveal a complex approach to improving accessibility and affordability. Here, we also explore how these initiatives have evolved under the Biden-Harris administration and what their potential implications could mean for the future of American healthcare.
Let’s examine some of his past reforms to improve healthcare and discuss a controversial policy that could greatly alter drug pricing.
Conclusion
The evolving landscape of American healthcare policy, influenced by both Trump and Biden’s administrations, reflects an ongoing effort to address cost, transparency, and access to treatment. Trump’s initiatives laid the groundwork for healthcare cost transparency and patient protections, while the Biden-Harris administration has expanded these initiatives and introduced groundbreaking policies like Medicare drug price negotiation. As these changes continue to unfold, the healthcare industry, patients, and policymakers alike will need to adapt to new dynamics, shaping the future of healthcare in the United States.
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The news are out: we are immensely proud to be partnering with Johnson & Johnson to advance value-based healthcare and help patients around the world. We dived into a conversation with our CEO Girisha Fernando on why this partnership holds so much value for Lyfegen.
Girisha, why was the partnership with Johnson & Johnson such an important milestone for Lyfegen?
Girisha Fernando: Johnson & Johnson and Lyfegen share the same vision of sustainable & a value-based healthcare environment. Our goal is to help patients to receive the healthcare treatments they need and with this partnership, Lyfegen is proud to have been a key enabler for Johnson & Johnson and hospitals to deliver better health outcomes for patients.
How can this partnership be a blueprint for future collaborations?
Girisha Fernando: The increasing demand for healthcare measured against the limited financial resources is forcing the healthcare system to deliver innovative technologies to patients at sustainable costs. This can be done with value-based healthcare approaches and value-based agreements. The partnership between hospitals, Johnson & Johnson and Lyfegen shows how healthcare providers, manufacturers and an innovative tech company can deliver more value to patients whilst making efficient use of limited resources.
What would you suggest healthcare payers and hospitals to do if they are considering to implement value-based healthcare agreements with manufacturers?
Girisha Fernando: I believe it is important to focus on how to deliver better patient outcomes at lower cost. Value-based healthcare agreements can be used as a value-maximising method. It allows payers and hospitals to measure health outcomes and the adjacent cost to achieve these outcomes. Thus, hospitals can pivot on focusing their resources on value-adding healthcare treatments whilst addressing financial risk and uncertainty. It will take initial & minimal investment, but the return on investing in value-based healthcare and technology will be in the form of more value for money and better quality and patient health outcomes.
Why is Lyfegen the right platform for this?
Girisha Fernando: With over 120 value-based healthcare agreements running on the Lyfegen platform, we provide the necessary expertise, knowledge and technical competence to our customers. With these capabilities, we break down the complexity of implementing and managing value-based healthcare agreements. And lastly, we ensure that our customers can improve patient health outcomes by using value-based agreements at scale, efficiently.
Learn more about our platform by booking a demo today:
The news are out: we are immensely proud to be partnering with Johnson & Johnson to advance value-based healthcare and help...
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The goal of this innovative initiative is to increase the processes of value-based drug procurement, allowing CSC-affiliated health centers to focus on the evaluation of the clinical, economic, and social benefits that the drug can provide in relation to its cost.
For the design of these new procurement models, the "Lyfegen Agreements Library" database and the “Lyfegen Drug Contracting Simulator” were used, and work was done on the automation of administrative tasks and on improving interoperability among hospitals and health administrations. These tools allow the CSC to model various agreements and improve the drug management process in the central contracting office. The Health and Social Consortium of Catalonia thus becomes the first organization in Spain to incorporate these tools.
"From the Consortium, we are convinced that access to innovation and the sustainability of the health system relies on reaching innovative management agreements with pharmaceutical laboratories," says Josep Maria Guiu, director of the Pharmacy and Medication Area of the CSC. "The alliance with Lyfegen gives us a tool to work in this direction and to advance in the establishment of satisfactory agreements that facilitate access to innovation and contribute to the sustainability of the health system."
Girisha Fernando, CEO of Lyfegen, comments that "We are proud to help the Consortium lead access to innovation to improve patient care in Catalonia." "By using our advanced solutions, more than 100 health organizations throughout the region can research, model, and efficiently manage agreements, as well as value-based drug procurement," he adds.
“This allows professionals to really focus on what matters most: patient care.”
The collaboration with Lyfegen reflects the commitment of the Health and Social Consortium of Catalonia to value-based drug procurement and to access to pharmacological innovation, as well as the will to continue working for the implementation of solutions that ensure equity and sustainability of the health system.
The total contracting volume of the CSC, which acts as the purchasing center for the subsidized health sector of Catalonia, was 1.497 billion euros in 2023. Of this amount, 90% corresponded to medicines and 10% to sanitary products.
In recent years, the Consortium of Health and Social Services of Catalonia has incorporated social value aspects into the purchasing processes. For example, it has committed to ensuring that 100% of its drug and sanitary product tenders incorporate environmental clauses by 2024.
Lyfegen is an independent provider of rebate management software designed for the healthcare industry. Lyfegen solutions are used by health insurances, governments, hospital payers, and pharmaceutical companies around the globe to dramatically reduce the administrative burden of managing complex drug pricing agreements and to optimize rebates and get better value from those agreements. Lyfegen maintains the world’s largest digital repository of innovative drug pricing models and public agreements and offers access to a robust drug pricing simulator designed to dynamically simulate complex drug pricing scenarios to understand full financial impact. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, the company was founded in 2018 and has a market presence in Europe, North America, and the Middle East. Learn more at Lyfegen.com.
The Consortium of Health and Social of Catalonia (CSC) is a public entity with a local and associative basis, founded in 1983, which has its origin in the municipal movement. The CSC, a reference to the sector and with a clear vocation for service, has as a mission: to promote excellent and sustainable health and social models to improve the quality of life of the people, offering services of high added value to its partners. CSC wants to be the main reference for knowledge and capacity for cooperation, influence and anticipation in the face of the new challenges of the health and social system. All CSC associates are public or private non-profit bodies. For more information, please visit https://www.consorci.org/el-csc/en_index
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Die Vertragssoftware von Lyfegen wird von Kostenträgern im Gesundheitswesen und führenden Pharmaunternehmen eingesetzt, darunter Novartis, Roche, MSD, Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) und Johnson & Johnson.
NEW YORK/BASEL, 20. September 2022 /PRNewswire/ – Lyfegen, ein globales Healthtech-SaaS-Unternehmen, das den Übergang von volume-zu value-based Healthcare für hochpreisige Medikamente vorantreibt, gab heute eine überzeichnete Serie-A-Finanzierungsrunde über 8 Millionen Dollar bekannt, die vom Investmentfonds aMoon mit zusätzlicher Beteiligung von APEX Ventures und weiteren Investoren angeführt wurde.
Derzeit sind weniger als 2 % der Krankenversicherten, die Spezialarzneimittel benötigen, für 51 % der Arzneimittelausgaben verantwortlich. Die Kosten für Spezialarzneimittel in den USA laufen aus dem Ruder: Sie stiegen allein von 2020 bis 2021 um 12 % – und es gibt keine Anzeichen für eine Verlangsamung, denn es kommen immer mehr Zell- und Gentherapien auf den Markt. Infolgedessen wird Value-Based Contracting, die Nutzung wertorientierter Verträge, für die Kostenträger des Gesundheitswesens zu der entscheidenden Alternative, um nur für Medikamente zu zahlen, die tatsächlich wirken.
Bis 2025 werden die Nettoausgaben für Medikamente in den USA voraussichtlich bis zu 400 Milliarden US-Dollar betragen. Darüber hinaus kommen regelmässig neue Medikamente auf den Markt. Es fällt Pharmaunternehmen immer schwerer, sich mit den Kostenträgern auf kommerzielle Bedingungen zu einigen. Damit steigt die Gefahr, dass Patienten keinen Zugang zu lebensrettenden Therapien erhalten. Lyfegen hilft Regulierungsbehörden, Pharmaunternehmen und Kostenträgern bei der Einführung wertorientierter Zahlungsmodelle, indem sie den gesamten Prozess der Datenerfassung, Anonymisierung und Vertragsverhandlungen für alle Parteien digitalisiert. So kann die Preisgestaltung und Kostenerstattung für Medikamente vereinfacht werden.
„Wir freuen uns, diese Finanzierungsrunde bekannt zu geben und dieses Vertrauensvotum von aMoon, APEX und weiteren Investoren zu haben, die den Wandel im Gesundheitswesen verstehen und unser Bestreben um den Ausbau der Lyfegen-Plattform unterstützen", sagte Girisha Fernando, CEO und Gründer von Lyfegen. „Wir arbeiten derzeit mit führenden staatlichen Kostenträgern, Krankenversicherungen in Europa, den USA und dem Nahen Osten sowie mit einigen der weltweit grössten Pharmaunternehmen zusammen. Wir beabsichtigen nun, unsere Präsenz in den USA weiter auszubauen und Partnerschaften mit privaten und öffentlichen Krankenversicherungen einzugehen. Die Abkehr von der volumenbasierten Gesundheitsversorgung war noch nie so notwendig wie heute, und wir freuen uns, dass wir eine wichtige Rolle bei der Umstellung auf Value-Based Contracting spielen können."
„Lyfegen adressiert einen bedeutenden Marktbedarf in einer Branche, die sich dramatisch und schnell verändert, und wir sind begeistert, dass wir mit unserer Investition dazu beitragen können, ihre Anstrengungen zu unterstützen", erläuterte Moshic Mor, General Partner bei aMoon und ehemaliger Partner bei Greylock and Greylock Israel. „In Zeiten von Budgetdruck und Rezession im Gesundheitswesen braucht die Welt Lösungen wie die von Lyfegen mehr denn je. Wir sind stolz mit diesem erfahrenen Führungsteam zusammenzuarbeiten, das weiterhin den Zugang zu neuen Medikamenten verbessert, während es die wertorientierte Gesundheitsversorgung immer mehr zum Mainstream macht."
Informationen zu Lyfegen
Lyfegen ist ein unabhängiges, globales Softwareanalyseunternehmen, das eine wert- und ergebnisbasierte Vertragsplattform für Krankenversicherungen, Pharma- und Medizintechnikunternehmen sowie Krankenhäuser auf der ganzen Welt bietet. Die sichere Plattform identifiziert und operationalisiert wertbasierte Zahlungsmodelle kostengünstig und macht diese mit einer Vielzahl von realen Daten und maschinellem Lernen skalierbar. Mit der zum Patent angemeldeten Plattform von Lyfegen können Krankenversicherungen und Krankenhäuser eine wertorientierte Gesundheitsversorgung einführen und skalieren und so den Zugang zu Behandlungen, die Gesundheitsergebnisse der Patienten und die Kostenersparnis verbessern.
Lyfegen hat seinen Sitz in den USA und der Schweiz und wurde von Persönlichkeiten mit jahrzehntelanger Erfahrung im Gesundheitswesen, in der Pharmaindustrie und im Technologiebereich gegründet, um den Übergang von der volumenbasierten und kostenpflichtigen Gesundheitsversorgung zur wertorientierten Gesundheitsversorgung zu ermöglichen. Weitere Informationen finden Sie auf www.lyfegen.com.
Verwandte Links:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lyfegenhealth
Pressekontakt: yael@gkpr.com
Ansprechpartner für Investoren: investors@lyfegen.com
Read the Exclusive article with AXIOS
Read the Press Release on PR Newswire
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EGK nutzt die Lyfegen-Plattform, um komplexe Preismodelle für die On- und Off-Label-Verwendung von mehr als 80 Medikamenten zu verwalten.
Basel, Schweiz - 29. November 2022 - Lyfegen, ein globales Healthtech-SaaS-Unternehmen, das den weltweiten Übergang von einer volumen- zu einer wertbasierten (value-based) Gesundheitsversorgung für hochpreisige Arzneimittel vorantreibt, gab heute bekannt, dass die EGK-Gesundheitskasse sich seinem Portfolio von Versicherungspartnern anschliesst, um alle ihre Verträge zur wertbasierten Preisgestaltung für hochpreisige Arzneimittel effizient, sicher und transparent auszuführen.
Die Schweiz, mit den vierthöchsten Arzneimittelausgaben pro Kopf, gab in den ersten neun Monaten des Jahres 2022 8 Milliarden Franken (8,1 Milliarden Euro) für Medikamente aus, die für bestimmte Krankheiten verschrieben wurden. Um die hohen Arzneimittelausgaben zu bekämpfen, hat die Schweiz in den letzten fünf Jahren eine wachsende Zahl von Rabattmodellen für den On- und Off-Label-Einsatz von Medikamenten eingeführt. Die Komplexität der Preismodelle führt jedoch dazu, dass die Versicherer Millionenbeträge für die Überwachung und Beurteilung der Preismodelle ausgeben, was zu entgangenen Rabatten in zwei- bis dreistelliger Millionenhöhe führt.
Mit der Software von Lyfegen kann die EGK mit minimalem Aufwand und maximaler Transparenz Rabatte aus 141 Medikamentenpreismodellen von 32 Herstellern identifizieren und einfordern. Dazu gehören Fälle von seltenen oder chronischen Krankheiten, vielversprechende Therapien, die ausserhalb der zugelassenen Indikation eingesetzt werden können, oder neue Medikamente, die in der Schweiz noch nicht erhältlich oder zugelassen sind. Die Plattform von Lyfegen adressiert die Bedürfnisse der Schweizer Krankenversicherer nach Kosteneffizienz und Digitalisierung. Sie hilft, bestehende Komplexitäten im System zu lösen und wirkt hohen Versicherungsprämien entgegen.
„Wir freuen uns, die EGK zu unterstützen und eine aktive Rolle bei der Bewältigung der zunehmenden Komplexität von Medikamentenpreismodellen zu übernehmen, um den nachhaltigen Zugang zu innovativen Medikamenten und Therapien in der Schweiz zu unterstützen“ sagte Nico Mros, CXO und Mitgründer von Lyfegen. „Indem wir uns darauf konzentrierten, die Implementierung der Plattform so einfach wie möglich zu gestalten und auf die EGK einzugehen, konnten wir schnell Ergebnisse präsentieren und die Zusammenarbeit erfolgreich starten!“
"Mit der Lyfegen-Plattform baut die EGK ihren Fokus auf Nachhaltigkeit und Effizienz zum Wohle ihrer Versicherten weiter aus", sagt Carolina Pirelli, Leiterin Leistungen und stv. Geschäftsleiterin bei der EGK. "Die immer grösser werdende Zahl von Preismodellen für Medikamente stellt die Versicherer vor Herausforderungen in Bezug auf Ressourcen und Prozesse. Mit der automatisierten Verarbeitung von Preismodellen über die Lyfegen-Plattform können wir unsere aktuellen Anforderungen perfekt erfüllen und sehen uns mit der Flexibilität, dem Fokus und dem Verständnis von Lyfegen in guten Händen."
Über Lyfegen
Lyfegen ist ein globales SaaS-Analyseunternehmen im Gesundheitsbereich, das eine Plattform für wert- und ergebnisbasierte Verträge für Medikamente, Therapien und Medizingeräte anbietet.
Krankenversicherungen, Pharma- und Medizintechnikunternehmen sowie Spitäler nutzen die sichere Plattform für Tausende von Preismodellen in der Schweiz, Europa, dem Nahen Osten und Nordamerika. Die Lyfegen Plattform unterstützt die Verhandlungen und ermöglicht die automatisierte Ausführung von wertbasierten Preismodellen durch die Analyse von real-world Daten durch intelligente, lernfähige Algorithmen.
Weltweit renommierte Krankenversicherungen, Spitäler, Pharma- und Medizintechnikunternehmen haben die zum Patent angemeldete Plattform von Lyfegen bereits implementiert, um wertbasierte Preismodelle für Medikamente, Therapien und Medizingeräte zu skalieren und damit den Zugang zu Behandlungen sowie Therapieergebnisse für Patienten zu verbessern.
Lyfegen wurde von Personen mit jahrzehntelanger Erfahrung in den Bereichen Gesundheitswesen, Pharma und Technologie gegründet und leistet Pionierarbeit bei der Umstellung von der volumenbasierten und kostenpflichtigen Gesundheitsversorgung auf die wertbasierten Gesundheitsversorgung. Weitere Informationen finden Sie unter www.lyfegen.com.
Über die EGK-Gesundheitskasse
Die EGK-Gesundheitskasse ist ein KMU-Krankenversicherer mit Sitz in Laufen (BL). Die EGK-Gruppe umfasst die EGK Grundversicherungen AG (Grundversicherung nach KVG), die EGK Privatversicherungen AG (Zusatzversicherung nach VVG) sowie die EGK Services AG (Verwaltung). Sie versichert schweizweit rund 100'000 Personen in der Grundversicherung, 80% von diesen verfügen auch über eine EGK-Zusatzversicherung.
Natürlichkeit und Nachhaltigkeit gehören zur Werthaltung der EGK. Sie gilt als Pionierin beim uneingeschränkten Zugang zu exzellenter Komplementärmedizin. Sie lanciert und unterstützt in der ganzen Schweiz Aktivitäten zur natürlichen Stärkung der Gesundheit.
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In light of today’s anticipated press release and exclusive article with AXIOS, we would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to our investors, customers, and team for sharing our vision to transform the healthcare system, helping patients to receive the healthcare treatments they need. The closing of our oversubscribed series A, led by aMoon Fund with additional participation from APEX Ventures and others, marks an important milestone.
Skyrocketing drug prices–especially for high-cost specialty drugs like cell and gene therapies–are accelerating the demand for value-based drug pricing. The move away from volume-based healthcare has never been more needed, and we are happy to play an important role in the shift to a value-based future.
With the $8 million in funding, we will expand our presence in Europe and the U.S. to increase drug affordability for more customers and, more importantly, more patients.
Together, we save lives.
Read the official Press Release
Read the Exclusive article with AXIOS
[caption id="attachment_3253" align="aligncenter" width="200"]
Girisha Fernando
CEO & Founder[/caption]
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Join in from anywhere in the world for two hours of incredibly interesting presentations by industry experts all around the topic of value-based healthcare.
At this DayOne Experts event, organized in close collaboration with Deloitte, industry experts will give an overview of where the pay-for-performance discussion in healthcare stands; possible solutions; and show how value-based healthcare could, should, and will impact the industry.
During the webinar, which will include deep dive sessions, we will seek answers to some of the most pressing questions: “How to define the value of a health outcome; how to capture it? Check out san diego boudoir photographer. In which areas of intervention is the value-based healthcare approach feasible; where would it be desirable? To what extent will value-based healthcare create new opportunities and accelerate innovation?”
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To guarantee our users happiness when working with our software, we are welcoming a brand-new quality specialist at Lyfegen: Liubov Buzila has joined the team and will keep an eagle eye on our platform to ensure everything runs like clockwork.
We sat down with Liubov to learn about her experience, her goals and her aspirations.
Hello Liubov, and welcome to Lyfegen! Please tell us a little about yourself: Where are you from, and what’s your educational and professional background?
I’m Ukrainian, but I moved to Romania two years ago and currently live in the city of Iași. I have a bachelor’s degree in applied linguistic, and my first job as a QA engineer was five years ago during my fourth year at university. I have worked in this field ever since.
What excites you about being a QA engineer?
Being a QA engineer is always challenging, and that’s what I love about it. Every day I deal with a lot of things that force me to think outside of the box. A tester is not only a person who has to find problems in the system, but also a person who takes responsibility for the system’s quality; this is what makes me super excited about my work – I enjoy improving our software for the better.
Why did you decide to join Lyfegen?
I am always striving to learn something new, and Lyfegen’s startup spirit is a great fit for that. I have tested products in different fields, but I have never worked in the healthcare industry before. Personally, I think it’s a great opportunity to see how the system works from a new perspective and to gain new experience.
What is something you want to learn or improve this year?
QA is a field where you are constantly learning something new, starting with technologies used in the product and ending by gaining new soft skills as part of an amazing team. The healthcare industry is new territory for me; I’m looking forward to exploring it and gaining expertise.
How will your know-how help to improve our customers’ experience of the Lyfegen platform?
My main goal is to improve the quality of the Lyfegen platform and deliver a highly reliable and convenient product to our customers. The rule is very simple: less bugs, happier customers!
Let’s get personal: What are your favorite things to do in your free time?
I love to cook! Whenever I get any free time, I find new recipes and try to impress my family. I also like listening to music. Music is the thing that helps me to relax and forget about my troubles. And, of course, I like travelling – I have been to 20 countries already, and I look forward to exploring more.
Is there anything else you are looking forward to outside of work this year?
Nothing specific, just enjoying my free time and travelling.
We are happy to have you with us, Liubov!
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Last week Lyfegen announced exciting news! Out of hundreds of start-ups, Lyfegen is among the top 10 selected to join one of Europe’s most innovative acceleration programs: InnoPeaks by Groupe Mutuel.
The news is taken with much excitement by Lyfegen’s co-founder, Michel Mohler, who briefly explains why being selected for this three month program by one of Switzerland’s leading health insurance companies is a great achievement for Lyfegen.
Hi Michel, can you give us a little more insights on the InnoPeaks program?
InnoPeaks is a business-focused acceleration program that focuses on challenging, enabling, growing, and scaling a business through workshops, mentorship, networking, and implementing proof of concepts. Groupe Mutuel, one of Switzerland’s leading health insurances, organizes this program. Their specific goal is to drive innovation in the two topics which support their core business: healthtech and insuretech.
Lyfegen is amongst only 10 startups that have been selected out of hundreds. What is Groupe Mutuel’s interest in having you on board?
Lyfegen, being one of Switzerland’s most innovative start-ups, is solving a crucial challenge healthcare – improving health outcomes for patients. We do this with our ground-breaking technology, working together with health insurances to give patients faster access to the medicine they need. Considering high-cost, personalized and potentially curative drugs, the prices of drugs need to become dynamic and depend on how well they work for patients. This also known as value-based contracting. Until recently, we have seen mostly Pharma Companies advocating for such pricing models. Engaging with a leading health insurance with our platform, we will achieve to bring such models to life in Switzerland, for Swiss patients.
What does Lyfegen want to achieve by being part of this program?
Switzerland's Federal Council (“Bundesrat”) addresses value-based contracting as one of the key solutions to achieve a more sustainable Swiss healthcare system. Our goal is to speak and learn from other startups, talk to decision makers at Groupe Mutuel, exchange thoughts and inspire Groupe Mutuel. As a result, we want to understand the perspective of health insurances and engage in a proof of concept.
We look forward to evolving with InnoPeaks, Groupe Mutuel and the other Start-ups. The team will be live-covering the InnoPeaks accelerator program in October, so stay tuned for more!
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At Lyfegen, we live by the highest quality standards, continuously improving as we move forward with facilitating value-based healthcare agreements for a fast & sustainable access to innovative therapies.
What is ISO 9001:2015?
The ISO 9001:2015 standard provides guidance and tools for companies and organizations who want to ensure that their products and services consistently meet customer’s requirements with quality being consistently improved.
This standard sets out the criteria for a quality management system used by many organization, large and small. Using ISO 9001:2015 helps ensure that customers get consistent, high quality products and services.
What this mean for Lyfegen?
At Lyfegen, we live by the highest quality standards, continuously improving our solutions & processes, as we move forward with the operationalisation of value-& data driven contracts for a fast & sustainable access to innovative therapies. In turn, this will benefit patients worldwide!
We are audited yearly by a third-party to keep our ISO status up to date.
Want to discover our solutions?
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“I am responsible for building the right products, and for building the products right.” Says Antti Hietala. Welcome to the Lyfegen Team!
As we embark on a new year, the great news start rolling in: Lyfegen welcomes its newest star, Antti Hietala, who takes on the key role of Product Owner.
As Antti arrives for his first day, Lyfegen’s CEO Girisha Fernando gives us his thoughts:
“Antti's excellent skills to think ahead and pull together industry, customer and technical perspectives to building a solid and ever-evolving product roadmap fills me with excitement, and will strengthen Lyfegen’s value for our customers even further. We are delighted to welcome Antti, a proud family man with values aligned with Lyfegen's values.”
We sat down with the ski-loving Product Owner to get a little more insight to who he is and what he will be doing at Lyfegen.
Hi Antti, tell us a little about yourself: where are you from and what is your professional background?
I come from the Arctic Circle. I grew up under the northern lights in a small town in northern Finland. I studied linguistics and computer science. My passion for content and technology led me to a career in technical writing. I wrote documentation for newspaper advertising systems and for financial asset management software.
Prior to joining Lyfegen I was the lead Product Manager at Magnolia where I built a content management solution. I’m a certified Scrum Product Owner and have worked with Product Managers and user experience designers in the past.
Why did you decide to join Lyfegen?
Lyfegen is my first venture into healthcare technology and it has an important mission: helping patients access innovative therapies by driving value-based healthcare. Removing obstacles that keep patients from getting the treatment or drugs they need is a high-level motivator. I’m also optimistic in our ability to make a big difference in the user experience of health technology and software.
I wanted to apply my product owner skills to an industry that is completely different from where I have worked before. Some say that it’s good to step out of your comfort zone and learn something completely new. The healthcare field is an exciting new challenge for me. I am thankful to the Lyfegen team for their confidence and trust that solid product management skills are universal and that I will apply them for a meaningful purpose.
You are joining Lyfegen as a Product Owner! In simple terms: what will you be working on?
I’m excited about joining Lyfegen! The team is packed with motivated and genuinely passionate people. We are on a path to build the most innovative contracting platform in the healthcare industry.
As Product Owner (PO) I am responsible for building the right products, and for building the products right. Concretely, this means talking to customers to understand their needs. I will define the product together with the Lyfegen team, translate the customer needs into features in our platform, together with our tech team.
My role has a strong outward-facing component. It’s critical for me to be in close contact with customers in order validate decisions quickly and build the right thing. My goal is to make our software valuable for our customers.
What are your next personal goals with Lyfegen?
Learning more about the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry is my first personal goal. There are so many new terms and abbreviations coming my way every day. It’s like the field has a language of its own.
On the product side, I’m very focused on optimizing the product-market fit. This means, finding the key features that really fulfill user needs and then amplifying those features in the product. I want to see users become fans! That’s a sign of a great product-market fit to me.
Enough about work! What passions do you have outside of Lyfegen?
I love to ski in the winter. I’m lucky to live in beautiful Switzerland where the Alps provide ample opportunity to hit the slopes. In the summer I do fly fishing in the Black Forest region of southern Germany or in Alsace, France. I’m also an avid pizza chef, forever improving my home-pizza game with the ultimate goal of authentic Neapolitan pie.
We are proud to welcome Antti to the Lyfegen team!
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Pharma says they want greater competition within the industry and more incentives for pharmaceutical innovation; value-based purchasing agreements can provide both.
Value-based purchasing arrangements first appeared in the European markets in the 1990s, while U.S. healthcare markets did little with value-based contracts for pharmaceuticals until the 2000s. The high cost of new drugs coming to market, large annual increases in existing drug prices, and political pressure from lawmakers on payers to address the high cost of healthcare have encouraged stakeholders to make greater use of value-based purchasing arrangements.
It's easy to understand the appeal of value-based purchasing agreements for private and public payers. Value-based purchasing is one way both U.S. and European payers are using to reduce overall healthcare spending.
For drug companies, value-based purchasing puts an end to their unencumbered pricing strategy. But pharmaceutical manufacturers realize value-based purchasing agreements are the best way, and maybe the only way, to get their new, higher-priced products covered by payers and into the treatment plans of patients.
How do pharmaceutical companies determine their drug prices?
Pharmaceutical companies are in business to generate as much revenue as possible without jeopardizing patients’ access to their treatments. In the U.S., where drug pricing is unregulated, pharmaceutical manufacturers can charge any price they want for their products. In the EU, member states use regulations such as direct control over pricing, referencing the average price of a drug among all EU members to set a national price, or regulating the drug manufacturers’ profit.
When deciding on a new drug’s retail price, the manufacturer considers several areas of concern such as the drug’s competition, government-granted exclusivity, patents in force, and a drug’s clinical effectiveness and benefit to patient outcomes.
Pricing a drug incorrectly can have severe consequences for the manufacturer’s bottom line. Private and public payers in the U.S. have ways of restricting patients’ access to drugs that they consider overpriced. In European countries, drug manufacturers risk being fined by authorities for unfair prices and excessive price hikes.
Value-based purchasing promotes competition in the pharmaceutical market
In the U.S., there are economic policies and legal loopholes that manipulate competition in the drug industry. The Biden administration considers this one of the key problems to address to support drug pricing reform. The president’s Executive Order 14036, the Competition Executive Order, calls for increased transparency, innovation, and competition.
Even though manufacturers take advantage of U.S. government protections that create temporary monopolies for some drugs, the large industry trade group PhRMA has joined the call for reforms that fix the current distortions in the market that stifle competition.
Manufacturers producing new drugs with in-class competition from other manufacturers—such as generics, biosimilars, or new uses or combinations of older drugs—use the real-world evidence gathered from value-based purchasing agreements to demonstrate the greater clinical value of their treatments compared to their competitors’ products. Data that show a drug’s uniqueness and effectiveness may be used to justify a manufacturer’s higher-than-average price.
In addition, manufacturers hope aligning a drug’s price to its clinical value will shift payers’ focus away from approving treatments based solely on the lowest price to covering similar treatments that might be more expensive but produce better health outcomes for patients.
Value-based purchasing incentivizes research and development (R&D) of new drugs
The post-market clinical data gathered under value-based purchasing can facilitate data-driven drug development. For example, the drug company Novartis published a position paper in which they stated they use real-world evidence to support the development of customized interventions and to invest in research in areas of the highest value for patients.
In the U.S.market in recent years, the number of clinical trials and an overall increase in spending on brand-name prescription drugs suggest that pharmaceutical manufacturers have been concentrating their research and development dollars on new high-cost specialty drugs for complex, chronic, or rare conditions they expect will be the most profitable.
New treatments like these, where the drug’s value is yet to be established for payers, are good candidates for value-based purchasing arrangements. The successful implementation of value-based purchasing contracts—with better health outcomes for patients, cost controls for payers, and fair prices for manufacturers—encourages even more data-driven drug development.
The Lyfegen Platform
Value-based purchasing agreements are a complex but necessary part of doing business for pharmaceutical manufacturers. They provide a framework for assessing a drug’s value using shared outcome measures and provide real-world evidence of the benefits of their products for patient health outcomes. Manufacturers who are unwilling to enter into value-based purchasing contracts with payers may find themselves at a disadvantage in negotiations with other stakeholders.
Lyfegen’s software platform helps healthcare insurances, pharma, and medtech companies implement and scale value-based purchasing contracts with greater efficiency and transparency. The Lyfegen Platform collects real-world data and uses intelligent algorithms to provide valuable insights on drug performance and cost in value-based contracts. By enabling the shift away from volume-based and fee-for-service healthcare to value-based healthcare, Lyfegen increases access to healthcare treatments and their affordability.
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CMS may want to consider value-based purchasing arrangements for Alzheimer’s Disease drugs
The Alzheimer’s Disease biologic Aduhelm (aducanumab) – a beta amyloid-directed monoclonal antibody - has experienced a tremendous amount of controversy regarding its safety and efficacy, both before and after its approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in June 2021.
A decision in April of this year by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to place severe limitations on coverage of Aduhelm has all but killed the drug’s chances of success. And, even after Aduhelm’s original wholesale acquisition cost (WAC) of $56,000 was cut in half, there were very few takers in both the public and commercial payer spaces. Aduhelm’s “failure” to this point is partly to blame for the departure of Biogen’s CEO, Michel Vounatsos.
Could Biogen’s Aduhelm have been saved by a value-based purchasing agreement with CMS, in which Medicare Administrative Contractors and Medicare Advantage Plans only pay for Aduhelm if it provides clinical benefits to patients? Possibly. Moreover, and perhaps more importantly, such an arrangement could still be used for other beta amyloid-directed monoclonal antibodies that are currently in late stages of development and are less controversial than Aduhelm.
Under the final national coverage determination (NCD) issued in April by CMS, Medicare will severely restrict coverage of Aduhelm. Concretely, the decision implies that only Medicare beneficiaries who have enrolled in CMS-authorized randomized controlled clinical trials will get coverage of Aduhelm.
In addition, under the NCD, CMS states that, if approved by FDA, the entire class of beta amyloid-directed monoclonal antibodies will be subject to restricted reimbursement. For example, all accelerated approvals must undergo post-marketing clinical trials, analogous to the stringent requirements imposed on Aduhelm. And even beta amyloid-directed Alzheimer’s Disease drugs that go through the regular approval process must enter a coverage with evidence development protocol, which implies that post-approval collection of data in patient registries will be mandatory.
In its NCD decision, CMS did not mention a value-based purchasing agreement. Nor did it reference Aduhelm’s WAC. Given that CMS is not permitted to take cost or cost-effectiveness into account, it perhaps makes sense that Aduhelm’s WAC wasn’t mentioned.
Nevertheless, at a regional level, a value-based purchasing agreement is something Medicare Administrative Contractors and Medicare Advantage Plans could have pursued. In addition, nationally, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation has the authority to test models which modify Medicare payments for certain high-priced drugs. These models are designed to introduce a value-based approach for drugs that have been approved with limited evidence. Certainly, the class of beta amyloid-directed monoclonal antibodies fit this description.
Here, a linkage between pay and performance would need to be established, along with the proper timing of the measurement of cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s Disease patients. Performance measures could include the kinds of validated cognitive assessments outlined in the NCD.
Last year, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review conducted a preliminary analysis of Aduhelm, extrapolating from Phase 3 data. ICER concluded that Aduhelm was not cost-effective, given the drug’s WAC, and that a cost-effective price benchmark range for would be between $3,000 and $8,400 per year for early-stage Alzheimer’s Disease patients, which is much lower than the current WAC of $28,000.
ICER’s assessment was not based on real world evidence, however. In any CMS-initiated value-based purchasing arrangement, there would be real world evidence, and accordingly adjustments could be made to the acceptable price range of the product. This could have applied to Aduhelm, but may still be relevant in future with respect to other beta amyloid-directed monoclonal antibodies, which are presently in Phase 3. These include Biogen/Eisai’s lecanemab, Roche’s donanemab, and Roche’s gantenerumab.
Aduhelm’s ship has perhaps sailed, with the baggage of the FDA approval controversy and the requirement of a randomized controlled clinical trial for any coverage at all. Nevertheless, value-based arrangements could very much be in play for other beta amyloid-directed monoclonal antibodies.
Undoubtedly this would be a major undertaking, particularly logistically. And, getting CMS to buy in won’t be easy. But, there’s precedent for CMS wanting to pursue value-based agreements. To illustrate, at the time of FDA’s approval of the CAR-T therapy Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel) in 2017 – indicated for acute lymphoblastic leukemia - it was accompanied by the announcement of a novel outcomes-based agreement with CMS, in which CMS would pay for Kymriah only if patients had responded to it by the end of the first month. Without disclosing why, CMS quietly backed away from that agreement.
Maybe the substantial unmet need in Alzheimer’s Disease will trigger CMS to consider alternative approaches to reimbursement. And, if any of the beta-amyloid directed monoclonal antibodies are approved in Europe or the U.K., similar value-based arrangements may be an option for payers.
Partnering with Lyfegen may be the solution for manufacturers and payers alike, as its platform can put users on the right track towards successful implementation of value-based purchasing agreements. The Lyfegen platform identifies and operationalizes value-based payment models in a cost-effective manner.
About the author
Cohen is a health economist with more than 25 years of experience analyzing, publishing, and presenting on drug and diagnostic pricing and reimbursement, as well as healthcare policy reform initiatives. For 21 years, Cohen was an academic at Tufts University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Amsterdam. Currently, and for the past five years, Cohen is an independent healthcare analyst and consultant on a variety of research, teaching, speaking, editing, and writing projects.
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In June, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted unanimously (5-0) to examine rising list prices of insulin, but also to probe possible anti-competitive practices by pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) with respect to the use of rebate arrangements. Rebates are payments from drug manufacturers to PBMs in exchange for moving market share towards so-called preferred products on the formulary.
The FTC has specifically cited instances in which cheaper generics and biosimilars are excluded from PBM formularies, as this may violate competition and consumer protection laws.
The FTC inquiry into pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) practices could lead to legal action prohibiting certain rebate practices. In turn, this could induce major changes in the U.S. rebate system. Formulary management could become increasingly value- or outcomes-based, rather than simply a function of a financial power play between drug makers and PBMs. Or, rebates could fall by the wayside altogether, to be replaced by a combination of upfront discounts in lieu of rebates and value-based pricing arrangements. Partnering with Lyfegen may be the solution for manufacturers and payers alike, as its platform can put users on the right track towards successful implementation of value-based pricing arrangements.
The FTC has warned of legal action against PBMs if its inquiries find proof of anti-competitive practices. Here, the agency raised the stakes when it included terms like “commercial bribery” in its statements to describe what it perceives as anti-competitive rebates in the insulin market.
The latest FTC inquiries follow a recent investigation by Senators Grassley (R-Iowa) and Wyden (D-Oregon), which blamed rebate schemes for much of what ails the prescription drug market. Furthermore, nearly two years ago, Senator Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) and colleagues commissioned the General Accounting Office (GAO) to examine rebates. The GAO report is due out this fall.
PBMs receive rebates from drug manufacturers in exchange for preferred positioning on the formulary, which in turn drives market share. Experts have criticized rebates for the fact that payers often don’t base their decisions to include a drug on comparative clinical- and cost-effectiveness. Rather, decisions are strictly based on financial terms, namely which manufacturer offers a higher rebate payment to the PBM; a financial power play in which PBMs may threaten not to cover certain drugs if they don’t get the rebate they want. This applies to insulin as well as numerous other therapeutic categories.
What’s worse is when rebate traps or walls are involved. Branded manufacturers leverage their position as market leaders by offering financial incentives to PBMs and health insurers in the form of “all or nothing” conditional volume-based rebates, in exchange for (virtually) exclusive positioning on the formulary. This can mean keeping competitors off the formulary entirely, or severely limiting formulary access to a competing drug with drug utilization management tools like step edits. Here, a patient must use a preferred drug and fail on it (a so-called “fail-first” policy) before “stepping up” to a non-preferred drug.
Because the portion of the rebate retained by PBMs is often calculated as a percentage of a drug’s list price, PBMs can have incentives to establish formularies that favor branded drugs with higher list prices and larger rebates over lower priced biosimilars, specialty generics, or even branded competitors. Rival drugs entering the market lack sufficient sales volume to be able to offer the same level of rebates to PBMs that originator firms can provide.
Proof of the establishment of anti-competitive practices could lead to legal action being taken against PBMs. The question then becomes what would replace rebates? Payers may establish an entirely different formulary management system that is more value-based. Surely, it would be a system that’s less contingent on the role of the financial power play between drug makers and PBMs.
In areas such as immunotherapy targeting certain cancers, cell and gene therapy, and rheumatology, there are already a growing number of value-based agreements.
Girisha Fernando, CEO and Founder of Lyfegen, which offers a platform to track value-based agreements with real-world data, said that many outcomes-based deals are kept secret and therefore under the radar, so to speak. Commercial payers generally don’t share publicly what types of value-based deals they have with drug companies to maintain their competitive advantage. Yet, in an interview with Endpoints News Fernando stated that he’s observed at least a 300% increase in value-based agreements over the last five years. The Lyfegen Platform enables more efficient and transparent management of value-based drug pricing contracts by using intelligent algorithms to capture and analyze patient-level drug cost data.
Fallout from the FTC inquiry – should rebates be identified as anti-competitive - may entail further increases in value-based dealmaking.
About the author
Cohen is a health economist with more than 25 years of experience analyzing, publishing, and presenting on drug and diagnostic pricing and reimbursement, as well as healthcare policy reform initiatives. For 21 years, Cohen was an academic at Tufts University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Amsterdam. Currently, and for the past five years, Cohen is an independent healthcare analyst n a variety of research, teaching, speaking, editing, and writing projects.
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Lyfegen is building the leading contracting software solution to support value-based drug pricing arrangements. This mission requires a hands-on team to optimize all our processes. With Anca Marin joining our team as the new business analyst, we are set up for success.
We sat down with Anca to learn about her experience, her goals, and her aspirations.
Hello Anca, and welcome to Lyfegen! Please tell us a little about yourself: Where are you from, and what’s your educational and professional background?
Hello, my name is Anca. I am based in Bucharest, Romania. I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and later earned a master’s degree in business management. Before joining Lyfegen, I worked in finance for three and a half years in various industries, such banking, insurance, and ICT.
What excites you about being a business analyst?
The novelty – I believe it is a role where you never get bored as there is always a new situation, idea, or feature to build up, and it is exactly the challenge I want.
Why did you decide to join Lyfegen?
I find meaning and desire in making a change for the better. I also enjoy the work culture and the idea of being part of an innovative company while making a real impact.
What is something you want to learn or improve this year?
This is my first role as a business analyst. Therefore, this year, I want to focus on growing my knowledge and skills as a business analyst, as well as in software development and the healthcare industry.
How will your know-how help to improve our customers’ experience of the Lyfegen platform?
Given my previous roles, I would say that I was usually the one handling challenging and complex situations when dealing with customers. Through these experiences, I learned to find ways to deliver the best results for customers, and I will continue to do so. I also describe myself as being super detail-oriented – and details always make the difference.
Let’s get personal: What are your favorite things to do in your free time?
Besides my full-time job at Lyfegen, I am also a handball goalkeeper. I have been playing since I was 11 years old, and I usually go to two to three training sessions a week. However, I like sports in general, so if I am not on the handball court, I am probably playing other sports, like basketball or tennis.
I also like traveling and nature and activities away from the big cities, such as hiking, backpacking, and camping.
Is there anything else you are looking forward to outside of work this year?
Outside of work, my plans for this year are to get a motorcycle, take trips to the mountains, and make great memories!
We are proud to have you with us, Anca!
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With the right tools, healthcare providers can collect real-world evidence about a drug’s value and benefit. How do we convince them to share the data through value-based purchasing arrangements?
In the U.S., lawmakers, payers, and the public are putting pressure on healthcare providers to help transform the healthcare system in the U.S. Despite resistance from healthcare providers to abandon traditional fee-for-service models, the U.S. healthcare industry continues trending towards the adoption of value-based payment models. This transformation includes the ambitious but necessary goals of producing better public health outcomes, decreasing health disparities, increasing affordability for patients, and decreasing the cost of healthcare overall.
At the heart of value-based pharmaceutical pricing is collecting the right data to measure and assess the benefit of a treatment. Real-world evidence is needed to determine a drug’s contribution to health outcomes. As workers on the front lines, healthcare providers are in an excellent position to collect data on a drug’s performance. With this information, decision-makers can arrive at a drug price that reflects its true value to patient health outcomes.
Patients are having trouble paying for their prescriptions
A 2019 Kaiser Family Foundation Health Tracking Poll revealed three out of ten patients surveyed—ages 50 to 64 years old—stated they had difficulty paying for their medications. Drug prices, price increases, and copays and deductibles are preventing some patients from starting, or continuing, the treatments they need.
In the U.S., hospital system clinicians and independent physician practices are expected to choose the best treatments for their patients without consideration of the patient’s insurance coverage status. Providers often have little to no idea of the costs their patients will bear without insurance, after insurance deductibles and copays are met, or after a drug maker’s patient assistance program intervenes.
A patient’s cost-related nonadherence may include not filling prescriptions, skipping doses, taking a lower dose than prescribed, and experimenting with non-prescription, over-the-counter treatments; these strategies affect patient health outcomes.
When patients are already struggling to cover prescription costs, they can’t afford to waste money on low-quality treatments that are ineffective or of little benefit to their health outcomes. Providers also don’t want to waste time with treatments that don’t produce better health outcomes. Therefore, most healthcare providers are open to exploring value-based pharmaceutical purchasing agreements that can allow access to newer, more effective treatments that patients can afford.
The benefits of value-based purchasing arrangements for healthcare providers and patients
Healthcare providers willing to enter value-based pharmaceutical purchasing arrangements are rewarded with many benefits, including:
• Improved quality of care and better health outcomes for patients
Providers in value-based purchasing arrangements gather real-world evidence of the effectiveness of a drug. They collect data that reveal which treatments are the most clinically effective and which add little or no value to patient health outcomes. This could lead to new insights into best practices and new clinical guidelines and protocols.
• Increased access to innovative, more effective treatments
Under value-based purchasing arrangements, providers and patients can gain access to brand new, high-cost prescription drugs. Real-world data gathered during contract implementation reveal the new drug’s benefit to health outcomes. Value-based purchasing can also encourage providers to try other lower-cost treatment options like biosimilars and new generics.
• Greater operational efficiency and reduced overall cost of healthcare
Identifying and eliminating low-value treatments through value-based arrangements reduces the waste of resources and time for both providers and patients. The provider’s clinical operations can become more efficient and cost-effective, with positive effects on revenue and patient satisfaction.
Healthcare providers have concerns about value-based purchasing arrangements
Despite the upside, providers are wary; value-based purchasing arrangements are complex. They require careful consideration of what metrics are to be measured. Stakeholder partners must navigate a new level of transparency and data sharing. And naturally, each partner in the agreement wants to include as many protective contingencies clauses as they can think of.
Providers want to be sure implementation of the agreement doesn’t become an untenable administrative burden for their staff. There are concerns about the technology upgrades needed to collect, protect, and analyze the data generated by value-based purchasing agreements. Will there be interoperability issues with the existing electronic medical records system? How will the data be interpreted and presented to provide actionable insights?
The safest and easiest way to overcome these barriers and get help to operationalize value-based purchasing agreements is to use a vendor partner with a customizable software solution.
The Lyfegen software solution
Lyfegen created a software solution that addresses these concerns about shifting from fee-for-service payment models to value-based purchasing arrangements. We help healthcare providers, insurances, pharma, and medtech companies implement and scale value-based contracts for specialty drugs with greater efficiency and transparency.
The Lyfegen Platform collects real-world data and uses intelligent algorithms to provide valuable insights on drug performance and cost in value-based contracts. In supporting the transition from volume-based to value-based purchasing arrangements, Lyfegen increases affordability and access to health treatments for patients.
To learn more about Lyfegen’s value-based contracting platform, book a demo.