Year-over-year increase in reorder revenue and procedure volume

Solving the unmet needs in gastroesophageal reflux disease

Millions of Americans suffer from gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) daily, and this takes quite a toll on their quality of life. A popular treatment option is daily, high-dose proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs); however, approximately 20-40% of these patients have unresolved symptoms despite taking the maximum daily dose. A common alternative to medication is a surgical procedure that creates an artificial valve. While this has been the commonly accepted standard for over thirty years, this invasive surgical technique has decreased in popularity due to some troubling side effects including chronic discomfort, distention, and dysphagia, as well as problems with burping, and vomiting.

This innovative medical device company combines the most advanced concepts in gastroenterology and surgery to design solutions that meet the unmet needs in gastrointestinal diseases and improves the outcomes of patients suffering from GERD. Their device, a fastener delivery system, used to perform the TIF 2.0® procedure (Transoral Incisionless Fundoplication). This procedure allows a gastroenterologist or surgeon to endoscopically repair the gastroesophageal valve. Their innovative device and procedure have many advantages. First, it allows the physician to rebuild a flap valve from the inside, which results in a more natural, two-way valve, reducing the side effects and ultimately leading to greater patient outcomes, satisfaction, and overall quality of life. Second, it’s a less invasive procedure than other surgical options.

The challenge

A narrow view of the gastroenterology market

As a leader in endoluminal procedural therapy for GERD, This medical device company partners with physicians, hospitals, and health systems nationwide to develop reflux service lines at their facilities. These multi-disciplinary programs have many benefits for patients, healthcare professionals (HCPs), and healthcare organizations (HCOs). For example, these programs support patients throughout their diagnosis and treatment journey, assist physicians to establish their practice, and help providers create new service line offerings to maximize their patient reach and revenue growth.

Recognizing the significant unmet need in providing a durable and minimally invasive treatment option for millions of patients suffering from GERD, the company sought insights and objective data to identify where best to focus their commercial investment and resources to maximize the impact of this novel technology. To meet these goals, the team needed to:

1. Understand their total addressable market: The team required greater visibility into key players, their competition, and where their patient population was seeking care.
2. Coordinate commercial efforts: They needed to prioritize HCOs and HCPs based on factors like claims volumes, payor reimbursement, network integration, affiliations, and more.
3. Make the case for service line expansion: The team needed to demonstrate the ROI these organizations could realize with the development of a reflux service line.

To achieve these goals, it was essential for the commercial team to have access to a data source that would provide an elevated level of market visibility. The company had been using a third-party data vendor where they would purchase one-time cuts of claims data; however, it had several limitations. First, the data was static and only captured a moment in time, and it quickly became outdated in this dynamic market. Second, the data was limited in breadth, which meant they had a narrow view into critical aspects of the market like prescription information. Third, the data had limited depth, so the team could not dig deeper to better understand more nuanced questions. Ultimately, making critical business decisions on this incomplete, static data set was not ideal, and the team recognized they needed better data source to drive their commercial investment and overall strategy.

The solution

Powering commercial teams with essential healthcare commercial intelligence

After evaluating various data vendor options, this medical device company ultimately chose Definitive Healthcare because its product offerings provided significantly more insights and an easier-to-navigate data source compared to the other available options. With HospitalView, PhysicianGroupView, and PhysicianView, the team gained a broader and deeper overall view into the hospital, health system, physician group, and physician markets. For example, the team could overlay claims data with other key data points like executive contact information, practice locations, and affiliations to entities like networks, GPOs, ACOs, and physicians. The self-service database also allowed the team greater flexibility and efficiency when pulling and interpreting the data. For instance, within minutes, the team could analyze different CPT code combinations and capture multiple snapshots to answer more in-depth business questions that helped shape investment decisions. Recently, the team added ClaimsMx and ClaimsRx data due to the success using Definitive Healthcare’s other products. ClaimsMx and ClaimsRx data is sourced from multiple clearinghouses, updated monthly, and comprised of diagnosis, procedure, and prescription claims from commercial, Medicaid, Medicare Advantage, Medicare, and federal program sources.

Leveraging Definitive Healthcare’s Solution for Medical Device Companies provides the team with a current and sophisticated view of the complete market as they partner with caregivers to build reflux service lines at hospitals and health systems. Currently, the commercial teams use Definitive Healthcare data in the following ways:

1. Hone their target market: Claims data like ICD-10 and CPT codes are vital intelligence for the commercial teams to understand their market and competitors. Not only is this information crucial for sizing their available market, it’s also critical in identifying the top HCPs and HCOs prescribing, diagnosing, treating their target patient population. Additionally, Definitive Healthcare is important in conducting payor analyses to understand the largest and most strategic opportunities in their market.
2. Capture the patient journey: The team conducts in-depth analyses to uncover longitudinal intervention points for their patient population. This information helps to understand where, when, and how often therapy is being prescribed. Having a clear picture about where these patient cohorts seek care and what happens post-treatment is critical to informing their commercial strategy.
3. Develop an integrated sales and marketing strategy: The company optimized its commercial strategy with key metrics from Definitive Healthcare. For example, the sales team segments HCPs by role to ensure all members of the multi-disciplinary reflux team are engaged. They also segment by physician specialty and procedure type, which helps to determine which HCPs are a good fit for the TIF 2.0® procedure. Another way the team uses Definitive Healthcare is by examining the top payors at their target facilities, which helps the team determine the best path forward to ensure coverage of their procedure. The marketing team also leverages Definitive Healthcare intelligence to understand which physicians to target in campaigns and who to invite and partner with at educational events.
4. Convey the value of service line expansion: Definitive Healthcare’s data helps the sales reps conduct consultative discussions with hospitals and physicians around potential revenue leakage and patient care gaps. These discussions move beyond device cost and focus on the bigger picture of the positive impact a reflux service line has on patients and providers. Definitive Healthcare data is infused into the company’s slide decks as it helps organizations quantify the number of patients who are taking PPI without relief and the significant patient benefit and revenue opportunity if this service line was added or expanded.

The impact

Key results:

• High double-digit increases in procedures and revenue
• Greater productivity across commercial team in terms of targeting and focus
• Tangible incremental insights that enable better and more objective decision-making for commercial investments

The team has confirmed that the data from Definitive Healthcare has had an incremental impact on the organization as they partner with caregivers to build reflux service lines nationwide. The commercial team uses the data and analytics capabilities of Definitive Healthcare’s Solution for Medical Device Companies to gain deep visibility into the gastroenterology market, understand the patient journey, tailor their messaging, and segment and target customers in a more efficient and high impact way.

This medical device company has made substantial impact on patients, physicians, and healthcare organizations. Through reflux service lines, more patients can connect with the right specialists and start the right treatment to mitigate their symptoms. In addition to improving patient outcomes, these programs have had a quantifiable impact on the HCOs. For example, a physician at a medical center conducted a 2-year study as they launched their new reflux service line. Implementation of this program expanded the volume of patients, referrals, diagnostics, and procedures, and it resulted in significant revenue for the health system. The company continues to innovate to solve unmet gastroenterology needs, and as it looks ahead, Definitive Healthcare will continue to be a solid asset to the company.