Blog · Data quality and reconciliation · Pharma
How a pharmaceutical commercial team carries formulary and access status on every account so that reach, frequency and share are computed among the accounts where the product can actually be prescribed, the two lists that fall out, calls on blocked accounts and uncalled accounts with open access, and the dated status that makes a quarter's numbers comparable to the last.
A field team's reach is 72 percent of target accounts. Among the accounts where the product is on formulary, it is 61 percent. Among the accounts where it is blocked, it is 84 percent, because those are the accounts where reps have been trying hardest for the least result. Access status on the account record is what separates the two. This guide sets out the dimension, the recomputed measures, and the two lists.
Per account, per month:
| Status | Meaning | Counted in |
|---|---|---|
| Open | On formulary, no restriction | Reach, frequency, share |
| Restricted | On formulary with prior authorisation or step | Reach, frequency, share, flagged |
| Blocked | Not on formulary | Neither; the calls list |
| Unknown | No access data | Listed for the access team |
Account identifiers only. Prescriber names never leave the source.
Reach = accounts called ÷ target accounts with open or restricted access Frequency = calls ÷ accounts called, among the same Share = product prescriptions ÷ category prescriptions, among the same
And the assertion:
target accounts = open + restricted + blocked + unknown
Calls on blocked accounts. Per rep: calls in the period on accounts with blocked status on the call date, and the share of the rep's calls that were. A rep at 30 percent is spending a third of their time where the product cannot be written.
Open access, uncalled. Per territory: accounts with open status and no call in the cycle, ranked by category volume. The reach that is actually available.
One territory, one quarter.
| All targets | Open and restricted | Blocked | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accounts | 210 | 148 | 62 |
| Called | 151 | 90 | 61 |
| Reach | 72% | 61% | 98% |
| Calls | 604 | 320 | 284 |
Nearly half the territory's calls went to sixty-two accounts where the product is blocked. The open-access uncalled list has fifty-eight accounts on it, and the rep's next cycle is that list.
Access not on the account. Reach is computed over everyone. The measure is flattering and wrong.
Status undated. A formulary change restates history.
Blocked accounts removed silently. The calls spent on them disappear with them. Keep them; list the calls.
Mixed payers ignored. An account half open is counted as fully open. Weight or bucket, and state which.
Mapped once and dated, the access file, the account master and the call activity produce the recomputed measures and both lists every cycle. Covirage builds this from the exports as they are. The pharma page describes the setup, and the reach and frequency guide covers the base measures this dimension corrects.
The market access or payer team maintains it by plan and by account or geography, usually in a file updated monthly. It is joined to the account master on the account identifier or on the account's dominant payer, and dated.
Because a formulary win in month two changes the denominator from month two, and a quarter's reach must be computed against the access that held in each month. Restating history under today's access makes last quarter's reach move.
Carry the share of the account's patients under open access, from the payer mix on the account. Weight the account by that share in reach and frequency, or bucket it as open, restricted or blocked at stated thresholds. State which.