Philips, a leading health technology company with about 70,000 employees dispersed across 18 business units, recently embarked on a medtech claims transformation journey. The process is particularly complex for Philips, as some business units manage upwards of 1,000 products.
During Veeva’s recent MedTech Summit, Valeria Bogomolnaya, marketing claims specialist, and Christina Villar, head of clinical affairs, shared how Philips built an effective promotional claims management strategy using Veeva PromoMats.
A modernized claims management can transform your organization’s content operations and ensure compliance with constantly evolving medtech regulations. Bogomolnaya says, “Compliance is the nature of our business. Our products impact many people; we aim to improve 2.5 billion lives per year by 2030. Everything we say must be truthful and accurate, and we have to connect our claims to every statement we make.”
For Philips, the complexity of compliance is compounded by its diverse medical device range and the frequency of new product launches. Villar says, “We have many products with many modifications and a high volume of product releases each year. We’re constantly developing commercial material globally with translations that need to meet certain regional criteria and requirements.”
Due to the volume of product data, Philips’ medical team heard considerable feedback from legal, regulatory, and quality teams about the challenges in managing this data. “It was time-consuming to locate the underlying data to support claims and to identify the most current approved material for promotional use,” says Villar. “This was reason enough to make the case to move forward with Veeva PromoMats.”
“We have many products with many modifications and a high volume of product releases each year.” – Christina Villar, Head of Clinical Affairs
Claims transformation for medical devices, as Bogomolnaya shares, is not an overnight process but a complex operational journey. “The first image that comes to my mind for transformation is a fairy tale change that happens overnight,” she says. “You wave your magic wand, and everything works. In reality, claims transformation is a very operational process involving many teams and systems.”
Claims management weaves through various ways of working and different systems before achieving a seamless and effective transformation. “Consider managing a thousand products in the context of transforming claims management,” says Bogomolnaya. “Each product involves numerous claims, evidence, marketing materials, translations, and various teams such as clinical and product management working together to produce all necessary documentation.”
Because of the substantial scope of work that Bogomolnaya and her colleague face with medtech claims management implementation, it was essential to identify the right processes and tools. “Claims management is business transformation,” says Bogomolnaya. “At Philips, transitioning to PromoMats meant conducting internal discussions, evaluating existing tools and policies, and determining what worked and what didn’t.”
“At Philips, transitioning to PromoMats meant conducting internal discussions, evaluating existing tools and policies, and determining what worked and what didn’t.” – Valeria Bogomolnaya, Marketing Claims Specialist
Claims management does not operate in a silo. It involves the entire organization, and implementation requires a multidisciplinary team. Input from departments such as legal, clinical, regulatory, IT, and product management is essential. “One of the key challenges is fostering effective teamwork, which can vary greatly depending on the company’s culture,” says Bogomolnaya.
“Committing the necessary resources and ensuring that people use the solution as intended requires a cultural shift.” – Valeria Bogomolnaya, Marketing Claims Specialist
As Philips progresses in its claims management journey, gaining stakeholder buy-in is a top priority. Villar says, “Committing the necessary resources and ensuring that people use the solution as intended requires a cultural shift.” Bogomolnaya adds, “It’s important to educate leaders on the significance of claims management. Meet people where they are in their understanding of claims. Ensure that leaders grasp the importance of claims and see them as vital to the company’s operations.”
Learn more about how modernized claims management can transform your medtech organization.