National VP, Reimbursement Strategy

Do you want to be part of an inclusive team that works to develop innovative therapies for patients? Every day, we are driven to develop and deliver innovative and effective new medicines to patients and physicians. If you want to be part of this exciting work, you belong at Astellas!

Astellas Pharma Inc. is a pharmaceutical company conducting business in more than 70 countries around the world. We are committed to turning innovative science into medical solutions that bring value and hope to patients and their families. Keeping our focus on addressing unmet medical needs and conducting our business with ethics and integrity enables us to improve the health of people throughout the world. For more information on Astellas, please visit our website at [Register to View] style="color: blue;">www.astellas.com.

This is a remote position based in Northbrook, Illinois. Remote work from certain states may be permitted in accordance with Astellas' Responsible Flexibility Guidelines. Candidates interested in remote work are encouraged to apply.

Purpose and Scope:

The Executive Director, Reimbursement Strategy builds, develops and leads a best-in-class US Reimbursement Strategy team that delivers impactful programs, tools and services to support patient access to Astellas medications. This role ensures adherence to reimbursement and regulatory guidelines and leads the overall strategic development and successful implementation of tactical reimbursement plans for late-stage development compounds, in-license products and existing marketed products. This position oversees administration of key patient programs, including reimbursement HUB services and Astellas' free drug program (PAP). The leader will partner with Sales, Brand Marketing, Policy & Government Affairs, and other Health Systems functions to integrate key data and information to develop and execute comprehensive and strategic product reimbursement plans that proactively minimize reimbursement barriers, optimize patient access to Astellas products and enable achievement of corporate business objectives

Essential Job Responsibilities:

• Lead the US portfolio reimbursement strategy function and manage a home office-based team that develops annual product reimbursement plans in coordination with key internal and external stakeholders, including brand marketing teams.
• Lead a field-based Access & Reimbursement Management (ARM) team to support patient access to prescribed Astellas medications by reducing barriers to access and offering solutions, as appropriate, to patient affordability
• Manage external vendor relationships to support administration of Astellas patient support programs, including reimbursement HUB vendor(s), PAP dispensing / distribution partners, and copay card vendors. Continuously monitor, evaluate and enhance performance and offerings to ensure delivery of best-in-class support to patients
• Develop and manage Reimbursement Strategy budget in conjunction with product marketing budgets. Effectively communicate to cross-functional teams gross-to-net and budget impact due to program utilization and market dynamics.
• Foster and develop partnership with Legal, Ethics & Compliance, Health Economics/Outcomes Research, Medical & Development, Alliance Management, Regulatory, Global Market Access and API to implement effective and compliant reimbursement strategies
• Partner with US marketing and field sales leadership to enhance communications and proactively develop solutions/plans to minimize customer (provider, patient) reimbursement
• Lead the US portfolio reimbursement strategy function and manage a home office-based team that develops annual product reimbursement plans in coordination with key internal and external stakeholders, including brand marketing teams.
• Lead a field-based Access & Reimbursement Management (ARM) team to support patient access to prescribed Astellas medications by reducing barriers to access and offering solutions, as appropriate, to patient affordability
• Manage external vendor relationships to support administration of Astellas patient support programs, including reimbursement HUB vendor(s), PAP dispensing / distribution partners, and copay card vendors. Continuously monitor, evaluate and enhance performance and offerings to ensure delivery of best-in-class support to patients
• Develop and manage Reimbursement Strategy budget in conjunction with product marketing budgets. Effectively communicate to cross-functional teams gross-to-net and budget impact due to program utilization and market dynamics.
• Foster and develop partnership with Legal, Ethics & Compliance, Health Economics/Outcomes Research, Medical & Development, Alliance Management, Regulatory, Global Market Access and API to implement effective and compliant reimbursement strategies
• Partner with US marketing and field sales leadership to enhance communications and proactively develop solutions/plans to minimize customer (provider, patient) reimbursement barriers, including development of field sales materials to appropriately communicate reimbursement programs and services
• Collaborate with field sales leadership and trainers to develop and implement reimbursement sales and marketing training materials for field sales and account management teams; ensure effective implementation of training with Sales Trainers.
• Monitor and identify payer policies that impact patient access to Astellas products, ensuring a strong collaboration with Policy & Government Affairs and Payer Account Management teams to evaluate and plan for payer policy intervention by field account teams
• Conduct critical analyses of the strategic reimbursement function, continually assessing benchmarks and measuring the competitiveness and effectiveness of all programs and practices to enhance reimbursement strategies to benefit patients
• Lead external relationships with alliance partners as it relates to reimbursement strategy of co-promoted products

Quantitative Dimensions:

• Responsible for managing a budget of at least $10 million to support patient access and reimbursement within the US
• Accountable for achievement of all contracted service level agreements (SLAs) and key performance indicators (KPIs) included in reimbursement vendor contracts
• Responsible for the field ARM team and/or external reimbursement vendors achieving positive customer satisfaction scores
• Accountable for achievement of PAP budget targets that ensure patient access while also managing business needs
• Conduct external bench marketing at least annually to ensure best-in-class reimbursement support programs
• Partner with internal audit and/or Ethics & Compliance to conduct at least 1 monitoring activity per external reimbursement vendor annually

Organizational Context:

The Executive Director reports to the Senior Vice President, Health Systems and will lead home office and field-based teams as well as multiple cross-collaborative project teams and have matrix responsibilities across the US Division and broader Astellas global organization. The Executive Director will collaborate with the following colleagues:

• US Commercial: Senior Vice Presidents, Vice Presidents, Executive/Senior Directors, Directors
• Global Commercial: Vice Presidents, Executive/Senior Directors, Directors
• Legal/Ethics & Compliance: Vice Presidents, Executive/Senior Directors, Directors
• Medical & Development (including MA, DEV, REG): Executive/Senior Directors
• Policy & Government Affairs: Vice Presidents, Executive/Senior Directors, Directors
• Finance: Vice Presidents, Executive/Senior Directors, Directors
• External: Executive leadership of Astellas partners