VALUE PROPOSITIONS
For Physicians
PROFESSIONAL INDEPENDENCE
Each physician values the ability to exercise her best professional judgment in treating her patients. That is why she became a physician. Circles enable her to do so.
Clinicians use Circles to advance professionally through research, conference presentations, thought leadership, mentoring, and obtaining industry funding.
Professional independence can be achieved not only in small practices, physician-owned hospitals, and ASCs. The employed clinician can also reclaim a large degree of professional control and autonomy because of the flexibility, low-cost and collaborative elements of Circles.
PROFESSIONAL COLLABORATION
Physicians are inherently collaborative. Major medical advances depend on that collaboration. Circles break down the silos, institutional barriers, administrative burden, and time constraints of modern medicine which hinder collaboration.
Circle Members enjoy sustained collaboration within and across institutional and national boundaries on clinical/scientific topics of common interest.
Circle Members can also include scientific experts, medical statisticians, clinical research coordinators, laboratory technicians, referring physicians and/or industry partners.
Circles allow Circle Members to benefit from the aggregated datasets which their collaboration produces, while also protecting the datasets of individual Members.
PROFESSIONAL FULFILLMENT
The realities of modern healthcare are often at odds with the reasons many providers chose medical careers. Even in the busiest clinical environment, Circles enable better and more sustained patient engagement.
“See one; do one; teach one.” Circles are excellent platforms for learning, mentoring, improving. The real-world evidence generated by Circles can be the heart of journal articles, conference presentations, internal HCP seminars and patient-education materials.
PRACTICE VALUE
Healthcare data is the foundation of modern medicine. AI and “big data” algorithms are of little value unless tied to a relevant clinical context and outcomes measures. Those data originate in the clinic. Providers should benefit from the value of those data; Circles help them do so.
Partnership between industry and clinicians has been the source of many important medical advances and products. Circles address the legal and policy barriers which often hinder such partnership.
LEGAL / PAYER COMPLIANCE
Regulatory compliance, support for marketing claims, and minimizing and addressing adverse events are major issues for all provider groups. Clinical decision-making, treatment protocols and outcomes should therefore be accurately documented. Circles automatically generate individual and aggregated records of clinical interventions, as well as long-term outcomes.
Value-based payments are here to stay. Circles help establish and demonstrate quality care, and predictable, superior long-term outcomes. Their real-world evidence supports providers in ACO payments, the establishment of narrow networks, and payer negotiations.
For Industry
PHYSICIAN ENGAGEMENT
The medical product industry depends on physicians as customers, sources of new products, and patient connections. Payers depend on providers to deliver value-based care. Circles are an effective approach to establishing and expanding an ethical and mutually beneficial relationship with physicians.
Circles are used by medical societies for registries and research by their members. They are used by physicians to verify safety and efficacy of products for new indications. They are used by hospitals for IRB-approved studies. They are used by ASCs to support reimbursement.
REGULATORY SUBMISSIONS
Pre-market approval and post-market surveillance increasingly require real-world evidence. So do IDEs, INDs, and 510-Ks. Circles represent cost-effective and efficient approaches for each of these. They are also excellent platforms for IRB and medical ethics committee submissions, including investigator and patient enrollment.
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Partnership between industry and clinicians has been the source of many important medical advances. Circles address the legal and policy barriers which often hinder such partnership.
Circles support investigator-initiated trials, directly with hospitals and other provider groups or through medical societies and foundations.
Circle Members can be important sources of new devices, diagnostic procedures, or other inventions. As a result of the Circles with which they are associated, those inventions are already associated with real-world safety and efficacy evidence.
Circles represent large, verifiable and statistically significant datasets, which may yield insights regarding product improvement, new indications, and strategic research topics.
HEALTH EQUITY
”Health equity” and “Social Determinants of Health” are increasingly important components of value-based payments. The low-cost and excellent user experience of Circles make them ideal for developing and substantiating evidence-based protocols for underserved and more diverse patient populations.
Circle Members can include rural providers, practical nurses, social workers or even caregivers collaborating closely with those in academic medical centers.
Circle Observational Protocols can include social or other assessments and datasets in addition to, and linked to, more traditional clinical data.
EVIDENCE-BASED BRANDING
Real-world evidence of safety and efficacy, specific to a medical condition, is the essence of product branding. This is true whether communicating to providers or patients. Circles generate that evidence, often through clinicians representing current or prospective customers.
Ongoing education and training are an important part of successful provider communications. Moreover, that education is adapted by providers for their patients. Circles inherently support teaching and learning among Circle Members in the context of specific indications, treatment protocols and products.
Through investigator-initiated studies and other sponsored research initiatives developed through Circles, industry is able to strengthen its reputation for research, product development, value-based care and health equity.
For Medical Societies and Associations
MEMBERSHIP VALUE
Medical societies, patient advocacy groups and other healthcare associations must compete for membership time, dues, and participation. Circles-based studies, research studies, conference presentations and registries represent a powerful way to deliver value and sustain engagement with members throughout the year.
IMPACT
Each society’s or foundation’s mission statement involves impact – not only for improved patient care through clinical members, but often for national awareness and policy initiatives. That impact is achieved more readily, and more powerfully, through statistically significant evidence developed through the society.
FUNDING
Societies and foundations properly emphasize their freedom from industry influence. However, industry sponsorship of annual conferences, registries and often research grants is often necessary to supplement members’ dues. Circles are an efficient medium through which to maintain independence, but attract financial support for the society and its Members.