Entrée Health: 2024

Entrée Health

200 Varick Street, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10014

212-896-8026 • [email protected] • entreehealth.com

 

Quick facts

Services mix

• Payer marketing: 50%
• Patient/provider support: 50%

Entrée Health isn’t your typical market access agency,” according to the leadership team, characterizing it as “a unique collection of nerds, creatives, and operations and client relationship gurus all focused on one big idea: people deserve access to the health care they need.

“Leveraging data-powered commercial solutions, collaborating with sister Omnicom Health Group organizations, and focusing on talent and community continue to guide Entrée Health’s growth and sustained success as the premier value and access offering of the Omnicom Health Group.” 

Recent accomplishments

2023 marked the 20th anniversary of Entrée Health, which was created to meet the demand for a response to the increasing influence of third-party payers in the U.S. healthcare ecosystem.  Megan Hall, chief creative and marketing officer, who has been with Entrée Health since the beginning, jokes that market access, which is suddenly ultra-
hot (though not a moment too soon), is an overnight sensation 20 years in the making.

“We’re sitting in the middle of a perfect storm: small target patient populations + high investment costs + Wall Street pressure to replace blockbuster revenues = high drug prices,” Hall says. “The best defense a pharmaceutical manufacturer can have against that storm is a customized, strategic market access offense. That’s where Entrée Health comes in.”

Executives state Entrée Health was rewarded for its dedication and success in the market access space by being named the 2023 Market Access Agency of the Year by MM+M. Its innovative pull-through technology, Access NextTM, also received accolades from MM+M and PM360 for helping pharma effectively leverage data “to take the pain out of conversations about coverage.” 

“One thing that hasn’t changed over the last 20 years is that nothing matters more to the Entrée Health team than a patient’s ability to access the medication they’ve been prescribed, whether that be at the pharmacy, at the hospital or physician’s office, or at home,” managers say.

“It’s exciting to see market access turn the attention from purely the economic side of health care into really focusing on the patient experience in a more holistic manner: not only the clinical choice of what product to prescribe but making sure patients can get to the treatment center, that the product is affordable and easy to use, that there are physicians available, able, and willing to administer or prescribe, wherever a patient may be,” says Cora Meese, president. “At the end of the day, the patient is who it’s all about.”

Structure and services

According to the leadership team Entrée Health offers communications solutions “designed to help manufacturers effectively and efficiently eliminate barriers to access and get products into the hands of patients.” Services include value and HEOR communications, reimbursement support and hub design, pull-through, branding identity development, brand planning, and training and meeting facilitation

Entrée Health is led by Hall, Meese, and Roseann Roccaro, CFO. Each business unit is led by a pair of creative and client services leads, which managers say is a rejection of the traditional tension between these disciplines – with joint responsibility for creative excellence, business growth, and staff development. The business units are led by Lauren Elliott, senior VP, director of client services, Connie Karambelas, senior VP, group creative director, Diana Maldonado, senior VP, client service director, Lane Maloney, senior VP, client service director, Elisa Remoundos, senior VP, group creative director, and Veronica Warman, senior VP, group creative director.

Jason Dineen, executive VP, director of narrative strategy, and Paul Smith, executive VP, creative director, provide additional creative leadership, while Mecca Scott, senior VP, director of business operations, oversees day-to-day project delivery.

“We’ve optimized our delivery model to include restructuring teams and process for increased efficiency,” Scott says. “Since the pandemic, marketers are looking to take more control of their market access dollars, increase the quality of work, ensure accuracy in targeting the right customer, and embark on innovative digital solutions that broaden their footprint with formulary decision-makers to ensure patients get access to the health care they need. We know our clients, market access marketers, have their eyes on innovation, and the market is ripe for it. However, making room for that innovation will depend on consistent, reliable processes that provide a solid foundation for balancing budget limitations and creative exploration.”

A new business strategy role was added to the team to provide real-world client perspective internally and develop strategies inclusive of competitive insights and novel approaches. “Payer experts know payers, clinical experts know science, and commercial experts know how to bring products to market successfully,” says Jillian Cunningham, senior VP, director of business strategy. “But business strategists are a different type of expert, a hybrid of those three. It’s my job to look at the bigger picture, anticipate and diagnose issues, see potential opportunities, and engage the right subject matter expert at the right time.” 

To meet the growing post-pandemic employee demand for more connectivity, Entrée Health launched new mentorship programs, an “Entrée You” series of community-building get-to-know-you sessions, an opportunity to come together for an annual ConnectFest brainstorm to address future client challenges, and new
gratitude-sharing tools.

Future plans

Entrée Health will be closely monitoring progress in artificial intelligence (AI) and regulatory updates from Washington, D.C., leaders say. They expect AI and data to continue to be a force to be reckoned with. “In market access, understanding your audience is everything, and AI and data are effective and efficient ways to gain that insight,” executives say. “At the end of the day, stakeholders, including prescribers, patients, and payers, are people first, and now, we’re effectively leveraging the ability to understand what matters most to each of these groups as individuals. “

Leaders maintain that the Entrée Health team will be keeping a close eye on regulatory updates, including the economic impact of the Inflation Reduction Act and proposed changes to patent exclusivity for first-line generics. They say the agency will continue to help clients understand, adapt, and communicate about their response to new regulations in timely ways.

For employees, Entrée Health will continue its commitment to increasing representation among staff, according to managers. The agency supports initiatives such as the Multicultural Advertising Intern Program (MAIP), #AdvertiseYourWhy, and the AdColor LEADERS program. 

Philanthropy/citizenship

Leaders say Entrée Health doubled down on inclusion, supporting programs such as the Zana Africa Foundation, which gives adolescent girls in Kenya access to the tools for safely navigating puberty, and the Tyler Clementi Foundation, which teaches kids to celebrate differences, value kindness, respect, and compassion, and how to intervene safely and appropriately in bullying situations.