ELITE Strategist Kendra Fanara of Johnson & Johnson

Kendra Fanara

Group Product Director, Customer and Patient Engagement Marketing

Johnson & Johnson

 

The Intuitive Strategist

Insight, intuition, and a strong desire to understand healthcare shifts under the ACA are just some of the qualities that define Kendra Fanara as a strategist par none. While working in pharmaceuticals on access and payer confusion issues, Kendra learned about the various models CMS brought about through healthcare reform.

But one, the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) model, led Kendra to an “aha” moment. The same issues she was working on in the pharmaceutical space were also moving into the medical device sector! Seeing an opportunity to get out in front of these changes, Kendra moved into medical device—and focused on educating stakeholders about CJR.

While CJR bundled payments represented a significant opportunity to partner with hospital systems and HCPs, they weren’t well understood. Kendra saw something no one else did: HCPs would need support, and by getting out in front of this issue, J&J could set itself up to be a valuable partner throughout the CJR process.

With this in mind, Kendra oversaw a multifaceted educational program that included printed materials and KOL-led webinars, which her agency Victory Healthcare Communications helped her create. Since the medical device sector had never tried this approach, it was risky, but the potential rewards were worth it. And Kendra sold management on her plan to prepare the medical device sector for these future innovations.

A series of educational brochures followed, starting with Bundled Payments: The A-B-C-Ds of Success, which broke the CJR process down into critical components, necessary actions, and a four-step process to improve performance in all phases of patient care. Kendra’s program evolved into a 360° approach, educating both internal stakeholders and HCPs on the increasingly important subjects of CJR and bundled payments—and inspired a company-wide initiative. A new CJR and bundled payments team formed, which served as an educational tool as bundled payments moved into new fields—and became mandatory in some.

Kendra’s ability to anticipate important changes and educate stakeholders represents a foundation on which to build a future. “The healthcare landscape continues to change,” Kendra states. “We need to start thinking in terms of episodes of care, care continuums, and patient journeys that result in better outcomes.”

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