EP318: A Primer for Pharma Looking to Collaborate With Health Systems, From the Point of View of Troy Larsgard, a Pharmaceutical Category Manager at Johns Hopkins

In Episode 318, Stacey Richter talks with Troy Larsgard, category manager of pharmaceuticals at Johns Hopkins Medicine, about what a great strategic collaboration between Pharma and a health system actually looks like — from the point of view of the person pharma reps most want to meet.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

✅ Why a health system's level of centralized decision-making shapes how Pharma should approach it

✅ The difference between a strategic model and a purely transactional, tactical model

✅ Why early, frequent, transparent communication builds more trust than a "boots on the ground" rep strategy

✅ How drugs actually get onto formulary, and how physicians learn about it

✅ What "partnership" really means to a health system, versus what pharma companies often assume it means

WHY THIS MATTERS

Practicing medicine without pharmaceuticals doesn't work, so figuring out how providers and Pharma collaborate well matters a great deal — and that sweet spot exists somewhere between blocking every pharma rep at the door and outright conflicts of interest. Troy Larsgard's insight, that pharma companies who meet health systems where they actually are outperform those clinging to legacy transactional approaches, applies just as much to medical device makers and digital health vendors trying to work with health systems.

=== LINKS ===

🔗 Show Notes with all mentioned links: Episode Page

🔗 Healthcare Industry Acronyms and Terms

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00:00 Introduction.

04:16 What's the rationale behind trimming the supplier list for pharmacists?

05:35 What's the difference between a strategic model and a tactical model?

06:49 "A lot of effort goes into developing drugs and bringing them to market, but sometimes the thought of how to interact with the health system beyond that isn't always thought out."

09:06 "I think there's opportunity to be more seamless."

10:48 "Those who inform early, often, and are transparent … save much more face."

11:04 What do account managers need to know about health systems and vice versa for them to work together?

14:15 How do drugs on formulary fall into these pharma/health system collaborations?

16:46 How do physicians know when a drug is on formulary?

19:32 Are downstream medical costs being assessed?

21:29 Why would a health system choose to collaborate with a pharmaceutical company in this system?

22:31 "What does partnership mean to you?"

26:15 "Outcomes-based contracts sometimes are called risk share, and I like to joke sometimes it's all risk, no share."