Optum and Merck Learning Laboratory

Curt Medeiros:        The health care landscape is changing dramatically. Payers are continuously working to drive improvements in health outcomes, as well as lower costs.  

Susan Shiff:           Moving to value-based models for pharmaceutical companies allows us to look at the real-world outcomes of patients, as it relates to our medicines and vaccines.

Curt:                       Value-based contracts provide a new opportunity to align payment with the actual performance of that drug for each and every individual person.

Susan:                    It allows us to price our products based on the innovation that we bring to society.

Curt:                       It takes a ton of resources, data and time to analyze whether a health plan is getting the benefit for the target population.

Susan:                    We’re working to find win-win solutions with our collaborative partner, Optum.

Susan:                    In doing so, we’ve created a Learning Lab to explore value-based and pay-for-performance contracts.

Curt:                       The primary purpose of the Learning Lab is to study data, analytics, market conditions; to understand the potential performance of value-based contracts in different payer settings.

Susan:                    We used Optum’s clinical, claims and integrated data to measure real-world outcomes.

Susan:                    These data assets, along with Merck’s understanding of the marketplace and how patients use medications, allowed us to really understand value-based contracts and how we can use them in the marketplace.

Curt:                       One insight we’ve discovered in the partnership is that these should be more than just financial agreements. They should really be a bridge to bring together pharmaceutical manufacturers and payers, working towards one common goal: improved patient outcomes at sustainable affordability.

Susan:                    What excited me the most about the Learning Lab was having a safe environment, or a sandbox, to explore new ideas, new models, new designs; and opened up a dialogue that we had never had before.

Curt:                       Merck and Optum came together, combining their unique capabilities.

Susan:                    To think about the complexity of the data that would be necessary in value-based contracts, and to both work toward one goal: improving the lives of patients.

Curt:                       The partnership between Merck and Optum has achieved more than we could imagine.

Susan:                    To bring medicines to patients that really need them, and to truly invent for life.