This course, led by Bhavesh Shah, PharmD, of Boston Medical Center, provides manufacturers with a blueprint to help them engage effectively with IDNs. It starts with an overview of IDN characteristics, including types, internal structures, size, common traits, and geographic distribution. The course then dives into provider informational needs and explains how needs and challenges differ by IDN structure. Users then learn about how pharmaceutical field personnel must adapt to new realities, including the need for a more sophisticated level of engagement requiring complex skill sets. The course concludes with practical steps manufacturers should take to become valued partners with IDNs.

This course delves into the stakeholders that make up an IDN, explaining who’s who and what makes them an essential cog in the IDN wheel. Ryan Haumschild, PharmD, of Emory Healthcare and Winship Cancer Institute, explains critical roles in an IDN, variations to watch for, whom to engage with and avoid, and the makeup of hospital and clinic structures and service lines. The course then dives into IDN decision-making processes and structures, focusing on which IDN personnel can influence a brand’s position—and how. The course concludes by outlining community- and hospital-based roles and behaviors. It explains cultural differences by setting and outlines the structures that tie community oncologists to the IDN.