The Medical Affairs Impact Equation: Demonstrating Strategic Impact Through Outcomes and Data

This study examines how Medical Affairs teams measure strategic impact using lagging indicators and real-world data. It analyzes which outcomes are most valued, how they are linked to prior Medical activities, and what data sources are used to validate impact. The research also introduces frameworks for outcome measurement, explores data granularity across platforms, and identifies key hurdles in linking Medical tactics to strategic results.

KEY TOPICS

• Lagging Indicators of Medical Impact
• Real-World Data Outcomes
• Linkability of Strategic Outcomes to Activities
• Data Granularity and Source Utilization
• Challenges in Outcome Measurement

• Prioritizing strategic outcomes and assessing their linkability to medical activities
• Measuring gaps between outcome importance and linkability
• Trends in linking lagging indicators
• Connecting real-world data and provider-level outcomes to tactical execution
• Evaluating Medical’s role in launch readiness, guideline influence, and market access
• Comparing perceived versus measured impact across lagging indicators
• Key challenges in linking medical tactics to strategic outcomes
• Adapting metrics to product lifecycle maturity—from launch to established brands
• Updating measurement frameworks over time to align with evolving objectives
• Balancing competing strategic priorities within Medical Affairs
• Identifying critical data sources and optimizing data granularity to strengthen impact measurement

• Top measurement hurdle hinges on too many market variables to clearly link action to outcome: 72% of surveyed Medical organization cite this is a major challenge. Meanwhile, 53% cite limited resources/data as a critical challenge, and 44% indicate “we don’t know what outcomes to measure.”

• Managing leading and lagging indicators over time: Leading indicators are revisited monthly by 33% of organizations – more than any other interval surveyed. Lagging indicators are most often assessed on ad-hoc basis as needed (36% of orgs) or quarterly (33% of orgs).

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