We spoke with Jeff Stonadge, Director of Strategic Reimbursement, to discuss his role, the challenges of market access and his experience with ValueConnected.

Could you please tell us about your career in the medical-technology industry?

I joined the Thackray company in 1991, who were acquired by DePuy shortly after I joined. I was in sales and sales-management with them until 1997, at which point I wanted to transition from a role in orthopedic implants to biotech. This led me become a sales and marketing manager for Biomatrix UK LTD, launching a product called Synvisc®. I left after 2 ½ years to join Smith & Nephew, where I worked in marketing and reimbursement for their technologies all across the world for 13 years until I transitioned to my most recent role.

What is your current role and what are your responsibilities?

I am currently the Director of Strategic Reimbursement. My responsibilities are to maintain and grow public and private payer funding for our technologies in EMEA, Australia and Canada. I have focused on Reimbursement since 2011 and in that time I led the team that gained NICE guidance for the EXOGEN® technology. I am responsible for direct line management of market access specialists in various countries, as well as for negotiating and liaising with health ministries and health technology assessment programs in various countries.

In your opinion, what are the major challenges in managing Market Access strategies across different international markets?

The biggest challenge is the complexity of the relationship between all the stakeholders and the increased demand for innovative healthcare solutions in an environment with downward pressures on budgets. The payer is changing too. It is no longer simply a matter of gaining public health funding, because private insurance and self-paying patients are becoming increasingly important.

Do you see any similar market challenges amongst the countries you work with? If so, can you list a few?

The general outlook is the same across all markets. The key thing we face is that we have to present value to the payer, which becomes complicated in that it could be the public, it could be private insurers or it could be out-of-pocket payment from the patient. There are different vehicles of communication required to get your value message across to the key stakeholders as they differ from country to country. You never know exactly which value message will be the most important.

How did you get in contact with ValueConnected and how was the experience working with ValueConnected?

I first heard the Managing Director of ValueConnected, Ernesto Nogueira, talk about value dossiers at a conference in Cologne in 2013. The experience working with him has been very good. The communication is clear and consequently leaves us with a feeling of clarity around roles, responsibilities and tasks. Additionally, ValueConnected has a large network and can almost always put you in touch with the right person very quickly.

Would you recommend ValueConnected to your colleague and, if so, why?

As a matter of fact, I just did yesterday and I’d be happy to recommend him going forward. A contact from my network was looking for expertise in wound management, and I knew that if ValueConnected doesn’t have that specific market expertise right now, they will very quickly be able to put them in touch with the right expertise.