Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, is a global healthcare company specializing in the development and marketing of pharmaceutical products and medical technologies. The company operates in the life sciences sector and runs a medical information contact center where authorized and practicing medical professionals — known as agents — respond to phone calls, emails, and live chats from medical facilities, nurses, doctors, and patients. During these discussions, agents answer questions and provide research and evidence related to a wide range of human medical conditions.
The Challenge
Following a phone discussion, Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine agents prepare a package of documents that include research studies, product information, images, and other medical data that answer the caller’s questions. This package includes a customized cover letter, which is then emailed to the caller with the package for review.
The agents, however, faced challenges inputting information for these personalized cover letters. Each letter is customized based on various criteria such as the type of inquiry, the product involved, and its regulatory status. Each cover letter also has its own customized opening and closing, including the signature of the pharmacist or nurse they spoke to. “We have 150 different openings and closings,” explains Tom Baker, Technical Product Manager at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine. “We can combine them in many different permutations.”
”“There are regulations from a life sciences perspective about how you answer these questions. [S-Docs] gives us more flexibility to be compliant with those regulations.”
Because of the sensitive nature of the information the agents dispense, it is imperative for these documents to be executed correctly every time. But it is also important that the process is easy for the agents from both an operational and compliance perspective, and that customers receive information in a clear, plain, digestible format.
Before Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine existed, this branch of the company was composed of multiple subsidiaries that each used different processes, further compounding the challenge. The company needed to unify the generation of these reports and cover letters with a single solution that integrated easily with Salesforce.
”“Everything's just done for them. They don't have to open up other screens or anything like that.”
The Solution
Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine chose S-Docs, a digital solution built on the Salesforce platform, to address their document generation challenges. S-Docs was selected for its ability to handle the complex business rules and customizations required for Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine’s cover letters, its integration with Salesforce CRM, and its flexibility and scalability.
S-Docs automates the generation of personalized cover letters for each caller by:
- Dynamically inserting content such as the recipient's name, the responder's signature, and specific information relevant to the inquiry.
- Automatically pulling this data from the Salesforce CRM.
- Handling various business rules for document creation and supporting different templates and content blocks based on the inquiry type and product information.
This enables Johnson & Johnson to tightly control the information that is dispensed, follow all regulatory requirements, and maintain the ability to manually adjust the cover letter details, if needed. “There are regulations from a life sciences perspective about how you answer these questions,” notes Rebecca Wolfe, Manager of Medical Information Capabilities and Innovation at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine. “[S-Docs] gives us more flexibility to be compliant with those regulations.”
”“S-Docs gives you a flexible toolkit. Your developer or your engineers can basically use those tools to achieve whatever they want.”
In addition, S-Docs grows and changes with Johnson & Johnson. When new requirements or needs arise, the solution flexes or expands to cover new territory. “We've had more complexity come along,” says Baker. “Like now we have co-developed products. So we have separate cover letters and different rules specifically for those.”
The agents also now have the ability to review and edit the cover letter after it is generated, as an extra verification step after the customized information has been automatically pulled. “Now we're letting them see what that full combined cover letter between the opening and the closing looks like,” Baker explains. “Does it look right? Is this what I want my customer to receive? And potentially making some tweaks.” S-Docs allows the entire edit process to take place right in Salesforce.
Adopting S-Docs has made life easier for both agents and technical teams at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine. Of the agents, Baker says, “Everything's just done for them. They don't have to open up other screens or anything like that.” From a technical perspective, he states, “S-Docs gives you a flexible toolkit. Your developer or your engineers can basically use those tools to achieve whatever they want.”
The Impact
Across the board, S-Docs has given Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine’s agents the ability to:
- Manage complexity and personalization: S-Docs generates documents dynamically, accommodating a wide range of customer inquiries, customized fields, and regulatory requirements.
- Work faster: S-Docs enhances operational efficiency through automation and integration with Salesforce CRM.
- Adapt to changing business needs and regulatory environments: S-Docs is a highly customizable, scalable, and flexible document generation solution.
At the end of the day, Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine is committed to serving customers as swiftly, comprehensively, and compliantly as possible to ensure that patients everywhere are receiving the best care possible. If a pharmacist calls asking how long a medication can be left unrefrigerated, they want to provide an evidence-based answer. Having S-Docs available to generate fast, accurate, and skimmable follow–up communications with each medical professional is key to a thorough customer response.
Baker states his goals clearly, “Our focus is: Let's give them the best experience and the information they need that's specifically going to affect actual patients.”
