AMCP Podcast Series - Listen Up: Erica Klinger, VP of Marketing on AMCP Marketing Initiatives

Fred Goldstein 00:01
Hello and welcome to the AMCP Podcast Series - Listen Up as we take a deep dive into the challenges, trends and opportunities in managed care pharmacy, follow the show's social hashtag at #AMCPListenUp. And to learn more about AMCP visit amcp.org. I'm your host Fred Goldstein. On this episode, my guest is Erica Klinger VP Marketing at AMCP. Welcome Erica.

Erica Klinger 00:27
Hello, how are you?

Fred Goldstein 00:29
I'm doing very well really enjoying the conference so far? How about yourself?

Erica Klinger 00:32
Absolutely. It is electric.

Fred Goldstein 00:34
It really is, between the floor, which was really high activity and a number of the sessions I've been to they've been packed, and really great information, so thoroughly enjoying it. So why don't we start give us a little bit of your background, and also what you do for AMCP.

Erica Klinger 00:47
Great, well, I joined AMCP, a little over six months ago, I have about 30 years experience in really brand engagement, digital, digital advocacy, and marketing. And so at AMCP I you know, head our team, which runs the social media, all our digital marketing campaigns, all the websites and microsites; kind of overall brand manager of the AMCP voice. And we have a lot of exciting things coming up this year.

Fred Goldstein 01:16
So you're pushing out all of the tweets, all the LinkedIn, and the rest of it.

Erica Klinger 01:22
Yes, and my background particularly is really in the digital technology. So we're really taking advantage of a lot of those digital tools to make sure that we have the platforms and the technology to deliver information to people at where they're at. So at the time that they want and based on who they are and how they interact with AMCP.

Fred Goldstein 01:42
And we're actually here to talk about something really cool that I think you've recently launched, is that correct? We are MCP.

Erica Klinger 01:48
Yes, it is a campaign. And I call it a brand platform. Tt's really an opportunity to talk about what we do as a managed care pharmacy community. This includes all managed care professionals, and it's an opportunity to engage people, bring new people into the community and share more about what we do.

Fred Goldstein 02:12
What was the reason for initially launching this?

Erica Klinger 02:15
Well, when I came to AMCP, and I had previously worked in the Generic Pharmaceutical Association, AAM in DC for seven years, and I knew about AMCP I knew about managed care, working in pharmaceuticals, I understand the importance of making sure medicine get patients get the medicines they need at the cost that they can afford, everything is about access. One of though, what I didn't understand is I saw kind of the power and the opportunity of managed care pharmacy, those are the analysts, those are the people kind of behind the scenes, the unsung heroes and maybe not patient facing but really working to make sure populations of patients are getting the medicines they need. And I you know, really don't think people really understand the value that they provide to the whole healthcare system. And so, and on top of it, I met a lot of people that didn't necessarily know they were called Managed Care pharmacist. And so that kind of sparked this campaign on, well, we need to get the word out, we need to find out, you know, share about the variety of settings that managed care pharmacists work in, they work at health plans, PBMs, pharmaceutical manufacturers, IDNs, they work for consultants, and academia. And so I mean, they're everywhere. And so I think that just people don't know, and they're very passionate about what they do. And I think sharing more about what managed care pharmacists do, will also build more awareness about what AMCP does as the Association for those professionals.

Fred Goldstein 03:55
So when you talked about that, and you mentioned, what are some of the things that AMCP does that people need to really be aware of?

Erica Klinger 04:03
Well, they can play a really pivotal role in building awareness about managed care pharmacy. And I think that particularly what we do is we're really strong on the advocacy side. And so we are really raising awareness about ways in legislation that can impact and help patients have access to those medicines they need. And if we find our members at AMCP are highly engaged in those issues. I mean, we have things like the IRA that is impacting healthcare end to end, and it's impacting patients. So people are starting to want to get more informed about those issues, how they impact their lives, and ways they can plug in and advocate for lower drug prices.

Fred Goldstein 04:46
So tell us how can individuals, obviously you're working to create this movement, which is fantastic, because I do think a lot of people especially outside of pharmacy, but even within as you mentioned don't understand what Managed Care Pharmacy is in And I know having been involved in some of the policy work and what you're doing, really are advocating for the patient to try to make this access available. So how can the pharmacist themselves get involved in this?

Erica Klinger 05:10
It's a great question. And I think that when you take something like, you know, we look at the health care system, and people talk about how complex it is, we'll really need a campaign and a platform that's not complex. So we created something very simple Managed Care Pharmacy Professionals, MCPs. So when I came in, I, you know, I want the short form the acronym, so we started talking about MCPs. And so when I was at the conference, I look at the energy of the people that we spoke about at the beginning. And we wanted to showcase that energy. So we want to celebrate the positivity of a larger managed care pharmacy community. And we also wanted to build awareness about the AMCP brands, initiatives and programs. And so we drive people to a landing page that talks about what we do. And we also have links there to our new AMCP Research Institute, VBCIC, how they can donate and fund through the AMCP Foundation, JMCP. AMCP Learn, there are so many things that AMCP does that we want the general community to understand.

Fred Goldstein 06:13
So what is the link at AMCP to get to that information.

Erica Klinger 06:17
So the URL is WeAreMCPs.amcp.org. And then on that landing page, they will find a few ways that they can engage. And so there's three different things we ask them to do one, they can use our Instagram lens. So there's a link to our Instagram page, where they can actually create a polaroid photo, take a snapshot and share that on social media. They can also take part in a challenge on what their MCP superpower is, and tag three other people to join. What is your superpower? Have you thought about it? Fred?

Fred Goldstein 06:53
That's a great one. I guess it's trying to enlarge a communication base maybe.

Erica Klinger 06:59
Smart, I think that is absolutely correct. I would think mine is like really resiliency, I really never give up. And I think the last one we asked them to do and people took part in is taking a virtual photo and there so they can be part of the community and Mosaic wall right here at our event.

Fred Goldstein 07:17
Yeah, and I saw the wall downstairs, talk a little bit how that thing works. It looked really cool.

Erica Klinger 07:22
Yeah. So people are just taking their photo. And they're one of I think it's about 2,000 mini two by two Polaroid photos that make up a larger, surprise message that people will see at the end of the event.

Fred Goldstein 07:37
Wow. And they'll be able to find that on the website as well. When that comes out.

Erica Klinger 07:41
Yes, so we actually, people can engage virtually as well and be part of the wall. So they don't even have to join the event. But at the end, we want to create a better tomorrow for patients and a community made up of all different stakeholders. So we invite people that are here at the event, also people that are out there that work with managed care pharmacy professionals to be part of the larger community.

Fred Goldstein 08:04
Really a fantastic initiative. And I would assume have you heard any interesting responses from the individuals here at the conference?

Erica Klinger 08:11
Yes, I heard people are like, well, we'll be using MCPs. You've just rebranded to MCPs and I was like, Okay, I don't know if that was 100% the intention. But if people want to use it, it's easier to use. And I think it's just a way that people can really celebrate the work that they do.

Fred Goldstein 08:28
Yeah, it really just makes sense for people. One, obviously, they can identify their profession, their expertise, the areas they're focusing on, and use that to help the broader community understand what it is managed care pharmacy does really an excellent idea. Do you have any sort of higher longer term ambitions? Maybe I know, it's very early. I would assume you would hope this would continue to grow?

Erica Klinger 08:49
Yeah, I mean, we absolutely want to make sure that this is not something that's a one and done. We'll be using this and evolving this throughout the year. We have some of our member ambassadors, we have Janetta, Justin, Farrell, how and we call them our Super Fans. And so they've been out there talking about this campaign. And so I would say through now and going forward, we're inviting everyone to record a video, talk about their superpower talk about what they do, share that with the hashtag, #WeAreMCPS.

Fred Goldstein 09:22
And then they too can become Super Fans

Erica Klinger 09:24
Yes they can and we hope we do that regionally across the United States and kind of build smaller communities having these discussions, figure out how to get more people to understand that they can go into managed care pharmacy as a track in their education and in their journey as a professional and and you know, I've talked to people they have their have great work life balance. They're happy on what they do and so that they're very eager to talk about the success they've had in their professional career.

Fred Goldstein 09:56
Yeah, it's really kind of interesting when you think of managed care pharmacy and I think about this from my my days as a managed care executive running a health plan, it really allowed me to consider that I was helping a much, much larger population of individuals than I perhaps might have been if I was working to run a clinic or things like that, although obviously, very critically important, but to impact tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands of lives positively by by being in the managed care area and doing the right things with for the individuals and make sure the benefits are set up right, etcetera.

Erica Klinger 10:31
Yeah, just in the AMCP member base that we have they improve the lives of nearly 300 million Americans. There's not many people that can just well, you know, say that they do that every day. Absolutely. Well, fantastic. Is there anything else you'd like to add? Before we close anything else you'd like to say about the conference? Oh, I'll just say that I'm looking forward to Nexus which of course will build on and be even better. So as as someone that works in marketing at AMCP If anyone has ideas, has ways to improve our conferences, they can always reach out to us and since we manage the social media, just tag us share your idea, engage, put comments on our posts, we really do listen to people, you do not have to be an AMCP member. We want to understand how we can help people and I invite you to share your thoughts.

Fred Goldstein 11:19
Oh, fantastic way to end the show. And by the way, do we have a date for Nexus and location yet?

Erica Klinger 11:25
Yes, we do. Nexus will be this October 14th through 17th in Las Vegas.

Fred Goldstein 11:32
Wow. Well, I'm looking forward to that one for sure. Every Nexus I've been to it's just a fascinatingly great conference. Really a lot of learning to get there and a lot of connecting as well. So thoroughly enjoyed having you on Erica.

Erica Klinger 11:43
Thanks, Fred very helpful, always great connecting with you.

Fred Goldstein 11:50
And thank you for joining us today. If you like this show. You can find all our episodes at amcp.org/podcast on our show page at HealthcareNOWRadio.com or on your favorite listening platform by searching Healthcare NOW Radio. You can follow our show social hashtag at #AMCPListenUp. And don't forget to share, like and follow AMCPorg on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. I'm Fred Goldstein for AMCP. Until next time.