Senior/Executive Director, Pricing, Market Access Operations and Strategy

Senior/Executive Director, Pricing, Market Access Operations and Strategy

Vericel Corporation, a leader in advanced therapies for the sports medicine and severe burn care markets, has an exciting opportunity for a top performing Market Access professional looking to join and contribute to a commercial stage company with an established portfolio of unique advanced cell therapies and specialty biologics. Reporting directly to the SVP Commercial Operations at Vericel, this is a great opportunity to join a high growth company with a strong balance sheet supported by a talented team of professionals who are committed to improving the lives of the patients we serve.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Senior / Executive Director of Pricing, Market Access Operations and Strategy will be responsible for leading the Market Access function at Vericel, reporting directly to the Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations. In addition to functional leadership, the position has three major components. The first is to develop and implement pricing strategies for Vericel’s marketed US brands including MACI® (autologous cultured chondrocytes on porcine membrane), Epicel® (cultured epidermal autografts) and NexoBrid® (anacaulase-bcdb). The second is to continue to optimize performance of Vericel’s first-in-class patient support program, branded as MyCartilageCare®. This includes direction and oversight over case management services as well as a limited specialty pharmacy network. The final component of the role is to continue to refine and facilitate clinical and health economic strategies to ensure continued patient access to Vericel’s commercialized brands in addition to developing pricing and market access strategies for products being evaluated in portfolio development initiatives.

This individual will serve as a key leader on the Commercial Operations team and will interface with peers in sales, marketing, finance, legal, medical and regulatory affairs providing commercial guidance for all commercial and government payer, reimbursement and brand access related activities as well as guiding the corporation’s market access function as it transitions to its next stage of growth.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Essential Functions:

• Lead the Pricing and Market Access team and function at Vericel.
• Responsible for all payer / market access related activities for Vericel’s brands including MACI, Epicel and NexoBrid.
• Oversee and direct Vericel’s patient support and case management services as well as a limited specialty pharmacy network.
• Develop pricing and market access strategies for upstream / business development initiatives.
• Develop and implement health economic strategies to support brand adoption and improve patient access to Vericel products.
• Recommend and implement coding initiatives to develop and obtain appropriate product and procedural codes.
• Collaborate on commercial payer contracting strategies with our specialty pharmacy partners; Provide guidance on facility contracting and key account management strategies.
• Monitor and engage CMS (Medicare/Medicaid) relating to payment proposals for Outpatient Prospective Payment Systems, Surgery Centers, Physician Fee Schedules, and Hospital Purchase Orders by obtaining coding, coverage, and reimbursement information.
• Provide trends and impact analysis on reimbursement and economic value.
• Work closely with the Commercial team to position pricing and access messages and tools to educate and train the field and provide accurate reimbursement information to our customers and patients.
• Oversee the development of reimbursement reference materials.
• Lead all access development activities (e.g. Managed Medicaid, Government, Commercial insurance) in close cooperation with cross-functional teams (Sales, Marketing, Medical, Regulatory, Finance, Legal, Compliance and Business Development) on new product and procedure development and evidence-based value propositions.
• Develop and maintain relationships with professional medical organizations/societies to manage healthcare policy and reimbursement issues.
• Other projects and assignments as needed.

Leadership Responsibilities:

• Understanding, observing, and adhering to the goals and policies outlined in Vericel’s Code of Business Conduct and Ethics as well as other applicable Vericel policies.
• Being honest and treating people with respect and courtesy.
• Constantly striving to make Vericel a great place to work, and a company respected for the quality of its people and products.
• Serving as role models for our fellow employees and business partners by acting responsibly, fairly, and honestly in our dealings and exercising sound judgment in performing our jobs.

QUALIFICATIONS, EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree (Advanced Degree in Science, Healthcare or Business Administration preferred).
• Seasoned professional with 5-10 years’ experience in market access / payer reimbursement in medical device, life sciences, bio-tech and / or pharmaceutical industries.
• Strong problem solving and critical thinking skills required.
• Business / Market Access consulting experience a plus.
• Minimum of 3-5 years’ experience in working with commercialized products.
• Minimum of 3-5 years of leadership / management experience.
• Strong understanding of medical reimbursement with specialty pharmacies (billing, coding, coverage, and payment) in the healthcare system to work to resolve contract and billing issues with providers.
• Experience with patient support / hub services organizations.

WORKING CONDITIONS AND PHYSICAL DEMANDS

• Must be able to be onsite at Cambridge, MA Corporate headquarters: Hybrid work environment - 2-days/week option to work-from-home.

• Occasional domestic business travel, tradeshows, sales meetings, educational programs and customer and partner meetings.

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