Senior Director, Patient Assistance

Working with Us
Challenging. Meaningful. Life-changing. Those aren’t words that are usually associated with a job. But working at Bristol Myers Squibb is anything but usual. Here, uniquely interesting work happens every day, in every department. From optimizing a production line to the latest breakthroughs in cell therapy, this is work that transforms the lives of patients, and the careers of those who do it. You’ll get the chance to grow and thrive through opportunities uncommon in scale and scope, alongside high-achieving teams rich in diversity. Take your career farther than you thought possible.

Bristol Myers Squibb recognizes the importance of balance and flexibility in our work environment. We offer a wide variety of competitive benefits, services and programs that provide our employees with the resources to pursue their goals, both at work and in their personal lives. Read more: careers.bms.com/working-with-us.

Overview:  Provides end-to-end strategic leadership and operational management of the Bristol Myers Squibb Patient Assistance Foundation (BMSPAF), an independent 501(c)(3) charitable organization that provides free medication to eligible patients who are unable to access their medications due to lack of affordable coverage. Promotes a high level of cooperation on team of internal stakeholders and external vendors (operations, pharmacies, and fulfillment).

• Builds and maintains strong matrix team leadership with donor’s commercial, medical, access & reimbursement, legal, finance, procurement, tax, corporate affairs, supply demand, technical and distribution center operations, IT, privacy and data management, corporate security and customer information center to streamline processes, drive robust and rapid decision making, and ensure optimal delivery on BMSPAF metrics, goals and priorities.
• Develops and continually expands knowledge of numerous products and multiple therapeutic areas, including product characteristics (indications, safety, dosage and administration, storage and shipping requirements, coverage), patient characteristics (demographics, disease state and comorbidities, access challenges), and donor brand team organizational structure and access initiatives.  Trains internal and external teams as necessary to ensure program processes and communications reflect an understanding of patient needs.
• Manages multiple vendors and their teams to facilitate BMSPAF initiatives and accountability; constantly drives innovation, improvement and prioritization; consults on staffing needs and coaching opportunities; monitors, analyzes and addresses program metrics.
• Monitors monthly invoices from vendor; works with finance and global procurement to reduce administrative budget and cost per patient; consistently challenges vendors to streamline operations to improve efficiency and reduce costs.
• Utilizes knowledge of complex legal and business landscape to inform decisions, identify and mitigate legal, compliance and reputational risks for both BMSPAF and donor.
• Analyzes patient assistance programs for recently acquired products; reviews business rules and processes and recommends changes to harmonize with BMS policies; works to transition acquired products into BMSPAF in a stepwise approach to avoid treatment disruption to patients; understands and operationalizes REMS requirements; collaborates with new colleagues and vendors to facilitate smooth transition.
• Defines strategy and executes launch of new products and new indications into BMSPAF.
• Demonstrates mastery in understanding of the broad spectrum of access programs for the uninsured and underinsured patient populations, including consistent monitoring of external healthcare policy environment to identify trends and assess business impact.
• Uses strategic vision to plan ambitious near and long-term projects, informed by lessoned learned from past successes and failures; develops contingency plans and demonstrates the ability to pivot and manage around disruptions such as weather-related logistics issues, pandemics, vendor, market and supply chain issues;
• Utilizes experience, together with knowledge of external environment and benchmarking studies to draft or consult on business rules, contracts, authorizations and consents, patient and HCP communications and other documents for formal legal review.
• Collaborates with compliance on the development and implementation of training on BMS Guiding Principles on Patient Assistance, including the independence of BMSPAF, across all relevant stakeholders including donor’s field and home office teams, and vendor teams as appropriate.
• Develops and continuously evaluates a strategic staffing m