How Medical Affairs Teams Can Align for Better Insight Generation.

Field teams keep sharing insights, and many Medical Affairs leaders still report that those insights disappear into a black hole. In a 2026 global survey of 1,023 respondents published in Cureus, 76% reported difficulty defining and measuring the quality of MSL activities.

In this Acceleration Point webinar, Scott Thompson (CEO, Acceleration Point) explains why insight generation is a team sport. In Scott Thompson's model, insight generation as a team sport means an insights program produces consistently actionable results only when medical strategy, Field Medical, and operations or analytics teams each own a defined part of the work. Drawing on work with more than 40 Medical Affairs teams, Scott Thompson walks through three roles: insight strategy, gathering confidence-building data, and insight to action. He also introduces the ACT analysis (Activity, Conclusions, Takeaways) and four steps an insight lead can take right away, even without full engagement from other teams. If your team's insights keep landing in a black hole, this is the session to watch.

What You'll Learn

• Key insight questions work best when they start with leadership's decisions. Scott Thompson recommends asking medical strategists what decisions they are trying to make in the next 18 months or less, and what information would increase their confidence in each one.
• Separating "what" from "why" improves insight data. Capturing what an HCP believes (ideally with predefined response options) in one field and why they believe it in a separate free-text field makes insights easier to enter, analyze, and calibrate across the team.
• Multiple sources are most useful when kept distinct. Comparing what HCPs tell MSLs with what appears in the literature and in public conversation surfaces differences that a single combined summary can hide.
• Coaching raises insight quality over time. Teams that use the first five minutes of every field team meeting to review one real insight, and ask "What one question could you ask to make it great?", build better questioning habits. For more on this approach, see how coaching creates better insights.
• The ACT analysis turns reports into decisions. ACT organizes insight reports around Activity, Conclusions, and Takeaways, and pairs well with a dedicated action meeting where decision-makers confirm whether they have enough data to act.
• Insight leads can build the team without waiting for buy-in. Scott Thompson's four next steps are edit, not create; make it easy to coach; switch reporting to ACT; and be ready to use AI tools further upstream.

About Our Speaker

Scott Thompson is CEO at Acceleration Point. Scott Thompson has worked with more than 40 Medical Affairs teams and several thought leader liaison teams, and he hosts OnPoint: The Medical Excellence Podcast. His work focuses on the operational practices, from key insight questions to reporting and feedback, that help Medical Affairs teams move from data collection to decisions.

Connect with Scott on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/medical-excellence/

FAQ

What does "insight generation is a team sport" mean in Medical Affairs?

In Scott Thompson's model, insight generation is a team sport because a Medical Affairs insights program produces consistently actionable results only when three roles are in place. Medical strategists and leadership set the insight strategy. Field Medical and other teams gather confidence-building data. Operations, analytics, or medical excellence teams typically run the insight-to-action process. An insight lead connects the three roles.

What is the ACT analysis for Medical Affairs insight reports?

The ACT analysis is a reporting approach Scott Thompson of Acceleration Point describes for insight reports. ACT stands for Activity (how many responses a finding is based on and how representative they are), Conclusions (precise findings drawn from the data), and Takeaways (the actions available and who is allowed to make each decision). An ACT report answers the key insight questions decision-makers asked, rather than listing what the team happened to hear that month or quarter.

How should Medical Affairs teams develop key insight questions?

Scott Thompson recommends starting with decisions. Ask medical strategists and leadership what decisions they are trying to make in the next 18 months or less, and what information would increase their confidence in each decision. Teams can also ask which assumptions about the scientific narrative need to be tested in the medical community. Organic free-text insights still have a place for the unknown unknowns that no one thought to ask about.

How can Field Medical teams improve the quality of their insights?

Scott Thompson describes two practical changes. First, capture what an HCP believes and why they believe it in separate fields, using predefined response options for the belief where possible and free text for the reasoning. Second, coach regularly: in the first five minutes of a field team meeting, pull one insight from the system and ask the team what one question could have made it better.

What can an insight lead do if other teams are not yet engaged in the insights program?

Scott Thompson outlines four steps. Edit, not create: draft the likely decisions and key insight questions and ask leaders to react to them. Make it easy to coach: give field leads real examples of strong and weak insights to use with their teams. Switch reporting to the ACT format. Be ready to use AI tools such as Copilot or GPT-based tools, including further upstream to support the people writing insights.

Curious how this applies to your organization? Let's talk.

About Acceleration Point Webinars

Acceleration Point webinars bring Medical Affairs and Field Medical leaders together to share practical insights, emerging strategies, and real-world perspectives on the challenges shaping the industry. Each session is designed to support the professionals driving scientific exchange, field medical excellence, and Medical Affairs transformation.

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