Medical Planning: From Annual PowerPoint to Year-Round Action
A live session for teams ready to build a medical plan people actually use between planning cycles.
Presented by Scott Thompson, CEO, and Linda Traylor, VP of Medical Excellence, Acceleration Point.
- Define an outcome you can actually measure, not a buzzword
- Report progress in language that survives an attribution question
- Translate your plan into terms Commercial and executives use
- Build a rhythm that keeps the plan alive between cycles
Save Your Spot
Free to attend. Space is limited.
You'll receive a confirmation email with the Zoom link and a calendar invite.
Your Medical Plan Gets Built Twice a Year And Lives on a Shelf the Rest of It
Every plan we've reviewed has the same parts: treatment landscape, data gaps, imperatives, activities, timelines. Most share the same fate too: opened to build, opened again at the next cycle, untouched in between.
"We built it, presented it, and haven't opened it since."
"I can point to something that moved. I can't tell you how much of it was us."
"Commercial nods along, but I don't think they actually follow the plan."
Only 3% of Medical Affairs professionals say their current metrics are very effective at capturing what their team delivers. (MSL Society, 2025 global survey of 1,000+ Medical Affairs professionals)
Part of the reason is the outcome itself. Medical Affairs has cycled through sentiment, mindset alignment, scientific journeys, care gaps, and target population outcomes (TPOs). Most of what gets chosen either takes years to register or can't be put on a scale at all.
When a team does pick something readable, like a shift in diagnostic testing visible in claims data, the next question is how much of it belonged to them. That question has kept a lot of real work from getting credit.
It isn't a failure of the people writing the plans. It's the template everyone inherited: a document of record, when what Medical Affairs needs is a document of direction.
Four Things You Can Do With Your Next Medical Plan
Practical shifts you can apply before your next planning cycle, not a framework overhaul.
Define the Outcome on a Scale You Can Read
Move from a buzzword to something you can actually measure: the product, the patient profile, and the specific clinical decision along the patient journey. Learn to tell a strong surrogate from a weak one.
Say What the Measure Conveys, and What It Doesn't
A plain-language way to report progress that holds up when someone asks how much of it was you, so your team gets credit for its contribution without over-claiming it.
Translate It Into a Language the Whole Company Speaks
How outcome-framed imperatives turn the medical plan into something Commercial and executives don't just approve, but reference.
Build the Year-Round Rhythm
How to connect the plan to your tools and reporting so the team sees work rolling up to progress every month, not once a year in a readout.
Your 2027 Plan Doesn't Have to Sit on a Shelf
Join Scott and Linda live to build a plan your organization checks monthly, not twice a year.
Save My SeatTwo Perspectives on Making Medical Plans Stick
Scott and Linda bring the executive view and the practitioner view together: how a medical plan gets built, and how it actually gets used.
Scott Thompson
As CEO of Acceleration Point, Scott has spent his career helping Medical Affairs leaders move planning from a once-a-year exercise to something teams track monthly, working with leaders at more than 50 pharmaceutical companies and helping build the operational infrastructure, including the Kwello Insights Platform, that connects strategy to execution. He also hosts OnPoint: The Medical Excellence Podcast, where planning and measurement are regular topics with Medical Affairs leaders across the industry.
Linda Traylor, PhD
Linda spent years as a Department Head for Clinical Development and Medical Affairs, running the kind of cross-functional planning most Medical Affairs teams only revisit once a year. Across more than 27 years spanning six therapeutic areas, from Medical Science Liaison work to department leadership, she has focused on translating complex clinical and commercial pressures into data-driven plans teams can actually carry through the year. She also hosts OnPoint: The Mentor Sessions, interviewing top Medical Affairs leaders across the pharma industry.
Executive Strategy Meets Deep Medical Affairs Expertise
What This Session Draws On:
- Thousands of Medical Affairs leaders and 50+ pharmaceutical companies advised on strategy and execution
- Host of OnPoint: The Medical Excellence Podcast and industry webinars for Medical Affairs leaders
- 27+ years across pharma, devices, biologics, and diagnostics, spanning six therapeutic areas
- Board certified by the MSL Society (MSL-BC); serves on its Advisory Board
- Active with the Medical Affairs Professional Society (MAPS)
Four Tools You Can Use This Week
A Five-Person Test
A simple test to run on your current plan Monday: ask five people which strategic imperative they're working on today.
A One-Page Impact Structure
A one-page structure for framing an impact claim so it survives the room when someone asks how much of it was you
A Practical Path Forward
A practical path to make your 2027 plan the one your organization actually quotes, not just approves.
A Way to Use the AI You Already Have
How to apply AI you already have access to for drafting outcome-anchored imperatives and keeping the plan alive between cycles.
Make Your Next Medical Plan One That People Actually Use All Year
Join Scott Thompson and Linda Traylor live on September 10 for a practical session on medical planning that holds up between cycles. Free to attend. Space is limited.
You'll receive a calendar invite and Zoom link after registering.