National Access Director
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SUMMARY:
The National Access Director (NAD) leads Field Access organization responsible for removing access barriers and enabling timely, appropriate and compliant patient starts. The NAD will help build strategy, build and coach a high-performing team, and partner cross-functionally (Account Management, Sales, Patient Services/Hub, Specialty Pharmacy (SP)/Distribution, Medical, Legal/Compliance) to deliver exceptional support for providers and patients. This role will work in close collaboration with the Vice President of Sales and Regional Executive Directors to ensure aligned field execution, coordinated customer engagement, and compliant delineation of responsibilities between Sales and Access
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
The ideal candidate will:
- Recruit, develop, and inspire the Field Access team and foster a culture of compliance, patient focus and continuous improvement
- Own the national Field Access strategy for the brand and align on payer pull-through, hub services, distribution, and trade strategy
- Ensure the team educates offices on access workflows (Benefit Verification/ Prior Authorization/ appeals), coding and SP/distribution channels.
- Oversee complex case escalations, resolving barriers in collaboration with the hub and specialty pharmacies.
- Partner with Account Management on payer policy implementation and local pull-through; with Patient Services on hub design and field escalation standards; with Trade on SP network performance; and with Sales leadership on coordinated field planning and compliant execution.
- Drive field access launch readiness including defining KPIs and field enablement assets.
- Leverage CRM (e.g., Veeva) and analytics to track activity, outcomes, and quality.
- Ensure strict adherence to company policy, OIG/DOJ guidance, PhRMA Code, HIPAA/privacy, and state laws; partner proactively with Legal/Compliance on training, monitoring, and SOPs.
- Conduct field audits, ride-alongs, and quality checks; remediate issues swiftly.
- Monitor and assess reimbursement trends, payer coverage, and changes in access environment
QUALIFICATIONS:
- Minimum 18 years in the healthcare/pharmaceutical industry.
- Prior leadership experience managing field access managers.
- Demonstrated success collaborating with commercial field teams to ensure compliant coordinated execution
- Prior reimbursement or case management experience required (prior field access/reimbursement experience preferred).
- Experience with pharmacy benefit reimbursement/access and specialty pharmacy required
- CPC or similar coding certification preferred
- Experience working in the cardiometabolic area preferred
- Knowledge of key Medicare policies such as Part D design and IRA
- Proven teamwork and collaboration skills with a demonstrated track record of working in highly matrixed and cross-functional work teams.
- Ability to travel to meetings/trainings/programs as necessary - additional travel will be required w (~50% travel required)
- Valid driver’s license required as driving is fundamental to the purpose of this job and cannot be eliminated.
EDUCATION
Bachelor’s Degree required. Advanced degree preferred.
TRAVEL
- ~50% Travel required
Ionis offers an excellent benefits package! Follow this link for more details: Ionis Benefits
The pay scale for this position is $260,000 to $275,000
Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and all its subsidiaries are proud to be EEO employers.