SageTree Collective

Just wrapped up a hub/SP/manufacturer summit in Not-So-Sunny Florida and left feeling energized on behalf of the incredible rare disease community we’re gearing up to serve. A few thoughts from my (very long) flight back: 1?? Aligning early pays off. Bringing together key fit-for-purpose patient stakeholders—distribution, marketing, market access, operations—early in the process builds trust and shared understanding before the chaos of launch. Plus, it brings diverse perspectives on what the future might hold, which leads me to… 2?? Plan for tomorrow, not just today. The landscape is evolving faster than ever. If you’re only planning for the present, you risk building a "bridge to nowhere" (https://lnkd.in/gXmu3p8g). How are technology, patient needs, and the workforce shifting? Anticipating change is critical. 3?? Healthcare is messy. Some gaps are inevitable—be ready. Even with the best vendors and brightest minds, there will always be patients at risk of falling through the cracks and data that’s tough to capture. The key? Building flexible teams and partners with shared accountability so you can pivot quickly when needed. Proud of my client for bringing together such a sharp group and excited for the journey ahead!

SageTree Collective's own Katherine Chan, Co-founder & Partner, will lend her expertise as a panelist in a workshop on reimbursement for Springboard Enterprises’s Healthcare & Technology Accelerator Program. This program is for women-led healthcare companies seeking growth, funding, and connections to experts and strategic partners for product development and expansion and includes access to high-value events, workshops and a networks of experts and strategic partners. For more information visit: https://sb.co/ Interested in applying to join their 2025 Women’s Health Accelerator Program? Application: https://lnkd.in/dFaPq_82 #womenshealth #womenfounders #biotech #marketaccess

Last week, two industry colleagues asked me what it takes to be #1 in Patient Services. ?I have pondered this for many brands and clients and even from the vantage point of having been “#1” for many years. My thoughts: ? ? #1 for Whom? Consider who you're striving to be #1 for – patients, office managers, or physicians? ?What's best for a patient may differ from what an office wants. What are you trying to do well, for whom? ? How to Measure #1? I have a graveyard of dashboards, spreadsheets and surveys that did not drive desired outcomes. Most programs claim to be #1 based it on perception scores from HCPs or patients. Success of programs (and perceptions) are often driven by the people delivering the services, yet many organizations don’t measure employee engagement as rigorously as operational metrics. ? It’s Not About Being #1, It’s about Excellence. Success in patient services is about “nailing the basics” (technical term!): Consistently delivering meaningful, empathetic service with the patient at the center. This is always more impactful than chasing benchmarks set by competitors. ? Collaboration Over Competition. The real win in patient services comes from creating partnerships to bridge siloes to help patients access and stay on their medications. This collective effort involves vendors, advocacy groups, foundations, pharmacies, and even manufacturers as combination therapies become more common. ? Success in patient services isn’t about being #1—it’s about trust, outcomes, and relationships. The real measure of excellence lies in how well you align with your organization's values and, most importantly, in the impact you make on patients’ lives. Instead of chasing rankings, focus on solving for what truly matters—ensuring patients get the access, support, and care they need. ? We're curious: how would other patient leaders would answer this question?

As this year comes to a close, we are reflecting on the strength of our roots and the opportunities that are before us. Starting this journey has been truly rewarding, and we are incredibly grateful for the clients, partners, and supporters who have been part of it.? ? We look forward to partnering with our clients to bring important innovations to patients, cultivating new connections, and growing alongside you in the year ahead. Wishing you a season full of joy, gratitude, and connection! #HappyHolidays #Gratitude #Growth #NewBeginnings

As the season of gratitude rolls in, we want to take a moment to give a big shoutout to our incredible clients, collective, and friends. Thank you for the support, the encouragement, and of course, the laughs. We’re gobbling up all the good vibes—happy Thanksgiving! ?? Smita Jain, Shanti Kim, Christina Fang, Katherine Chan, MBA

We were super excited to connect with Cheryl Cheng and Kathy Ku from Vive Collective last week! We caught up on our lives, but also talked about the latest in patient/payer tech and the challenges digital health has with go-to-market has when it comes to Pharma. We love partnerships like these, with trendy Thai food, great company and new ideas! Katherine Chan, MBA Shanti Kim, Christina Fang, Smita Jain

@ The Intersections of Healthcare... It has become a tagline for us here at SageTree - what does it mean to us? To our clients? To patients? To you? To chatGPT? ?? [We did ask chatGPT. That answer was a bit sterile.] In our own words: intersections are where both magic and mischief can happen in healthcare. It’s where different teams, perspectives, expertise, incentives, and priorities meet/overlap/collide. And importantly, intersections can create tremendous opportunities, or on the flipside, can also lead to painful experiences. ? Let's look at a common question that may sound all too familiar to our life science colleagues: ?how do you optimize market access for a new infused therapy launching into a competitive space that includes self-administered therapies? Distribution, coverage, reimbursement & patient support?- the intersections impacting market access are everywhere! *Distribution: A manufacturer might decide to use a tight distribution network to manage operational cost and quality, purchasing. Health Systems will each want to use their preferred distributors, and a payer may prefer a complete shift away from specialty distribution to dispensing from their own specialty pharmacy. *Formularies: A physician wants to choose the best therapy for each patient, while a payer is looking to control the drug class spend with tiered formularies. *Site of Treatment: A patient may prefer to go to a convenient, accessible infusion location of their choice, a health system may want a patient to stay within their system to increase treatment visibility, and a payer is incentivized to limit in network infusion sites to manage cost or shift patients to a self-administered option. *Patient Support: Patients may have a hard time affording their medicine. Manufacturers do not want to see cost prevent a patient from starting their treatment and payers want to maintain the integrity of their formulary. Sensing a theme here? How do you ensure a seamless patient experience across an extremely complex healthcare system with conflicting priorities? This is an “intersections balancing act”-- no one sets out to intentionally create what feels like a disjointed experience for a patient, but even with the best of intentions, it happens. We get it. We’ve been there. What’s an intersection on your mind? And how can we help?

What’s in a Name? "We're FAT trees!...Can we call ourselves that?" ?? ?? ?? It turns out choosing a name for yourself is really important, and really hard. After much back and forth, and many iterations, we landed on "SageTree Collective"?– to reflect who we are and how we approach our work every day. Let’s break it down: Sage- An “oh so calming” shade of green, but more importantly, it represents the wisdom that we have gained from our many years in healthcare? Tree- Our tree is not a “skinny tree.” It is big and full, with expansive branches, symbolizing our wide-ranging experience, and deeply rooted in our networks and foundational knowledge? Collective- We believe in the power of collaboration and connection. This is how we approach our work-- working hand-in-hand with our clients to not only architect strategies, but also implement solutions. Collaboration is especially vital at the intersections in healthcare, where complexity is the norm We hope our name authentically reflects our belief that our shared experiences connect us, our diverse backgrounds elevate us, and our clients are served better through our collective expertise. Please follow us here and reach out to any or all of us to learn more about how we can help. We would love to hear from you!?[email protected] Finally, here’s a picture of us celebrating together, on that very first day we became SageTree Collective.

Healthcare should not happen in a silo. Success in today’s environment requires a broad understanding of and deep experience with healthcare’s many stakeholders. With over 95 years of collective experience as strategists, boots-on-the ground tacticians, operations managers, team leaders, & executive advisors, we know what questions to ask, what strategies to invest in, and how to get the intersections of healthcare to work together for you.? Let us assist your organization in navigating the complexities of healthcare.