OneKey makes millions of changes to the data on an annual basis, with 98.5% being made proactively through our data collection and validation processes. While OneKey will continue to strive to capture all updates through proactive means, there will always be a need for customers to provide feedback, but how exactly does that process work? In this blog post, we will pull the curtain back on how questions from our customers are investigated and lead to potential changes in the data.

Jane is a sales rep for U.S. Pharmaceuticals on a visit to Washington Medical Group. During this visit she meets Dr. Dave Jones who just joined the practice after moving from another state. She speaks to him and gets his information as he is a promising new contact. Jane checks her CRM and finds Dr. Jones, but sees that his address information is still for his old location in another state. Jane submits a data investigation to have Dr. Jones’ address data updated.

Jack is a data analyst on the OneKey Data Management team and receives the data question submitted by Jane. Jack identifies that Jane is asking for a new address to be added to Dr. Dave Jones’ profile. He then checks the current OneKey healthcare professional (HCP) reference database and sees that Dr. Jones does not have the new address. Jack locates a phone number for the Washington Medical Group and calls to validate if Dr. Dave Jones currently works at the office. In addition to confirming the address, Jack confirms the spelling of Dr. Jones’ name, profession, specialty, and whether this location is his primary office. Having confirmed that Dr. Jones does work at this office, and that is his primary and only location, Jack updates the OneKey database and closes out the submitted inquiry. OneKey sends a notification that Jane’s request has been approved and the appropriate changes have been made to the OneKey database. Now moving forward, Dr. Jones’ new address will be seen in the next OneKey data deliverable for a customer.

As Jack processed the data inquiry from Jane, there were several steps that Jack took to process the request:

• Understanding what our customers are asking. The first and most important step that any data analyst takes in processing an inquiry from a customer is understanding and confirming what are they asking. This is the primary goal from which all investigations begin, and the end result should ensure that the answer to this question is provided in the data inquiry response.
• Independently verify the request. To ensure that any change request submitted by a customer is accurate, we will independently validate the claim made by each customer. This is primarily performed by making phone calls to a medical practitioner or an office to confirm the accuracy of the request or validating the request against industry standard sources. This ensures quality and integrity in any data change made to OneKey so all our customers can be assured that any change being made will provide them with the highest quality data.
• Direct source validation only. In the event that the data inquiry is regarding an industry Standard Source Number (such as a State License Number or NPI number), IQVIA will always validate those requests against the direct sources. We do not use third-party sources nor rubber stamp any changes by the requester. This ensures that any change made to a value that is directly related to compliance, regulation, or alignment will match the source from which that value originates keeping our customers in good standing.