Hull Associates LLC
Thriving as an Innovator in an Underfunded World

When he started Hull Associates in 2007, president and founder Stephen Hull recognized major global geographies had one thing in common: a shrinking pool of workers and growing populations that depend the most on healthcare. “It was shocking to think the US, Europe, China and Japan all faced the same problem,” Hull said. “We had to build a consulting practice that changed the way people think about innovation in health products.”

Hull Associates specialises in helping design and execute strategies for specialty pharma, medical device and diagnostic companies to succeed across multiple payer systems and geographies. Medicaid, Medicare, and commercial payers in the U.S., as well as other countries, have different approaches and criteria for initiating the reimbursement, which makes the commercialization even more cumbersome.

“Companies need to design value into their products, and today economic value is just as important as clinical,” Hull said. “It all starts with targeting the right indications strategically and building high quality clinical evidence.”

By delivering a customized approach, Hull Associates helps innovative companies anticipate evidence requirements to launch their products in a new market successfully. The company also provides hands-on support for the execution of every strategy that they recommend. “We are more than just advisors, we are a field-execution company that helps clients achieve coverage, coding and payment in the U.S. and around the world,” says Stephen.

Hull Associates engages with clients early on to help build successful product launches. Through its customized approach, the company navigates the intricacies of product commercialization. “The main aim here is to partner with our customers to deliver value over-time,” states Stephen.

In the USA, the company has a veteran team of regional payer relations experts and analysts. Internationally, the company deploys an experienced team of in-country expert consultants with direct industry experience in new product launches and full understanding of the reimbursement pathways, key decision makers and ways to maximize success. Working together with its clients, Hull Associates can re-focus business strategies for pharmaceutical, medical device, and diagnostic products to achieve maximum reimbursement. “We work with our clients to develop a common understanding of their problems and develop the methods to mitigate them,” mentions Stephen.

We are more than just advisors, we are a field-execution focused company that helps clients achieve coverage, coding and payment in U.S. and around the world.

Being a pioneer in international reimbursement consulting gives Hull Associates an extra edge over local firms as the company can sequence the markets and manage cross-border issues. And unlike large multi-national consulting firms, Hull Associates focusses exclusively on reimbursement consulting. The company operates across all major global markets, and has supported over 300 clients across a full spectrum of specialties and diseases. On the analytic side, Hull Associates provides expertise in developing strategies, planning evidence, and data analysis. This helps to model the impact of client’s technologies using national datasets in countries around the world. They can also analyze ideal study designs and assists clients to understand the positioning of their innovation based on its budget impact.

The key differentiator of Hull Associates is its focus on customizing its approach according to each customer’s needs through an experienced and competent team. “For us, the end product needs to deliver innovative value, and that’s what we strive for,” says Stephen.

In terms of future direction, Hull Associates is focusing on US commercial payer relations and the growing impact of Health Technology Assessments (HTAs) around the world. Further, the company will also be focusing on the global reference pricing to help clients in comprehending the price acceptance with reimbursement being a closely related issue.