If you work in medical affairs or medical information, you know that tracking and resolving inquiries is a pain—especially when every detail matters. This guide is for you if your team handles questions from healthcare professionals, patients, or partners, and you want a no-nonsense walkthrough on how to do it using Veeva MedComms.
Skip the buzzwords—let’s get into what works (and what doesn’t) so you can get back to helping people, not wrestling with software.
1. Understanding What Veeva MedComms Actually Does
Let’s be real: Veeva MedComms is a CRM built specifically for medical information management. It promises a single place to log, track, assign, and close out medical inquiries. This isn’t going to magically fix broken processes, but it will give you a structured way to manage incoming questions and the full paper trail required for compliance.
The basics you get out of the box:
- Centralized inquiry tracking: Every question logged, assigned, and updated in one system.
- Automated workflows: Route inquiries to the right person or team.
- Response documentation: Attach response letters, literature, approvals.
- Audit trails: See who did what, when, for compliance checks.
What it won’t do:
It won’t write answers for you, automatically improve your content, or replace a broken SOP. It’s a tool, not a miracle.
2. Step-by-Step: Tracking and Resolving Inquiries
This is the meat of it. Here’s how to actually use MedComms to stay on top of medical inquiries, whether you’re part of a small team or wrangling global requests.
Step 1: Capture the Inquiry—And Don’t Skip the Details
Most teams get inquiries via email, phone, web forms, or even in-person events. The first job is getting it into Veeva MedComms—fast and accurately.
- Manual entry: Open a new inquiry record. Fill in all the required fields (requestor info, product, question, how it came in).
- Email integration: Some setups let you forward emails directly into the system. Double-check that nothing gets lost in translation.
- Web portal: If your company offers a self-service portal, those inquiries may flow in automatically.
Pro tip:
Don’t half-ass the details. Missing context now means headaches later. If you don’t have all the info, mark it as incomplete and follow up.
What to ignore:
Don’t bother logging non-medical questions (like “Where’s my shipment?”). That just clogs your metrics and wastes time.
Step 2: Triage and Assign
Once the inquiry is in, it needs to find the right home.
- Auto-assignment: MedComms can route certain types of inquiries to the right team (e.g., product specialists or safety).
- Manual assignment: For complex or unique questions, a human needs to pick the right owner.
What works:
Using clear categories and assignment rules keeps things moving. If your “unassigned” queue is growing, your setup needs tweaking.
What doesn’t:
Dumping everything on one team or person. Bottlenecks build up fast, and things fall through the cracks.
Step 3: Research and Draft the Response
Now it’s time to actually answer the question.
- Use existing content: MedComms lets you search your response library. If you’ve already got an approved letter, use it.
- Draft new responses: If the question is new, start a draft and pull supporting literature.
- Internal review: Route the draft for medical, legal, or regulatory review as needed.
Pro tip:
Don’t reinvent the wheel. Reuse existing, approved content where possible—it’s faster and lowers compliance risk.
Watch out for:
Getting bogged down in endless review cycles. If reviews are dragging, look for bottlenecks in your approval process—not just in the software.
Step 4: Respond to the Requestor and Document Everything
Send the final, approved response back to the HCP or patient—however they asked to be contacted.
- Email and portal delivery: MedComms can send replies directly or post them to a secure portal.
- Phone or fax: (Yes, some people still use fax.) Log that the response was delivered and, if possible, upload a copy.
Documentation matters:
Attach the final response, any supporting materials, and note how/when you responded. This isn’t just for compliance—it saves your future self time when the same question pops up again.
Don’t:
Mark anything as “complete” until you’ve actually sent the response and logged it. Cutting corners here is how audits go sideways.
Step 5: Close Out and Follow Up
With the response delivered and documented, you can close the inquiry. But don’t ignore follow-up:
- Track satisfaction: Some teams send a quick survey or follow-up, especially for complex cases.
- Escalate recurring issues: If you keep getting the same question, flag it. Maybe your materials need updating, or there’s a product issue brewing.
What works:
Regularly reviewing closed inquiries helps spot trends and improve your process or content.
What doesn’t:
“Set it and forget it.” If you never look back at your closed tickets, you’re missing out on easy wins.
3. Reporting and Compliance: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Let’s talk about why this all matters. If you’re in medical affairs, you know: documentation is king. Veeva MedComms makes it (relatively) easy to report on:
- Volume of inquiries by product, topic, or region
- Response times and bottlenecks
- Who handled what—and when
The good:
You can pull audit-ready reports quickly, and regulators love a tidy paper trail.
The bad:
If you feed MedComms bad data (incomplete records, mis-categorized cases), your reports are useless. Garbage in, garbage out.
The ugly:
Over-engineered reporting setups. Keep it simple unless you have a real need—otherwise, you’ll be updating dashboards no one reads.
4. Tips, Tricks, and Honest Shortcuts
You don’t have time to mess around. Here’s what actually helps:
- Templates are your friend: Build and maintain a solid library of response templates. Approvals take time up front, but save headaches later.
- Automate the obvious: If you get the same 10 questions every week, set up rules to route and respond faster.
- Keep your categories tight: Too many categories? You’ll never find anything. Too few? You lose useful insights. Review and trim quarterly.
- Train new users well: Most MedComms issues are user errors, not system errors.
- Don’t ignore feedback: If users say something’s broken or confusing, listen. The system can only be as good as the process behind it.
5. Common Pitfalls (And How to Dodge Them)
- Overcomplicating the workflow: Don’t add steps you don’t need. Approval chains should be as short as possible without breaking compliance.
- Letting “unassigned” pile up: Set up alerts for overdue cases and make someone responsible for clearing the queue daily.
- Not updating templates: Outdated content is a compliance risk. Build a schedule for regular reviews.
- Skipping documentation: Auditors don’t care about your excuses. If it’s not in the system, it didn’t happen.
Keep It Simple and Iterate
Veeva MedComms is only as good as your process. Start simple, focus on logging every inquiry clearly, and close the loop with real documentation. Don’t get caught up chasing perfect automation or fancy dashboards—just make sure you can answer, “Did we handle this inquiry right?” If you can, you’re on the right track.
Remember: iterate, review, and don’t be afraid to scrap what isn’t working. The goal is to help people get the right answers, not to win an award for complicated workflows.