Mar 21, 2025
At Precision AQ, we know that navigating patient access challenges requires more than data—it takes real-world expertise. That’s why we’re launching our Meet Our Access Experience Team series, introducing the industry insiders who help life science companies anticipate payer challenges, optimize access strategies, and accelerate time to therapy.
First up: Julia Wermerskirchen, PharmD, Senior Director, Access Experience Team. With 15+ years in specialty pharmacy, payer strategy, and rare disease access, Julia brings firsthand expertise in payer decision-making, specialty networks, and value-based contracting. Let’s get to know her!
Q&A with Julia Wermerskirchen
Q: Can you share a bit about your background and areas of specialty?
Absolutely! I’m a pharmacist by training, with a background in specialty pharmacy management, rare disease access, and payer strategy. I’ve worked extensively in value-based contracting, patient adherence programs, site-of-care strategies, and distribution models for complex therapies– including cell and gene therapies and bleeding disorders.
Q: Where did you work prior to Precision AQ?
Before joining Precision AQ in 2025, I spent almost a decade at UnitedHealth Group, working across OptumRx, UHC, and Optum Frontier Therapies. I co-founded and led payer and provider relations at Optum Frontier Therapies, establishing access pathways for high-cost, rare, and orphan drugs.
Q: What unique perspectives do you bring to ensuring patience access?
My experience allows me to approach market access challenges from three key perspectives – payer, provider, and patient:
- Payer: Having worked within a national PBM/health plan, I understand how payers evaluate rare disease therapies and apply management strategies.
- Provider: My experience supporting providers and office staff helps me identify where prior authorization pathways create barriers.
- Patient: Meeting with patients and caregivers has illuminated common points of friction in the healthcare experience and reinforced the importance of simplifying access to therapies.
When working with life science companies, I bring these perspectives together to build comprehensive access strategies.
Q: What healthcare trends aren’t getting enough attention?
The cost of the diagnostic odyssey. While rare therapies are often seen as cost drivers, the financial burden of delayed diagnosis is often overlooked. The average time from symptom onset to diagnosis in rare diseases is over 6 years, leading to unnecessary tests, treatments, and doctors’ visits. Earlier diagnosis optimizes healthcare spending and improves patient/caregiver quality of life.
Q: What trends will reshape healthcare in the next 1-3 years?
Generative AI (artificial intelligence that creates new/original content) will be a game changer, particularly in precision medicine. AI can:
- Shorten the diagnostic odyssey by identifying rate diseases through pattern recognition in patient data.
- Optimize treatment selection by matching patients to therapies based on genetic profiles.
As AI adoption grows, regulatory oversight will be critical, ensuring its responsible use across payers, providers, and manufacturers in improving efficiency and accuracy in operational processes.
Q: What are you most passionate about in healthcare?
Bringing the “care” back into healthcare. While most stakeholders have the best of intentions, sometimes perspective gets lost along the way. Complex systems create barriers, and we need to do a better job of simplifying access to resources so that people can focus on more than just managing their diagnosis or condition.
Q: What do you like most about working at Precision AQ?
I get to collaborate with brilliant innovators and leading thought partners to navigate complex challenges – and learn something new every day. I am also incredibly grateful for the privilege to continue to serve patient communities through innovation and access.
Q: What should life science organizations prioritize in Innovation?
Simplifying access to clinical trial sites and Qualified Treatment Centers (QTCs). These sites are often limited to academic research centers, making access difficult for families who can’t afford extended travel or be away from home for potentially weeks at a time. By getting creative about patient engagement, organizations can reduce barriers and improve equitable access to specialized care.
About Precision AQ’s Access Experience Team
Precision AQ’s Access Experience Team (AET), originally launched in 2009, was created to bridge the gap between payers and life sciences companies, offering deep insight into access decision-making. Comprising more than 25 former access decision-makers from prominent managed care organizations, specialty pharmacies, and health plans, the AET brings firsthand experience to payer strategies, reimbursement barriers, and evolving policies. As an integrated part of Precision AQ, the AET helps clients translate payer practices and market access insights into actionable strategies to improve patient access.
Want to connect? Reach out to Julia.Wermerskirchen@PrecisionAQ.com.