Overview

Companies

Metrics

Content

Purchase

(Excerpted from Chapter 2: Program Management)

Introduction to Chapter 2

Pharmaceutical companies have been renowned for their large marketing budgets and aggressive drug promotion. Many companies focus their efforts on attaining new patients and securing new scripts for their products. Companies that have a narrow focus, however, overlook a lucrative opportunity to win significant revenues by focusing on retaining their existing patients. Survey data shows that on average it costs a company 38% more to attain a new patient than to retain an existing one. Nonetheless, it seems as though pharmaceutical companies are constantly scrapping for new patients, whilst existing patients are overlooked in the marketing frenzy.

Those companies that take the time to capitalize on the patients they have worked so hard to initially attain will earn significant returns from their efforts. Disease management and patient adherence programs not only make sound business sense for products’ bottom lines, but also help bolster the pharmaceutical industry’s image. If properly managed these programs can be illustrative of companies’ commitment to patients’ health as well as promote pharma’s social responsibility to healthcare. As healthcare costs skyrocket, pharmaceutical companies can play an important role in helping to alleviate some of these issues through their adherence and disease management programs.

The industry has witnessed pharmaceutical sales forces position themselves to physicians as reliable medical sources in order to provide a useful service and thus receive additional face-time to discuss their portfolios. This same strategy is applicable with non-branded disease management programs. Companies have found that they earn patients’ respect by positioning themselves as a sound medical resource and champion of a disease state. Establishing non-branded disease management programs is one way companies are able to demonstrate to patients that they care about patients’ health above profits. Patients are drawn to companies that they respect and trust. In this way, non-branded disease management programs act as cause branding for the companies. In fact, 56% of surveyed companies have non-branded disease management programs in place as Figure 2.1 illustrates. These programs have been growing in popularity and more companies will roll out such initiatives in the future.

While non-branded disease management programs continue to grow in popularity, branded patient adherence and disease management initiatives are still the more popular efforts put forth by pharmaceutical companies. This chapter will explore the reasons why companies establish such programs, the goals they aim to achieve, common tactics used to meet program objectives, and how companies overcome inherent challenges of program development and maintenance.

…To read more, please see Chapter 2 of Pharmaceutical Patient Adherence and Disease Management: Program Development, Management and Improvement

(Excerpted from Chapter 3: Program Improvement Opportunities)

Innovate in Consumer Communications

One of the chief means for improving programs is to explore new channels for communicating with patients. The Internet, or electronic channel, has emerged in the last decade as a critical tool that allows for direct interaction between consumers and companies.

Many interviewees, however, discussed their companies’ slowness to adopt web-based tools in adherence and disease management programs. An interviewee at Company D feels the organization has not done enough to take advantage of web opportunities.

A team leader at Company H echoes this opinion by saying “companies are stuck in the dark ages in some respects. They think print a lot, and they don’t realize how many consumers look for health information on the web.”

Although an increased web presence may help to bolster program effectiveness, teams must still employ the channels that consumers favor. Company D’s interviewee notes that programs often work with elderly populations that are less computer-savvy than younger patients.

Overall, programs adjust their channels to best communicate with patients. When teams explore new means for communicating with patients, such as via cell phones or web-based interactivity, they also monitor results to ensure that the new channel is meeting customer needs.

Newer technologies do play a role in delivering both disease management- and compliance-oriented messages to patients. One mid-sized company considered the following tools in its effort to create a balanced set of communication channels:
• Website to present disease and product information
• Emails focused on disease or condition
• Emails focused on product
• Surveys to engage patients and improve program
• Test messaging focused on compliance
• Call center to handle inbound calls
• Call center to handle outbound calls
• Emails focused on compliance
• Desktop reminder tools focused on compliance
• RSS feeds focused on compliance
• Calendar stickers focused on compliance

…To read more, please see Chapter 3 of Pharmaceutical Patient Adherence and Disease Management: Program Development, Maintenance and Improvement