Post on 08-Jun-2020
What Physicians Want
and Need From Pharma
2012 Report: Promotional Access and Preferences of Physicians
A CMI / Compas 10-Specialty Study
We are now facing a perfect storm. As access to
physicians continues to erode for pharmaceutical
companies, the physician shortage continues to
grow and challenge doctors with more patients
and less time.
August 2012
Dr. Susan Dorfman
Chief Marketing and Innovations Officer
Jose Ferreira
Manager, ByDoctor® and Data Assets
Christine Hardy
Marketing Data Analyst
Diane DeStefano
Marketing Research Manager
This document is the propriety and intellectual
property of CMI/Compas, Pennsylvania-
based corporations. Title and ownership of this
document belongs exclusively to
CMI/Compas. No individual, organization or
entity may reproduce, distribute or make
copies of this document by any means, in
whole or in part, without the express written
permission of CMI/Compas, which, in the
event of unauthorized use, shall seek legal
redress, including damages and injunctive
relief.
© 2012 CMI/Compas. All rights reserved.
Promotional Access and Preferences of Physicians Table of Contents
p | i
Table of Contents
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................1
Standout Statistics ..............................................................................................................................................1
Delivering Value Based on Physician Needs, Time Availability and Terms ........................................................2
Customer Centricity ............................................................................................................................................2
The Customer-Centric Promotional Engagement Model: Understand the Mind-Set of Your Customer ..............4
Our Findings ..................................................................................................................................................4
When do physicians spend the most time keeping abreast of new medical developments and medical
information? ...........................................................................................................................................................4
How often and at what times of day do physicians access the Internet for professional purposes?....................7
When and what specific sources do physicians use on the Internet when seeking information? ..................... 11
What do they find most helpful and valuable to receive from pharmaceutical companies? ............................. 14
When it comes to patient education, what topics and formats are physicians most interested in obtaining for
the benefit of their patients? .............................................................................................................................. 19
Which pharmaceutical company-supported features would be helpful for physicians to have if they were
integrated into their EHR system? ...................................................................................................................... 23
What is the one thing physicians wish pharmaceutical companies would provide that they currently do not? 25
Delivering on the Needs, Terms and Times of Physicians - Using Their Current and Preferred Channels of
Engagement ................................................................................................................................................. 29
Physician-Level Promotional Access — A View across Specialties and Channels ............................................. 30
Multichannel Access by Specialty ........................................................................................................................ 31
Concluding Remarks ..................................................................................................................................... 32
Future Trends: Anticipated Media Forecast for Prescriber Engagement ............................................................ 32
The Move Toward Transmedia Marketing ...................................................................................................... 32
Content-Curated Vehicles Will Soon Appear on the Horizon .......................................................................... 32
The Rise of the Total Office / Account Surround ............................................................................................. 32
Analytics–Why It Will All Add Up ..................................................................................................................... 33
About CMI/Compas ..................................................................................................................................... 34
ByDoctor® DNA™ ........................................................................................................................................... 34
ByDoctor® PULSE™ and OnDemand℠ Primary Marketing Research ................................................................ 35
Physicians Preference for Promotional Access A CMI / Compas Study
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Introduction Indisputably, the existing biopharm sales and
marketing approach is no longer viable. Doctors are
less available. We have seen data from various
sources confirming that the reach of the
pharmaceutical field force continues to steeply
decline, and the shortage of physicians will grow to
63,000 by 2015 and 130,600 by 2025 (as recently
cited by the Association of American Medical
Colleges).
In fact, we are now facing a perfect storm. As
access to physicians continues to erode for
pharmaceutical companies, the physician shortage
continues to grow and challenge doctors with more
patients and less time. While reach is king, fewer
physicians with less availability demands more
focus on meaningful access. Getting “in” is key, but
even more important is “staying in” and building a
personalized relationship even if a personal one
cannot exist.
While pharmaceutical companies have been forced
to look at alternate means of reaching, educating
and engaging physicians, the ones most likely to
succeed will see these means not just as an
alternate approach but also as one that can
transform customer relationship management –
combining non-personal promotion with a
customer-centric orientation to better meet
physicians’ knowledge needs and enhance
experiences. Moving away from a product-focused
to physician-centric approach, the winners will
surely adopt the most basic marketing principle:
focus on the experiences, wants and needs of
physicians and not simply on the wants and needs
of your organization. They will work with the
customers to solve their immediate and long-term
needs and do so within their daily work- and life-
streams by building a deep understanding of the
customers’ experiences, expectations, preferences
and needs at each of these interactions.
Standout Statistics
20 out of 100
reps who visit physician’s offices actually speak to
a doctor
1 in 4 physicians work in a practice that refuses
access to pharma reps
40% of physicians will meet with pharma reps by
appointment only
A CMI / Compas Study Physicians Preference for Promotional Access
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Delivering Value Based on
Physician Needs, Time
Availability and Terms So how do we deliver value to our target physicians
based on their needs, on their time and on their
terms? How do we ensure we not only get in but
more importantly “stay in” and build personalized
relationships with our key customers?
It starts by knowing our customers.
To better understand the needs, terms and
engagement times of U.S. physicians in preparation
for our clients’ 2013 promotional planning needs, in
June 2012 CMI/Compas decided to conduct primary
and secondary marketing research across 10
physician specialties using our proprietary “fast
insights” audience research tool, ByDoctor®
PULSE™ (powered by the WorldOne panel of 1.7
million medical professionals) and our physician-
level multichannel promotional access data,
ByDoctor® DNA™.
For the purpose of this study, we assessed more
than 200 promotional access vehicles across six
defined channels – direct mail, e-mail, desktop
media, office reference, digital/mobile, and journal
(print and online).
Customer Centricity
Based on my needs and those of my
patients
Using my most accessed and
preferred channels
On my terms
At the time of day most convenient
for me
Physicians Preference for Promotional Access A CMI / Compas Study
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The specialties we studied included:
Specialty ByDoctor® PULSE™ (N) ByDoctor® DNA™ (N)
Cardiology 50 35,669
Dermatology 50 15,938
Endocrinology 50 7,594
General / Family Practice 104 157,976
Internal Medicine 117 213,987
Neurology 53 20,839
Oncology 52 17,319
Ophthalmology 53 27,273
Psychiatry 51 69,458
Rheumatology 37 6,260
Physicians Preference for Promotional Access A CMI / Compas Study
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The Customer-Centric
Promotional Engagement
Model: Understand the
Mind-Set of Your Customer We strive toward customer-centricity, helping brand
teams create the best possible communication,
channel and call-to-action mix, and a better
understanding of the necessary terms, times and
needs of physicians in and outside of the practice
setting. In this quest, CMI/Compas used ByDoctor®
PULSE™ to explore the answers to the following
seven questions across 10 specialties:
1. When do physicians spend the most time
keeping abreast of medical developments
and new medical information?
2. How often and at what times of day do they
access the Internet for professional
purposes?
3. When do they search the Internet for
information and what specific sources do
they use?
4. What do they find most helpful and
valuable to receive from pharmaceutical
companies?
5. When it comes to patient education, what
topics and formats are physicians most
interested in obtaining for the benefit of
their patients?
6. What pharmaceutical company-supported
features would physicians consider helpful
if those features were integrated into
electronic health record (EHR) systems?
7. What is the one thing physicians wish
pharmaceutical companies would provide
that they currently do not?
To examine response differences among specialties,
the following methodology was used:
Pearson’s chi-square tests were performed
to look for statistical differences in
categorical responses.
In situations where chi-square tests were
not valid due to small response rates, one-
sample tests for proportions were used to
compare responses by specialty to the
overall mean.
An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was
performed on continuous scores, and
means were compared individually to the
overall average when the F-test was
significant.
All statistical comparisons were performed
using a significance level of 0.05.
Our Findings
When do physicians spend
the most time keeping
abreast of new medical
developments and medical
information?
Physicians are information seekers, constantly
required to stay abreast of new medical
developments and information to best care for
their patients. As information-seeking is time-
consuming and physicians are continuously
bombarded with new data, it is no wonder that the
majority of physicians across almost every
specialty selected evening after office hours as
their most preferred time to stay abreast of new
medical developments and medical information,
followed by weekday office hours, weekends
during off time, and early mornings prior to office
hours.
Physicians Preference for Promotional Access A CMI / Compas Study
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There were a few exceptions
Psychiatrists chose weekday office hours as their most preferred time to stay abreast of
medical developments and medical information.
Only 47 percent of ophthalmologists (high minority) selected evening after office hours
as their most preferred time to stay abreast of medical developments. None selected
“weekends during office hours” as a time they would devote to such medical learning.
Neurologists selected morning and evening hours (equally at 38 percent each) as their
most preferred time to stay abreast of medical developments and medical information.
Most Popular Times to Keep Abreast of New Medical Developments
43%
20%
23%
33%
38%
31%
25%
28%
26%
22%
46%
51%
34%
40%
34%
30%
39%
48%
28%
30%
57%
39%
47%
52%
38%
61%
61%
56%
50%
64%
5%
8%
0%
8%
13%
6%
5%
2%
4%
2%
27%
27%
30%
27%
28%
30%
25%
42%
28%
22%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120% 140% 160% 180%
Rheumatology
Psychiatry
Ophthalmology
Oncology
Neurology
Internal Medicine
Gen/Fam Practice
Endocrinology
Dermatology
Cardiology
Early morning Weekday office hours Evenings Weekend office hours Weekend time off
Multiple answers were allowed, so responses add
up to more than 100%
Physicians Preference for Promotional Access A CMI / Compas Study
p | 6
Information is critical for physicians, yet
information overload is getting worse, according to
the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and
a recent study from the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS) and the Lewin Group.
Their study confirmed what industry veterans know:
it’s increasingly difficult for physicians to keep up on
current medical knowledge. At the same time, it is
increasingly difficult for pharmaceutical marketers
to break through the noise of the cluttered market
and access their physician audiences. Competition
vying for physician attention includes journals,
clinical-economic studies, and competing
marketers, as well as policymakers and managed
care providers. While electronic media offers an
ease-of-use and speed that was previously not
possible, digital media has become just as cluttered
and, says the report, “contribute to physicians’
information overload.”
Because it is critical that pharmaceutical companies
inform target physicians of new indications, study
results and safety advisories, brand teams must be
prepared to share this information in the most
effective way possible. Teams should use multiple
channels of delivery – selecting and prioritizing
those inherently best for conveying the information,
and that can also be most easily accessed from or
brought to the home setting for review during
evening hours. In this case, channels such as direct
mail, journals, mobile and eLearning/eDetailing
will have deeper impact, offer higher perceived
value, and be less crowded than digital/display
and e-mail (although most physicians across
specialties say that e-mail is the top preferred
When do physicians spend the most time keeping abreast of new medical developments and medical information?
Specialty Early morning (before office
hours)
During weekday
office hours
Evening (after office
hours)
Weekends (during office
hours)
Weekends (during time
off)
Cardiology 22% 30% 64% 2% 22%
Dermatology 26% 28% 50% 4% 28%
Endocrinology 28% 48% 56% 2% 42%
General / Family Practice
25% 39% 61% 5% 25%
Internal Medicine 31% 30% 61% 6% 30%
Neurology 38% 34% 38% 13% 28%
Oncology 33% 40% 52% 8% 27%
Ophthalmology 23% 34% 47% 0% 30%
Psychiatry 20% 51% 39% 8% 27%
Rheumatology 43% 46% 57% 5% 27%
Physicians Preference for Promotional Access A CMI / Compas Study
p | 7
channel in lieu of a pharmaceutical sales rep) and
may therefore be more customer-centric, effective
and likely to be read. These channels, according to
our ByDoctor® DNA™ physician-level data also offer
high accessibility across specialties. Direct mail, for
example, has the potential to be accessed by more
than 95 percent of physicians referenced in this
study, while broad-reach journals can access over
80 percent— including both physicians who are
AMA opt-outs and those with set access limitations,
such as Kaiser physicians.
To spark interest and top-of-mind awareness,
pharmaceutical marketers should disseminate
sound bites – brief, clear messages – on medical
developments. These brief updates can be
distributed early morning, throughout weekday
office hours, or even during weekends. The use of
e-mail, search, digital/display, desktop, electronic
medical records (EMR) and journal media is
therefore highly recommended for such smaller
sound bites and message exposure.
How often and at what times
of day do physicians access
the Internet for professional
purposes?
Nearly all physicians have access to the Internet,
know how to use it, and access it for medical
information. For a large majority of physicians, the
Internet has become a critical component of how
they seek out medical information, often in
response to patient questions and/or needs. When
asked, the majority across all specialties commonly
reported accessing the Internet for professional
purposes (frequently or sometimes) throughout
their weekday morning and evenings and even on
weekends during off-times.
With use during weekday office hours ranking
highest in 7 of the 10 specialties, the Internet’s
professional importance to physicians currently may
result more from patient-physician interactions and
questions that arise during the consult than from
physicians’ own use in their professional
development or for information tied to new medical
developments. Therefore, weekday office hours may
be the optimal time for delivering messaging
intended to immediately influence brand selection.
There are some exceptions for whom evening was the most frequent time to search for
professional purposes. Dermatologists and rheumatologists seem to display more proactive
info-seeking behaviors, using personal time to seek out information tied to their professional
development and new medical developments by searching the Web.
Dermatology
Rheumatology
Internal medicine (which ranked evening after office hours as high as weekday office
hours —both at 60 percent)
Physicians Preference for Promotional Access A CMI / Compas Study
p | 8
Percentage of Physicians Reporting Frequent Internet Use
for Professional Purposes at Selected Times
43%
29%
32%
29%
42%
43%
24%
46%
30%
32%
14%
25%
17%
23%
34%
29%
16%
16%
20%
16%
51%
39%
43%
52%
55%
60%
45%
52%
48%
50%
46%
53%
55%
60%
58%
60%
56%
64%
46%
54%
43%
35%
34%
40%
47%
44%
34%
42%
36%
32%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
Rheumatology
Psychiatry
Ophthalmology
Oncology
Neurology
Internal Medicine
Gen/Fam Practice
Endocrinology
Dermatology
Cardiology
Early Morning Weekday Office Hours Evenings Weekend office hours Weekend time off
Multiple answers were allowed, so responses add
up to more than 100%
Physicians Preference for Promotional Access A CMI / Compas Study
p | 9
How often and at what times of day do physicians access the Internet for professional purposes?
Time Frequently Sometimes Rarely Never
Cardiology
Weekends (during time off) 32% 38% 18% 12%
Weekends (during office hours) 16% 18% 24% 42%
Evening (after office hours) 50% 38% 8% 4%
During weekday office hours 54% 28% 12% 6%
Early morning (before office hours) 32% 22% 28% 18%
Dermatology
Weekends (during time off) 30% 42% 20% 8%
Weekends (during office hours) 20% 28% 16% 36%
Evening (after office hours) 48% 36% 10% 6%
During weekday office hours 46% 38% 12% 4%
Early morning (before office hours) 36% 32% 22% 10%
Endocrinology
Weekends (during time off) 46% 34% 18% 2%
Weekends (during office hours) 16% 34% 22% 28%
Evening (after office hours) 52% 38% 8% 2%
During weekday office hours 64% 26% 8% 2%
Early morning (before office hours) 42% 18% 20% 20%
General / Family Medicine
Weekends (during time off) 24% 39% 27% 10%
Weekends (during office hours) 16% 24% 34% 26%
Evening (after office hours) 45% 35% 19% 1%
During weekday office hours 56% 34% 10% 1%
Early morning (before office hours) 34% 27% 22% 17% Internal Medicine
Weekends (during time off) 43% 30% 23% 4%
Weekends (during office hours) 29% 33% 26% 12%
Evening (after office hours) 60% 30% 8% 3%
During weekday office hours 60% 32% 6% 2%
Early morning (before office hours) 44% 26% 20% 10%
Neurology
Weekends (during time off) 42% 38% 15% 6%
Weekends (during office hours) 34% 34% 19% 13%
Evening (after office hours) 55% 32% 9% 4%
During weekday office hours 58% 32% 6% 4%
Early morning (before office hours) 47% 36% 13% 4%
Physicians Preference for Promotional Access A CMI / Compas Study
p | 10
With particular patient problems or questions at the
point of care generally presenting themselves as the
most common reasons for seeking information
online, the credibility of the source, quick access to
information and ease of searching are most
important to the provision of physician-centric
search engine marketing and optimization and the
subsequent content that is generated from the
search results. Barriers to use often include too
much information to scan and too little specific
information to respond to a defined question.
The majority of physicians across specialties
indicated they sometimes or frequently use search
most often during office hours. It is crucial to
ensure that proper physician search terms/words
and budgets that quickly lead physicians to credible
sources (see the section responding to question
When and what specific sources do physicians use
on the Internet when seeking information?) are
made part of your search strategy.
How often and at what times of day do physicians access the Internet for professional purposes? CONTINUED
Time Frequently Sometimes Rarely Never
Oncology
Weekends (during time off) 29% 38% 19% 13%
Weekends (during office hours) 23% 29% 19% 29%
Evening (after office hours) 52% 31% 13% 4%
During weekday office hours 60% 35% 6% 0%
Early morning (before office hours) 40% 35% 12% 13%
Ophthalmology
Weekends (during time off) 32% 36% 23% 9%
Weekends (during office hours) 17% 30% 25% 28%
Evening (after office hours) 43% 45% 8% 4%
During weekday office hours 55% 32% 11% 2%
Early morning (before office hours) 34% 17% 30% 19%
Psychiatry
Weekends (during time off) 29% 35% 29% 6%
Weekends (during office hours) 25% 18% 24% 33%
Evening (after office hours) 39% 43% 18% 0%
During weekday office hours 53% 39% 6% 2%
Early morning (before office hours) 35% 25% 24% 16%
Rheumatology
Weekends (during time off) 43% 35% 16% 5%
Weekends (during office hours) 14% 24% 24% 38%
Evening (after office hours) 51% 41% 5% 3%
During weekday office hours 46% 46% 8% 0%
Early morning (before office hours) 43% 27% 16% 14%
Physicians Preference for Promotional Access A CMI / Compas Study
p | 11
When and what specific
sources do physicians use on
the Internet when seeking
information?
Physicians often rely on multiple sources for
gathering and researching health information. A
2011 survey commissioned by the Pharmaceutical
Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA)
identified peer-reviewed journals, clinical practice
guidelines and discussions with colleagues and
peers as top traditional sources used for searching
and gathering medical information. When it comes
to online searches,
physicians often turn to
search engines as the
primary means for accessing
information quickly. But,
beyond search, are there
other direct sources that
physicians turn to when
seeking information?
According to a study by
comScore, the answer is yes.
Physicians going online for
health information visit
professional medical
databases most often and
tend to spend more time on these sites than on
sites they find via most search-engine based
searches. These professional medical databases
(which include sites such as PubMed, Epocrates®,
UpToDate®, MDLinx® and others) have become
key for conducting direct searches (even more
often than medical journal sites), with physicians
tending to type out the actual URL addresses
rather than locating a professional medical
database through a search. The most frequent use
of such sites is to access trusted research on specific
topics, from sources proven to have high reliability
as well as to gather information related to a specific
patient problem or specific disease areas.
Our research has picked up where comScore left off
and has shown that, while medical databases are
indeed the most highly searched direct online
sources for medical information across specialties
regardless of time of day, the time of day does
impact what and how physicians search online.
Among our findings:
“Weekdays, during office hours” is the
second most preferred time that most
physicians across specialties reported
accessing the Internet for
professional purposes and
one of the least preferred
times for keeping abreast of
new medical developments
– is also the time period
physicians indicated they
most often use medical
databases such as
Medscape and PubMed to
search for information.
In addition to
medical databases, online
medical journals also ranked
high in use during weekday
evenings.
“Weekends, during time off” preferences
include the use of medical databases, online
medical journals and physician online
communities.
Similar to the responses in our previous
question, physicians in 7 out of 10 specialties
report not searching online sources such as
medical journals, databases, online
communities or pharmaceutical company web
Professional
medical databases
have become key
for conducting
direct searches
Physicians Preference for Promotional Access A CMI / Compas Study
p | 12
sites at all during weekend office hours, with
sixty-five percent of psychiatrists stating that
they do not search at all during that time.
There are three exceptions (all treating highly
complex cases and with possible greater info-
seeking needs to respond to patient / caregiver
questions and concerns during office hours),
demonstrating proactive info-seeking behaviors
using online resources during weekend office
hours.
These include:
o The highest percentage of
endocrinologists referred to medical
journals during this time.
o Forty-two percent of neurologists referred
to medical databases during this time.
o There was also a split among oncologists,
with thirty-three percent referring to
medical journals and forty-two percent
referring to medical databases during this
time.
When and what specific sources do physicians use on the Internet when seeking information?
Time Online
medical journals
Medical databases
Physician online
communities
Pharma company websites
Don't search at this time
Cardiology
Early morning (before office hours) 30% 26% 22% 4% 40%
During weekday office hours 40% 58% 32% 18% 10%
Evening (after office hours) 48% 36% 42% 12% 12%
Weekends (during office hours) 18% 22% 24% 4% 52%
Weekends (during time off) 38% 38% 38% 10% 22%
Dermatology
Early morning (before office hours) 36% 36% 30% 12% 44%
During weekday office hours 40% 56% 32% 20% 18%
Evening (after office hours) 46% 46% 34% 18% 22%
Weekends (during office hours) 26% 28% 16% 8% 54%
Weekends (during time off) 36% 40% 36% 18% 30%
Endocrinology
Early morning (before office hours) 42% 40% 26% 14% 40%
During weekday office hours 50% 72% 48% 28% 8%
Evening (after office hours) 60% 66% 40% 16% 12%
Weekends (during office hours) 26% 36% 12% 10% 48%
Weekends (during time off) 56% 60% 44% 10% 16%
Continued
Physicians Preference for Promotional Access A CMI / Compas Study
p | 13
When and what specific sources do physicians use on the Internet when seeking information? CONTINUED
Time Online
medical journals
Medical databases
Physician online
communities
Pharma company websites
Don't search at this time
General/Family Medicine
Early morning (before office hours) 26% 35% 28% 3% 43%
During weekday office hours 38% 73% 53% 29% 13%
Evening (after office hours) 32% 57% 52% 10% 15%
Weekends (during office hours) 16% 24% 21% 6% 52%
Weekends (during time off) 27% 39% 44% 13% 34%
Internal Medicine
Early morning (before office hours) 35% 40% 31% 9% 31%
During weekday office hours 50% 67% 42% 23% 15%
Evening (after office hours) 57% 63% 47% 20% 11%
Weekends (during office hours) 28% 35% 27% 9% 37%
Weekends (during time off) 46% 47% 39% 15% 23%
Neurology
Early morning (before office hours) 45% 45% 23% 11% 30%
During weekday office hours 38% 62% 38% 23% 17%
Evening (after office hours) 47% 51% 43% 25% 15%
Weekends (during office hours) 36% 42% 28% 9% 36%
Weekends (during time off) 42% 53% 34% 19% 23%
Oncology
Early morning (before office hours) 48% 52% 27% 8% 23%
During weekday office hours 56% 87% 39% 23% 6%
Evening (after office hours) 46% 58% 40% 15% 17%
Weekends (during office hours) 33% 42% 23% 14% 42%
Weekends (during time off) 46% 48% 33% 12% 29%
Ophthalmology
Early morning (before office hours) 21% 25% 25% 8% 53%
During weekday office hours 47% 62% 40% 13% 11%
Evening (after office hours) 49% 55% 42% 17% 19%
Weekends (during office hours) 17% 15% 19% 4% 60%
Weekends (during time off) 40% 47% 25% 9% 32%
Continued
Physicians Preference for Promotional Access A CMI / Compas Study
p | 14
Electronic media are viewed by physicians as
increasingly important sources for clinical
information. While quick access to information is
beneficial, barriers to finding needed information
include too much information, lack of specific
information, and navigation or searching difficulties. Critical to seeking clinical information is not only the
credibility of the source and speed of use but also
content relevance and ease in ability to quickly find
relevant content. When selecting digital media
vehicles, pharmaceutical marketers should factor in
not only content relevance but the ease with which
that content can be located. It is additionally
important to consider the integration of owned
(client-developed) content marketing with paid
media assets as a key innovation strategy in
delivering relevant information where doctors are
most likely to go and seek it.
What do they find most
helpful and valuable to
receive from pharmaceutical
companies?
CMI/Compas wanted to uncover further how
pharma can provide a positive experience by
understanding what physicians find most helpful
and valuable to receive from pharmaceutical
companies. According to a study by TNS Healthcare,
physicians report that they are seeing positive
changes in the services they receive from
pharmaceutical companies, with the greatest
improvements coming in patient management,
education and support programs. However,
according to Cegedim Strategic Data,
pharmaceutical companies have sought ways to
reduce promotional costs, with support programs
such as sampling following suit.
When and what specific sources do physicians use on the Internet when seeking information? CONTINUED
Time Online
medical journals
Medical databases
Physician online
communities
Pharma company websites
Don't search at this time
Psychiatry
Early morning (before office hours) 33% 31% 26% 12% 43%
During weekday office hours 39% 65% 47% 33% 10%
Evening (after office hours) 31% 51% 51% 28% 22%
Weekends (during office hours) 16% 18% 16% 4% 65%
Weekends (during time off) 33% 37% 37% 12% 35%
Rheumatology
Early morning (before office hours) 38% 38% 16% 3% 38%
During weekday office hours 41% 84% 35% 24% 8%
Evening (after office hours) 43% 70% 27% 14% 11%
Weekends (during office hours) 14% 30% 11% 5% 57%
Weekends (during time off) 43% 54% 27% 14% 30%
Physicians Preference for Promotional Access A CMI / Compas Study
p | 15
In the U.S. market, Cegedim found, the total
spending of the industry on samples has fallen 25
percent since 2007, with samples shipped without a
rep declining at a much lower rate than samples
that were part of a sales detail. Interestingly,
physicians across 9 of the 10 specialties placed the
Pharma-Provided Resources Rated "Very Helpful"
57%
37%
38%
37%
49%
41%
37%
46%
42%
32%
41%
45%
47%
37%
47%
43%
43%
50%
42%
38%
30%
33%
21%
6%
25%
26%
29%
40%
38%
18%
76%
67%
77%
38%
49%
61%
63%
58%
68%
46%
57%
59%
49%
38%
47%
50%
38%
52%
50%
40%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
Rheumatology
Psychiatry
Ophthalmology
Oncology
Neurology
Internal Medicine
General/Fam Practice
Endocrinology
Dermatology
Cardiology
Patient Vouchers Drug Samples Formulary Updates Drug Information Patient Education
Physicians Preference for Promotional Access A CMI / Compas Study
p | 16
highest value on samples as being most (very)
helpful to their practice, generally followed by
patient vouchers, new and existing drug
information, and patient education. For
neurologists, patient education and samples ranked
as being very helpful, with both receiving 42
percent of the vote. Also of interest is the high
percentage of ophthalmologists (77 percent) who
ranked drug samples as very helpful, with 49
percent also finding patient vouchers very helpful.
The only specialty not placing as much value on
samples as did others was oncology, with only 38
percent ranking them as very helpful. While only a
minority of oncologists found high value (in other
words, “very helpful”) in any of the options
provided herein, interestingly 75 percent of
oncologists found formulary updates as somewhat
helpful to their practice, followed by patient
education material and new and existing drug
information.
What do physicians find most helpful and valuable to receive from pharmaceutical companies?
Materials Not helpful Somewhat helpful Very helpful
Cardiology
Patient education materials 18% 50% 32%
New and existing drug information 14% 48% 38%
Formulary updates 34% 48% 18%
Drug samples 24% 30% 46%
Patient vouchers 20% 40% 40%
Dermatology
Patient education materials 20% 38% 42%
New and existing drug information 8% 50% 42%
Formulary updates 22% 40% 38%
Drug samples 8% 24% 68%
Patient vouchers 20% 30% 50%
Endocrinology
Patient education materials 6% 48% 46%
New and existing drug information 6% 44% 50%
Formulary updates 8% 52% 40%
Drug samples 6% 36% 58%
Patient vouchers 8% 40% 52%
Continued
Physicians Preference for Promotional Access A CMI / Compas Study
p | 17
What do physicians find most helpful and valuable to receive from pharmaceutical companies? CONTINUED
Materials Not helpful Somewhat helpful Very helpful
General/Family Medicine
Patient education materials 11% 53% 37%
New and existing drug information 9% 48% 43%
Formulary updates 20% 51% 29%
Drug samples 15% 22% 63%
Patient vouchers 15% 46% 38%
Internal Medicine
Patient education materials 10% 49% 41%
New and existing drug information 8% 50% 43%
Formulary updates 21% 53% 26%
Drug samples 11% 28% 61%
Patient vouchers 17% 33% 50%
Neurology
Patient education materials 6% 45% 49%
New and existing drug information 6% 47% 47%
Formulary updates 17% 58% 25%
Drug samples 11% 40% 49%
Patient vouchers 11% 42% 47%
Oncology
Patient education materials 6% 58% 37%
New and existing drug information 12% 52% 37%
Formulary updates 19% 75% 6%
Drug samples 27% 35% 38%
Patient vouchers 15% 46% 38%
Ophthalmology
Patient education materials 15% 47% 38%
New and existing drug information 2% 51% 47%
Formulary updates 15% 64% 21%
Drug samples 9% 13% 77%
Patient vouchers 11% 40% 49%
Continued
Physicians Preference for Promotional Access A CMI / Compas Study
p | 18
As sampling generally demonstrates the intent of a
physician to prescribe and/or treat, and with access
to physicians by reps continuing to decline, it is
highly recommended that the use of samples
and/or patient vouchers be considered as a key
multichannel direct-response call to
action/engagement. Patient education materials,
another key resource cited by physicians as highly
valuable, should also be considered — particularly
since physicians are a trusted source in providing
such information to patients and the office setting
(both the exam and waiting room) is where
patients, ultimately consumers, spend a lot of their
time.
What do physicians find most helpful and valuable to receive from pharmaceutical companies? CONTINUED
Materials Not helpful Somewhat helpful Very helpful
Psychiatry
Patient education materials 14% 49% 37%
New and existing drug information 8% 47% 45%
Formulary updates 18% 49% 33%
Drug samples 14% 20% 67%
Patient vouchers 10% 31% 59%
Rheumatology
Patient education materials 8% 35% 57%
New and existing drug information 3% 57% 41%
Formulary updates 14% 57% 30%
Drug samples 8% 16% 76%
Patient vouchers 8% 35% 57%
Did you Know?
The average patient spends 20
minutes in the waiting room, 10
minutes in the exam room, and an
additional 19 minutes interacting
with his or her physician about
various health and lifestyle issues
Source: Archives of
Family Medicine
Physicians Preference for Promotional Access A CMI / Compas Study
p | 19
When it comes to patient
education, what topics and
formats are physicians most
interested in obtaining for the
benefit of their patients?
Communicating effectively with patients and
families is a cornerstone of providing quality health
care. The manner in which a health care provider
communicates information to a patient can be
equally as important as the information being
conveyed. Patients who understand their providers
are more likely to accept their health problems,
understand their treatment options, modify their
behavior, and adhere to follow-up instructions. If
the single most important criterion by which
patients judge us is the way we interact with them,
it stands to reason that effective communication is
at the core of providing patient-centered care.
As patients embrace digital and mobile channels in
seeking health and drug-related information and
education, CMI/Compas wanted to get a physician’s
perspective on the topics and formats physicians
found most valuable to providing to patients in their
effort to offer quality care at the point of practice.
Some very interesting findings include:
Print was the most selected format across all specialties, representing the
highest rankings amongst physicians in each specialty.
When asked about recommended medical apps for mobile devices, only
three specialties ranked “not interested in it” higher than any other
educational resources/topics. These were cardiologists, psychiatrists and
rheumatologists.
Both cardiologists and psychiatrists were also not interested in “Questions to
Ask Your Doctor.”
Non-branded printed information on “How Drugs Work” was the highest and
most selected item across most specialties.
The exception was dermatology, with 56 percent choosing “What
to Expect From Common Procedures and Tests” in print format.
Physicians Preference for Promotional Access A CMI / Compas Study
p | 20
Physician Interest in Pharma-Supplied Patient Education Materials by Topic
62%
55%
64%
62%
64%
72%
62%
54%
60%
56%
62%
61%
72%
71%
77%
74%
71%
66%
72%
62%
89%
84%
89%
85%
89%
85%
80%
80%
72%
82%
70%
73%
79%
73%
81%
78%
81%
64%
66%
72%
78%
61%
79%
85%
79%
78%
82%
78%
72%
76%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Rheumatology
Psychiatry
Ophthalmology
Oncology
Neurology
Internal Medicine
Gen/Fam Practice
Endocrinology
Dermatology
Cardiology
What to Expect from Common Procedures and Tests Tips on Sticking to Your Therapy
How Your Drug Works (non-branded information) Recommended Medical Apps
Top Ten Questions to Ask Your Doctor
Physicians Preference for Promotional Access A CMI / Compas Study
p | 21
When it comes to patient education, what topics and formats are physicians most interested in obtaining
for the benefit of their patients?
TOPICS
Format
What to Expect From Common Procedures and
Tests
Tips on Sticking to
Your Therapy
How Your Drug Works (non-
branded info)
Recommended Medical Apps
Top 10 Questions to
Ask Your Doctor
Cardiology
Audio 6% 4% 6% 4% 4%
Video 22% 12% 16% 8% 6%
Print 54% 44% 56% 28% 36%
Digital 26% 26% 24% 32% 20%
Not interested 24% 28% 18% 38% 44%
Dermatology
Audio 0% 0% 2% 0% 0%
Video 14% 10% 14% 12% 8%
Print 56% 52% 48% 36% 46%
Digital 24% 28% 34% 44% 30%
Not interested 28% 34% 28% 28% 40%
Endocrinology
Audio 12% 10% 10% 10% 2%
Video 18% 10% 14% 14% 6%
Print 52% 52% 68% 40% 44%
Digital 28% 16% 20% 28% 8%
Not interested 22% 36% 20% 34% 46%
General/Family Medicine
Audio 3% 2% 2% 4% 4%
Video 18% 13% 11% 13% 9%
Print 59% 63% 63% 38% 51%
Digital 26% 27% 27% 37% 16%
Not interested 18% 19% 20% 29% 38%
Internal Medicine
Audio 8% 8% 7% 6% 9%
Video 21% 17% 20% 17% 15%
Print 53% 56% 62% 38% 53%
Digital 27% 32% 32% 40% 24%
Not interested 22% 22% 15% 26% 28%
Continued
Physicians Preference for Promotional Access A CMI / Compas Study
p | 22
When it comes to patient education, what topics and formats are physicians most interested in obtaining
for the benefit of their patients? CONTINUED
TOPICS
Format
What to Expect From Common Procedures and
Tests
Tips on Sticking to
Your Therapy
How Your Drug Works (non-
branded info)
Recommended Medical Apps
Top 10 Questions to
Ask Your Doctor
Neurology
Audio 13% 15% 13% 13% 9%
Video 34% 25% 23% 17% 13%
Print 62% 58% 64% 47% 49%
Digital 25% 21% 23% 32% 17%
Not interested 21% 19% 11% 23% 36%
Oncology
Audio 4% 4% 4% 4% 4%
Video 12% 10% 10% 13% 13%
Print 60% 52% 62% 38% 42%
Digital 42% 33% 37% 38% 31%
Not interested 15% 27% 15% 29% 38%
Ophthalmology
Audio 2% 2% 2% 2% 0%
Video 17% 9% 9% 8% 2%
Print 55% 62% 68% 36% 49%
Digital 30% 25% 30% 38% 19%
Not interested 21% 21% 11% 28% 36%
Psychiatry
Audio 8% 10% 6% 6% 4%
Video 12% 14% 16% 12% 8%
Print 37% 41% 61% 29% 35%
Digital 22% 31% 33% 29% 24%
Not interested 39% 27% 16% 39% 45%
Rheumatology
Audio 11% 5% 5% 3% 3%
Video 16% 5% 16% 5% 8%
Print 70% 62% 70% 32% 54%
Digital 24% 19% 32% 32% 16%
Not interested 22% 30% 11% 38% 38%
Physicians Preference for Promotional Access A CMI / Compas Study
p | 23
Point-of-care/practice materials offer a great
opportunity to deliver customer-centric value to
both the physician and the patient. Sponsored
physician-delivered, patient-centric support tools at
the point of practice receive implied physician
endorsement and support responsible direct-to-
consumer (DTC) advertising. Patients can
immediately eliminate confusion about the featured
product and brand by talking with their physician,
and the physician is ultimately enabled to provide
extended and responsible patient information (and
ultimately care) in concluding his/her visit with the
patient.
Providing physicians with patient education tools on
topics and formats they think are most valuable to
patients and caregivers will be key to a strong in-
office-to-home engagement strategy.
Which pharmaceutical
company-supported features
would be helpful for
physicians to have if they
were integrated into their EHR
system?
In a March 2012 report by the Office of the
Inspector General (OIG), the percentage of
physicians using a certified EHR system was
estimated at approximately 43 percent, while
another study published in Health Affairs in 2012
indicated its use as high as 59 percent across
generalists and 50 percent across specialists. With
the Health Information Technology for Economic
and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act requiring physician
offices to use an EHR system for a meaningful
portion of their patients to avoid payment penalties
and receive further reimbursements for systems
deployed, the use of such systems provides a
gateway for effective information sharing with
physicians.
Not surprisingly, practices owned by health care
systems and other large organizations (those often
harder to access by reps) were more likely to have
an EHR than private practices, and that difference
also widened during the study period referenced by
Health Affairs. With EHR utilization and growth
continuing to rise, CMI/Compas wanted to
understand which pharmaceutical company-
supported features and services would be most
beneficial to the physicians using them.
Of the 10 specialties surveyed, eight ranked access
to patient education materials as most helpful to
have integrated with their EHR systems. Of the
other two specialties, ophthalmologists ranked
getting new drug information as most helpful while
psychiatrists ranked ability to request free samples,
ability to receive formulary updates, and ability to
get new drug information as the most helpful
services to have integrated within their EHR system.
80% ranked access to patient
education materials as most helpful to have integrated with their EHR
systems
Physicians Preference for Promotional Access A CMI / Compas Study
p | 24
Features That Would Be Helpful if Integrated into an EHR System
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
Rheumatology
Psychiatry
Ophthalmology
Oncology
Neurology
Internal Medicine
Gen/Fam Practice
Endocrinology
Dermatology
Cardiology
70%
57%
72%
79%
70%
74%
78%
72%
70%
74%
51%
61%
47%
77%
66%
59%
55%
68%
54%
54%
22%
27%
30%
13%
34%
32%
29%
28%
34%
18%
41%
61%
57%
42%
58%
53%
66%
64%
58%
50%
65%
61%
75%
52%
55%
54%
62%
64%
68%
36%
Request free samples Formulary updates Request a rep visit
New drug information Patient education materials
Physicians Preference for Promotional Access A CMI / Compas Study
p | 25
EHR is a new channel of physician-to-patient
interactions and, in many ways, physician
engagement. Several key players already provide
media outreach, education and other service
opportunities to pharmaceutical companies based
on physician needs and wants in providing them
and their patients with high-valued (often non-
branded) content and services.
As more physicians continue to install EHR systems
in their practices and use them with more and more
patients, using this innovative channel of care to
provide services and tools that are highly valued by
physicians can surely help address the needs of
both physicians and patients and provide a single
touch point for their educational, information and
health care needs.
What is the one thing physicians
wish pharmaceutical
companies would provide that
they currently do not?
In an effort to uncover the unknown, CMI/Compas
asked this free-form question of all specialties.
While 128 out of 616 physicians surveyed did not
provide a response, the most common responses
were tied to the reduction of medication cost
(which includes 94 responses related to the
provision of samples, 28 responses associated with
managed care issues, 27 responses tied to patient
assistance programs, and 6 responses requesting
free drugs).
Which pharmaceutical company-supported features would be helpful for physicians to have
if they were integrated into their EHR system?
Specialty Request a
visit from a pharma rep
Request free
samples
Receive formulary updates
Get new drug
information
Access patient education materials
Cardiology 18% 36% 50% 54% 74%
Dermatology 34% 68% 58% 54% 70%
Endocrinology 28% 64% 64% 68% 72%
General / Family Practice 29% 62% 66% 55% 78%
Internal Medicine 32% 54% 53% 59% 74%
Neurology 34% 55% 58% 66% 70%
Oncology 13% 52% 42% 77% 79%
Ophthalmology 30% 75% 57% 47% 72%
Psychiatry 27% 61% 61% 61% 57%
Rheumatology 22% 65% 41% 51% 70%
Physicians Preference for Promotional Access A CMI / Compas Study
p | 26
Here are the physician responses verbatim:
What is the one thing physicians wish pharmaceutical companies
would provide that they currently do not?
Open-Ended Response Count
None/Don't know 128
Samples (more, easier to obtain, automatic delivery, point-of-sale sample coupons, etc.)
94
Decreased costs of medication 43
Better patient education (low-literacy, unbiased, etc.) 34
More educational meetings 28
Assistance with managed care issues (reimbursement assistance, prior authorization, formulary information/updates, comparative cost data, patient co-pay liability, insurance coverage, etc.)
28
More patient assistance (programs, vouchers [incl. access through EHR system], help with coverage, etc.)
27
Pens, note pads, etc. 26
More unbiased information 24
Medical journals, books and other education materials 12
Free/more CME 10
Updates on new and existing products and treatments, clinical safety data issues and disease states
10
Non-branded materials / patient education information 8
Visit less frequently 7
Digital information 6
Free (or discounted) drugs for patients that can't afford them 6
Respect for the physicians' time 6
Comparative effectiveness information 5
Updates on research that is in the pipeline 5
A reasonable approach to physician relationships 3
Access to peer-reviewed medical literature 3
Honesty/integrity 3
Information on availability and changes in marketing strategies 3
More funding for investigator-initiated studies 3
More practice management resources/support for new practices 3
Support for patients with Medicare and or Medicaid 2
Cost benefit analysis 2
Grants 2
iPads 2
Physicians Preference for Promotional Access A CMI / Compas Study
p | 27
What is the one thing physicians wish pharmaceutical companies
would provide that they currently do not?
Open-Ended Response Count
Less patient education and focus more on doctor education 2
Mobile applications 2
More frequent access to medical liaisons and corporate staff 2
More innovative products 2
More lectures 2
More online interactive training/opportunities 2
More staff education 2
More transparency on study finding 2
More visits 2
Offer generic options whenever possible 2
Online materials 2
Reimbursement opportunities 2
Stable sales force (no more than one rep for same product) 2
A nice industry iPhone app that is free, gives all information, and customized
your hospital - one stop shop
1
A way to access them in person that is not available to those of us who work in a
hospital that does not allow reps
1
A way to connect directly to their R+D department to suggest ideas for new
drugs and devices
1
A way to organize all the handouts 1
All types of drugs, such as injectable medicines 1
An automated electronic system for medications authorization 1
Better access to discounts 1
Better insurance coverage for certain meds 1
Better understanding of how long before you will see desired effects of their
drug
1
Bring samples when they detail a drug rather than mailing samples 1
Clear side effect education material 1
Concise updates on disease in unbiased fashion 1
Coverage for Medicare patients 1
Don't send too much e-mail 1
Easier to use apps for drug info, formulary status 1
Physicians Preference for Promotional Access A CMI / Compas Study
p | 28
What is the one thing physicians wish pharmaceutical companies
would provide that they currently do not?
Open-Ended Response Count
Easy to read instructions 1
Efficacy 1
Explain to patients why drugs are costly, i.e. cost of regulations 1
Faster publication of clinical trial results in peer reviewed literature 1
Free access to drug data base/antibiotic guides 1
Free EHR 1
Greater scientific/clinical staff to interact with 1
Help to set up office to participate in clinical trials (i.e. supply data managers) 1
Information on issues currently being reviewed by their products 1
Information on their drugs once they have gone generic 1
Keep it simple 1
Lifestyle interventions that work to help treat the problem the drug is treating 1
Link to journals with research articles using specific products 1
Monthly trial vouchers on all products that are indicated for long term therapy 1
More access to specialist physicians on topics 1
More funding for research in clinical setting 1
More relevant journal research articles and reviews 1
More opportunities for physician compensation within prescribed guidelines 1
More pediatric drugs 1
More support on getting me new patients 1
One consistent type of discount situation rather than every company and every
med having something different
1
One dedicated person for any drug related questions 1
Online updates/reminders 1
Pediatric education materials 1
Price comparisons with competing brands 1
Privacy opt out 1
Provide indications to stop medication 1
Provide more informed sales reps that know what is needed for my clinic 1
Reach a happy medium between new drug development and cost to the patient
and health care system
1
Research opportunities 1
Physicians Preference for Promotional Access A CMI / Compas Study
p | 29
What is the one thing physicians wish pharmaceutical companies
would provide that they currently do not?
Open-Ended Response Count
Research support for non-drug trials 1
Responsiveness 1
Samples to emergency room physicians 1
Scale back obscene raises for drugs for Medicare patients covered by Part D 1
Sponsor regional meetings 1
Stop direct ads to patients 1
Support for EMR systems 1
Travel expenses in some cases to conferences 1
Unbiased weighted medical evidence which could be incorporated into EHR
decision support tools
1
Upfront cost of medication 1
Virtual meetings rather than face to face 1
Visit dental offices 1
Delivering on the Needs,
Terms and Times of
Physicians - Using Their
Current and Preferred
Channels of Engagement So how do pharmaceutical companies apply
customer centricity to promotionally access
physicians on their terms, at their preferred times
and use their most preferred and accessed channels
of engagement at a time when these physicians are
getting harder and harder to reach?
While surveys can help guide brand teams in
understanding promotional preferences of their
target physicians and project those to the universe,
the most impactful way to understand customer-
centric promotional preferences of every physician
is by knowing which promotional channels each
doctor currently accesses.
Using our proprietary ByDoctor® DNA™ data, we
have provided an aggregated physician-level view of
promotional channel access (including multichannel
views) by specialty.
What we uncovered is that all physicians, regardless
of channel, are highly promotionally accessible
across channels. Every physician can ultimately be
reached using one or more channels and the
majority can be reached using three or more.
Access to this type of physician-level insight enables
brand teams to be much more strategic in their mix
of channels and vehicles based on the customer-
centricity of each channel’s physician use—based
on where they are promotionally and the channels
they use for their professional needs during their
work and personal surround.
p | 30
Physician-Level
Promotional Access — A
View across Specialties
and Channels Over the past few years, the Internet has quickly
become one of the most important resources used
during the average physician’s professional and
personal time — as proven by the primary research
part of this study. While all specialties indicate very
high multichannel accessibility, CMI/Compas has
seen, specifically over the last two years, growth in
physicians’ promotional access through digital /
mobile channels of engagement as well as e-mail.
In our physician-level assessment, we uncovered
that oncologists are the most promotionally
accessible group across all but one promotional
channel (rheumatologists led in desktop media).
The least promotionally accessible are
ophthalmologists and psychiatrists. All 10
specialties are highly multichannel accessible, with
over 70 percent of physicians being accessible using
three or more channels. For nine of these
specialties, a majority (more than 50 percent) of
physicians can be accessed using a combination of
five to six channels (the exception is psychiatry,
with 41 percent who can be accessed using five to
six channels).
Specialty
Direct mail
Desktop media
Digital/ mobile
Office reference
Journals (online
and print)
Cardiology N = 35,669
96% 37% 89% 59% 84% 82%
Dermatology N = 15,938
97% 41% 82% 55% 80% 76%
Endocrinology N = 7,594
97% 49% 87% 51% 87% 78%
General / Family Practice N = 157,976
96% 45% 77% 60% 82% 69%
Internal Medicine N = 213,987
96% 47% 84% 50% 74% 73%
Neurology N = 20,839
97% 30% 84% 48% 87% 76%
Oncology N = 17,319
97% 27% 92% 75% 90% 84%
Ophthalmology N = 27,273
97% 11% 78% 53% 68% 70%
Psychiatry N = 69,458
97% 32% 76% 35% 79% 60%
Rheumatology N = 6,260
96% 51% 91% 55% 82% 81%
Physicians Preference for Promotional Access A CMI / Compas Study
p | 31
Multichannel Access by Specialty
Cardiology
Dermatology
Endocrinology
General / Family Practice
Internal Medicine
Neurology
Oncology
Ophthalmology
Psychiatry
Rheumatology
10%
26%
64%
12%
33% 55%
12%
33% 55%
23%
19% 58%
14%
30% 56%
14%
35% 51%
5% 23%
72%
21%
28%
51%
23%
36%
41% 14%
35% 51%
Physicians Preference for Promotional Access A CMI / Compas Study
p | 32
Concluding Remarks Understanding that our current sales and marketing
approach is no longer viable and that doctors are
less available to spend time with our reps, we must
find a non-personal promotion key to not only
getting “in” but “staying in” the physician’s
mindshare and mind-set.
While many marketers continue to explore non-
personal means of engaging physicians, the ones
most likely to succeed will do so with deep
understanding of the professional needs,
promotional preferences, media utilization and
brand experiences of their customers, coupled with
razor-sharp precision of how to promotionally reach
each target at the physician level and across
multiple channels of engagement.
Future Trends: Anticipated
Media Forecast for Prescriber
Engagement
The Move Toward Transmedia
Marketing
As media evolves into the future, we foresee much
more integration of complementary media channels
and story sound bites, an integration that makes
the navigation from channel to channel an
adventure. We see the integrated use of digital /
display, direct mail, print, e-mail and mobile using
sound bites of information to deliver a
comprehensive story. This form of “transmedia”
marketing – which bridges narrative, branding,
persuasion, media psychology, and emerging and
traditional media technologies— is rapidly evolving
as the future of customer engagement and the new
driving force in marketing. Planning across channels
to deliver a unified story line will become critical. As
physician audiences become smarter multimedia
consumers, they will start to expect an interactive
and collaborative experience that bridges the media
continuum. Effective marketing and branding will go
beyond adopting new technologies to meeting the
new expectations of the audience. Storytelling will
be the thread that engages customer participation
with brands across multiple media platforms to
create the transmedia experience.
Content-Curated Vehicles Will
Soon Appear on the Horizon
We will see the entry of key content aggregators
curating relevant content based on physician
interest and need and presenting that content in
sound bites with full-text readiness (access to full
text a click away) in channels such as e-mail, mobile
and digital / display. The enablement of single
touch-point access to high-value information on
medical developments and drug innovations will
include aggregation and use of content from high-
impact third-party publishers as well as sponsored
content from pharmaceutical companies and / or
their partners.
The Rise of the Total Office /
Account Surround
With more than 50 percent of our nation’s
physicians nearing retirement, a shortage of new
medical school graduates, and new health care
provisioning models such as Accountable Care
Organizations, integrated health systems, medical
homes, and hospital-owned practices, the provision
of care will undoubtedly be shared across a health
care team consisting of primary care and specialty
physicians as well as the strong support unit of
nurse practitioners (NPs), physician assistants (PAs),
registered nurses (RNs), social workers, health
educators and even pharmacists. Access will be
complex and possibly even more difficult to
achieve. For pharmaceutical sales and marketing
Physicians Preference for Promotional Access A CMI / Compas Study
p | 33
teams, this shift in providers will drive the need to
expand the target file, relationships and media
outreach to a broader stakeholder community and
ultimately encapsulate the total office / account
surround. There will be a greater need to identify
affiliations (e.g., informal and formal group
practices) among HCP targets in order to target
group messaging rather than individual messaging.
On the media innovation side, we will see a growing
demand for the newest channels of promotional
and educational engagement, including in-office
media that include the integration of patient-level
edutainment with physician-level collaboration
through flexible screen technology and even EHR
systems.
Analytics–Why It Will All Add Up
The economic, promotional and competitive
landscapes are all forcing us to become more agile
and accountable for our customer relationship
engagements and outreach programs. Further
complicating the picture is the increasing
complexity of new government-imposed
regulations. We foresee this need for agility and
accountability becoming even more critical in the
future, with the availability of high-impact
promotional data and innovations in predictive
technologies—all helping to reveal a clearer picture
of physician access, behaviors, attitudes and
engagement with our brands—across channels
where the whole exceeds the sum of its parts.
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About CMI/Compas CMI/Compas helps the world’s pharmaceutical and
medical device leaders access their customers. We
have over 23 years of HCP media buying and
planning experience in the pharmaceutical and
medical device industries—continuously reaching
and engaging HCPs on behalf of over 45 companies
and 170 brands. Our practice spans virtually every
therapeutic category of prescription drugs, as well
as a number of OTC medications and medical
devices. We have robust practical experience
reaching every physician specialty as well as other
health care professionals including pharmacists,
NPs, PAs, and various medical technicians.
Our deep experience with HCP media and non-
personal promotion buying and planning takes
many forms, such as driving a unique cost-savings
model, leveraging unique insight-driven
strategies/tactics, and using proprietary planning
and research tools such as our ByDoctor® DNA™
promotional reach database of over 3.5 million
health care professionals and institutions in the U.S.
In more than two decades in business, we have
ensured that our capabilities, tools, service and
experienced personnel for integrated multichannel
HCP reach are unlike any other in the
marketplace—with experience spanning across all
media channels and extensive relationships with the
supplier partner community representing a myriad
of proven media vehicles and partner innovations.
We have helped our clients overcome regulatory
challenges in taking emerging media programs to
market, achieve unprecedented levels of audience
reach and cost-effectiveness, and establish an
enduring competitive edge.
ByDoctor® DNA™ ByDoctor® DNA™ helps brand teams understand
which promotional channels their target audience
has access to when planning a specific campaign,
defining their overall promotional budget, or
building their non-personal promotion strategy,
with insights down to the individual prescriber level
across promotional channels—from digital to print
and beyond.
With this insight, marketing teams gain physician-
level knowledge of who they are capable of
reaching by channel and with how many touch
points when using multiple channels. With this
insight, brand teams are better equipped to reach,
engage and measure impact, one doctor at a time.
p | 35
ByDoctor® PULSE™ and
OnDemand℠ Primary
Marketing Research CMI/Compas goes a step further to ensure clients
make the best choices with their promotional
dollars. Our ByDoctor® Marketing Research studies
(PULSE™ and OnDemand℠) are tools that help brand
teams know their customers. Using ByDoctor®
PULSE™, our customers can quickly assess relative
effectiveness and awareness of various
communications tactics or simply get a read on the
real-time effects of specific market conditions.
Using ByDoctor® OnDemand℠, a more robust
marketing research tool, brands can acquire
comprehensive insights into the media
consumption behavior, preferences, needs and
experiences of their targets at a brand’s target file
level, as well as validate and account for spend by
channel and by tactic, removing questionable risk.
p | 36
CMI 2200 Renaissance Blvd. Suite 160 King of Prussia, PA 19406 www.cmimedia.com
2000 Market St. Suite 2975 Philadelphia, PA 19103 1250 Broadway Suite 1401 NY, NY 10001
Compas, Inc. 4300 Haddonfield Road Suite 200 Pennsauken, NJ 08109 www.compasonline.com