You probably saw the flurry of news items last month stemming from a study published in the September issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. ("Physician Communication When Prescribing New Medications," Arch Intern Med, 2006; 166: 1855–1862.)

From The Today Show to The NY Times, I watched and read as pundits discussed the results, trying to dissect a truth that most of us in the industry have known for years: Physicians often fail to communicate critical information when presenting a new prescription to a patient.

Among other things, the study found that:

"Sixty-six percent said nothing about how long to take the medicine, 45 percent did not say what dosage to take and 42 percent failed to mention the timing or frequency of doses. Physicians mentioned adverse side effects only 35 percent of the time."

Simply put, doctors, as a group, don’t have the time to say what they need to their patients.

If you’re shocked by the results of this study, you better hang on to your seat. The communication gaps between what you tell your sales reps, what your sales reps tell the doctors, what the doctors tell the patients, what the patients hear, what the patients understand, and what the patients remember, are wide enough to drive a truck through. And they are getting bigger.

	The bottom line is that at the moment of truth (i.e., in the doctor’s office) your brand is getting short changed; every day and in many different ways.

Think about this: From the time a patient leaves the examination room, a clock is ticking. With every passing minute, his chances of falling off your brand for treatment increase. The fact is, given enough time, over half of all patients will stop taking a prescribed drug and enter the "noncompliance zone," a one-way street from which most never return.

What can you do about it?

• Option One: Do nothing and hope that things get better. I’m sure you’d agree that this is not a possibility.
• Option Two: Inject even more money into education-oriented DTC programs, with the dual goal of increasing patient demand and creating a more concrete patient-physician discussion about your brand. Better than Option One certainly, but I think we’ve all begun to realize the inherent inefficiency in a zero sum, promotional arms race. It’s a macro approach with no lasting effects.
• Option Three (my recommendation): Augment the patient- physician dialogue with "Focused Intervention." In other words, put your brand, plus an intervention, in front of patients — simply, quickly and without relying on clear or complete communication from the doctor.

When it comes to interventions, you have the usual communications tools available (print materials, static web sites, etc.). But perhaps, it’s time to re-think those traditional approaches. What if you replaced one-way, one-size-fits-all marketing with truly personalized programs that generated true dialogue?

As you sit here now, ready to jump into 2007 with all you’ve got, I challenge you to open the lines of communication between patients and doctors. By stimulating a structured exchange of timely, relevant, individualized information about the prescribed treatment of your brand, not only will you improve treatment outcomes, you’ll boost brand sales as well.

See you next month.

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Why Female Voices Are More Effective
(and other observations on setting up an IVR)

When establishing an IVR to automate the surveying of patients and collection of data, it’s imperative to first consider whose voice will be used. In addition to the obvious necessity for "voice clarity," we nearly universally use a female voice. The female voice is softer, more coaxing, more mothering… all of which come together to help the patient reach a level of comfort and trust.

Remember, any time you’re questioning a patient, and despite whether the information requested is highly sensitive or mundane, you’re dealing with a person who may be stressed, scared, confused, defensive, or all of the above. Putting the caller at ease is a critical step in gathering truthful information, and in our experience, the female voice wins hands down in this regard.

In addition, special care must be taken to ensure that the questions asked never come across as accusatory or judgmental. Even something as seemingly innocuous as, "How often did you take drug x?" is a potentially loaded question. If, for example, the patient in question never remembered to take the drug at all, this question could scare him into responding the way he thinks he should, rather than truthfully.

IVR systems can be wonderfully efficient, provided the set-up itself doesn’t get in the way of a productive interaction.

Paul LeVine, InfoMedics Vice President of Analytics, and Darren Ostmeyer, Brand Director at Takeda Pharmaceuticals, recently co-presented a key address at the Patient-Centric Marketing Conference in Princeton, NJ. The topic, "Structured Insight Into Patients: Learning What Patients Really Think about Your Product," explained why real-world use and feedback programs can make a huge difference for a brand. Not only does it help you better understand your market, it provides key physicians an opportunity to better understand and appreciate your product for their own patients.

On a lighter note, we are thrilled to report that the InfoMedics golf team (known in the office as the "Lethargic Link Limpers") came in 13th at the PharmaLinx Charity Golf Tournament. The 2006 event benefited the Lankenau Institute for Medical Research. Despite rumors to the contrary, anabolic steroids did not play a role in our favorable showing.

"For Alzheimer's patients I recommend that family members participate in a support program in order to come to terms with the disease. They are able to hear things repeatedly and accept what is happening or what will happen."

— Doctor of Internal Medicine, Northeast US

What do you listen to on the way to work in the morning?

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InfoMedics creates an interactive, real-time means for helping patients and physicians better communicate about a diagnosed condition or prescribed treatment.

This results in improved health outcomes and consistent increases in prescribing levels for new prescriptions and refills.