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eHealth for the Pharmaceutical Industry: What companies need to know about trends

An understanding of the present and future market trends surrounding eHealth is vital in order for the pharmaceutical industry to develop effective multi-channel marketing strategies. It is advisable for stakeholders to invest in targeted initiatives that meet the specific information needs and support the decision making processes of the large numbers of physician and consumer groups online.

Scope

Insight into key characteristics of those who use or would be willing to use eHealth applications and services

Identification of the most commonly used sources of online health information and how end users navigate to these sources

Analysis of opportunities to better meet the needs of physicians and consumers online

Recommendations for industry based on lessons learned from physicians' and consumers' experiences with eHealth applications and services

Report Highlights
Physicians are primarily using the Internet to access educational resources and high quality information. Pharmaceutical companies that provide online resources that help physicians practice medicine more efficiently and effectively will attract return site users and foster brand loyalty.

It is important to identify how often consumers access the Internet. Marketing initiatives can be developed to accommodate varying levels of usage. For example, tools such as risk-assessment surveys or dosing calendars, and disease and product information can be offered in a printable format so frequent Internet access is not necessary.

A promising trend towards gaining voice among prescribers is to reach them online, though not through Internet-enabled mobile technologies but instead through their home computer. One-half of physicians in the US and the EU and one-third of physicians in Japan access the Internet for work-related purposes from home at least 50% of the time.

Reasons to Purchase

Identify how pharma companies can work with physicians to reach consumers who would benefit from online disease management and compliance programs

Understand how when and where physicians are most likely to access information online should affect approaches to detailing and website design

Assess opportunities to better meet physicians and consumers' needs online through tailored information portals and Internet-enabled tools

Table of Contents

• DATAMONITOR VIEW - page 1
  • CATALYST - page 1
  • SUMMARY - page 1
  • METHODOLOGY - page 1
• TABLE OF CONTENTS - page 2
• ANALYSIS - page 4
  • Introduction - page 4
  • Market landscape - page 4
    • Consumers in key pharmaceutical markets have the access, but not always the inclination, to look for healthcare information online - page 4
    • Physicians should be targeted outside of office hours, although not necessarily through mobile technologies - page 14
  • Market drivers - page 21
    • The number of physicians and consumers who are accessible online continues to grow - page 21
    • Consumerism within the healthcare market is redefining what it means to be a patient - page 21
  • Recommendations for industry based on eHealth trends for consumers - page 23
    • How consumerism is changing the patient-physician relationship - page 23
    • Disease management and compliance as tools of relationship management - page 25
    • Pharmaceutical companies should work with physicians to develop consumer-focused disease management and compliance programs - page 28
  • Recommendations for industry based on eHealth trends for physicians - page 31
    • eDetailing: a model for how the pharmaceutical industry gets reaching physicians online wrong? - page 31
    • Online marketing initiatives may be failing because physicians view current approaches as too structured and intrusive - page 34
    • Medical professional websites as relationship building tools - page 36
• APPENDIX - page 41
  • List of figures - page 41
  • Definitions and abbreviations - page 43
  • References - page 43
  • Extended methodology - page 44
    • Datamonitor eHealth Physician Insight Survey 2005 - page 44
    • Datamonitor eHealth Consumer Insight Survey 2005 - page 44
  • Ask the analyst - page 45


• List of Figures
• Figure 1: The most promising markets for investment in online channels are those with Internet penetration rates greater than 50% - page 5
• Figure 2: The percentage of online Americans who believe the Internet has improved the way they get information about healthcare grew by only 18% from 2001 to 2005 - page 6
• Figure 3: Approximately 8 out of every 10 surveyed consumers have looked for health information in the past 6 months - page 7
• Figure 4: A significant and growing percentage of consumers use the Internet to look for health information for individuals in their care - page 8
• Figure 5: The majority of surveyed individuals in the US, Western EU and Japan access the Internet for personal reasons more than 10 hours per week - page 9
• Figure 6: Consumers would regularly return to websites that provide access to disease, drug and non-pharmacological treatment information - page 10
• Figure 7: In markets where DTC advertising is permitted, consumers are highly likely to use search engines to look for information on specific brands - page 11
• Figure 8: Search engines websites are the most frequently accessed source of online health information, highlighting the ongoing importance of search engine optimization for the pharmaceutical industry - page 12
• Figure 9: Consumers in the Western EU and Japan access websites that are intended for US audiences to look for information on healthcare and prescription drug treatments - page 13
• Figure 10: The relevance of online content and personal privacy are the most important factors consumers consider when deciding whether to access a particular website - page 14
• Figure 11: Physicians from the US and Western EU access the Internet for work-related purposes more often than their peers in Japan - page 16
• Figure 12: Physicians' adoption of mobile technologies continues to grow, albeit slowly as opportunities to access work-related and educational applications improve - page 17
• Figure 13: The use of handhelds for ePrescribing may decrease the influence of pharmaceutical marketing by reducing prescribing decisions to a matter of formulary compliance - page 18
• Figure 14: Approximately one-half of physicians in the US and Western EU and one-third of physicians in Japan access the Internet for work-related purposes from home at least 50% of the time - page 19
• Figure 15: Physicians are generally willing to use a wide-variety of online resources, as long as they meet their needs for relevant information and support services - page 20
• Figure 16: Physicians rate patient requests for specific medications as having an impact that is equal to that of an office visit from sales representative and more influential than an eDetail - page 22
• Figure 17: Increase access to information resources, particularly online resources, cause more consumers to ask their physicians about specific products or treatments - page 24
• Figure 18: Pharmaceutical companies can recruit physicians as an ally in driving consumers to online resources for further information on pharmaceutical drug treatment - page 25
• Figure 19: The demand for disease management tools goes largely unmet across all markets surveyed - page 26
• Figure 20: Disease management and compliance programs in which healthcare professionals play an active role are most likely to be seen as valuable by consumers - page 27
• Figure 21: Surveyed physicians are most interested in using online disease management and compliance tools that are solely patient-focused - page 28
• Figure 22: Despite demand from consumers, few physicians offer either access to, or information about, disease management and compliance tools through their practices - page 29
• Figure 23: Physicians would like to make better use of disease management and compliance tools, but do not have the time or money to implement such programs through their independent practices - page 30
• Figure 24: Low awareness among both patients and healthcare professionals is the most significant barrier to greater use of online disease management and compliance tools - page 31
• Figure 25: Although most physicians have participated in an eDetailing session at least once, comparatively few have participated within the last year - page 33
• Figure 26: Few physicians believe that eDetails have no value, therefore an opportunity exists to improve access to physicians through technology-enabled details - page 34
• Figure 27: For an eDetail to have value it has to serve as a channel through which a physician's access to information or services is expedited - page 35
• Figure 28: The types of eDetailing that is used by most physicians (e.g., online slideshow presentations and interactive websites) are not necessarily the types of details that physicians report to be of the highest quality or most ideal mode of delivery - page 36
• Figure 29: Physicians are most likely to regularly return to a website that offers them greater or easier access to a variety of information resources, such as drug and disease information, links to CME opportunities and clinical trial results - page 38
• Figure 30: Pharmaceutical sponsorship is not likely to prevent physicians from using a particular website to look for health information or services - page 39

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