Patients Rising: How to Reach Empowered, Digital Health Consumers

Patients Rising How to Reach Empowered, Digital Health Consumers

Executive Summary: Seeking, Sharing, Selecting
Marcus Welby is dead.
Replaced with ten-minute primary care visits
and quick referrals to specialists.

The End of Paternalistic Medicine
50% of patients don’t take medications as directed 1 .
Doctors discuss adverse events only 35% of the time 1 .
One third of surgical patients can name only 1 risk factor of their surgery 2 .
Half of primary care doctors plan to reduce or end their practice in the next 3 years 3 .
1. Doctors baffled by patients not taking prescriptions, USA Today , March 29, 2007 2. Patients’ Assessment and Recall of Surgical Information after Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy, Digestive Surgery , Vol 15, No 6, 1998 3. Survey research, Merritt Hawkins & Associates

The Beginning of Participatory Medicine
Patients are:
SEEKING information
SHARING data and opinions
SELECTING their treatments
Digital technology is accelerating this shift.
Information gathering and communication is now easier.

Go Where Your Customers Are
Health marketers have been slow to respond to digital health consumers .
As physician’s influence decreases resources should shift to consumers.
Digital marketing and social media campaigns will be key.

“ For the first time in history, more patients are turning to the Internet than to doctors for health information.”
– manhattan RESEARCH
E-Patients: Empowered, Digital Consumers

What is an e-Patient?
e lectronic
e ngaged
e xpert
e mpowered
e xpressive
e nabled
e ducated
e quipped

83% of internet users search online for health information. Out o f this e-Patient population:
E-Patients: Empowered, Digital Consumers Consulted blog comments, hospital/doctor reviews, and podcasts. Posted health care related comments, photos, audio, and video. Say they or someone they know was helped by online health information. Have looked for drug information. Searched for info on hospitals and health care facilities. Source: Fox, Susannah, and Sydney Jones. "The Social Life of Health Information." Pew Internet & American Life Project June 2009. Research doctors or other HCPs.

E-Patients: Empowered, Digital Consumers “ [Health] consumerism is not a fad; it is a trend of enormous significance… [and] a growing number of consumers want to be actively engaged.” – 2009 Survey of Health Consumers

Healthcare is Now a Consumer Market
According to the 2009 Deloitte Survey of Health Consumers :
30% of consumers compared doctors.
6 in 10 looked online for treatment options.
1 in 3 prescription drug users compared treatments.
57% would use quality rankings to compare doctors and hospitals
58% are interested in using cost information.
37% are interested in using online tools to help them assess, monitor, and manage their health.
68% are interested in home monitoring devices.

Electronic Medical Records:
Massive U.S. government investment is planned over the next two years which will bring new possibilities for:
Tracking
Insight
Sharing

Friends & Fans: The Power of Social Media “ Social Media is like a party. If you aren’t interesting or are obviously trying to sell things, nobody is going to want to talk to you.” – Unknown

Friends & Fans: The Power of Social Media
Buzzwords: Web 2.0
Web 1.0 was about publishing static pages of information. (i.e. “web pages”)
Web 2.0 is about user-generated content and using Web technologies to connect with others.
Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dionh/234525331 | CC BY-SA 2.0

Buzzwords: Social Media
Facilitate social connections and user-generated content
Types of social media include:
Blogs and micro-blogs
Social networks
Wikis
Social bookmarks
Social news
Photo, audio, & video sharing
Virtual worlds

Buzzwords: Health 2.0
We are entering a new health system that will be patient-driven . In this new system, patients will:
Connect with others who have the same condition.
Publish their health data for the benefit of others.
Seek information published by other patients to fully inform their own healthcare decisions.

Social Media is a Channel for Mouth Marketing
Social media is a tactic, not a strategy.
Referrals from friends and family have long been important variables in making sales.
The three social platforms all health marketers should understand today are:
Remember, the “hot” platforms of today will most likely be replaced in the future.
Friendster ► MySpace ► Facebook

YouTube
Enables individuals and companies to share and upload video
100 million visitors/month
One of the Top 5 most visited websites
Anyone can create own YouTube “channel” for free.
J&J has posted over 140 videos in less than a year.
Top 20 were watched over 425,000 times
Over 1,000 “subscribers”

Facebook
The largest social network with over 200 million active users
Users can upload information (photos, interests, status update).
Ability to link with others to connect personal networks and associate with groups.
Health-related Facebook Groups < 7,600 Mayo Clinic < 13,000 US CDC < 14,000 McNeil Pediatrics ADHD Allies < 105,000 Merck Take a Step Against Cervical Cancer “ Fans” GROUP

Twitter
The fastest growing site on the Internet
15 million visitors in March 2009
Micro-blogging platform
Users send140-character long messages called “tweets” received by “followers”.
Twitter marketing is still in the very early stages.
Over 250 hospitals are currently using Twitter.
Health-related “Twitterers”

Measure: Purpose & ROI
What’s the ROI of Social Media?
Social media is comparable to focus groups and press releases which are not typically measured but are still considered essential marketing tools.
Social media can be used to drive sales and ROI should be tracked the same as other e-campaigns.
Call-to-action tracked in total click-throughs
Conversions on specific landing pages
Track patient starts, new customers, etc.
How you track social media ROI depends on how you’re using it ( Listening , Promotion , or Selling ).

Paper Tigers: Adverse Events, HIPAA, & the FDA, Oh My A partial sample of companies who are already deep into social media, thus showing that regulatory concerns can easily be overcome by those who want to.

Paper Tigers: Adverse Events, HIPAA, & the FDA, Oh My
It Runs in Threes
Many health marketers have concerns about e-marketing tactics and federal regulations including:
Adverse event reporting related to specific pharmaceutical products
HIPAA privacy regulations
Violation letters from the FDA
Caution is wise, but should not stop social media marketing.
Over one dozen pharmaceutical companies and hundreds of hospitals are already embracing these new media channels.

Adverse Events
According to FDA requirements, companies must report adverse events reported by patients using their products.
Companies fear patients will write about incidents that may or not be related to their product.
Nielson Online found that only 1 in 500 messages met the four FDA parameters for submission:
The patient can be identified.
The reporter of the event can be identified.
A specific drug was mentioned.
An adverse event or fatal outcome was reported .
Pharmaceutical companies are now clearly stating their adverse event policies on social media sites.

Health Institute Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
Includes a privacy rule limiting sharing of individual health information unless specific written authorization is given
Almost 300 hospitals have a social media presence with most communication being non-patient related.
Hospitals that blog or post about individual procedures should consult legal advice and get patient releases.
Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/interplast/422576911 | CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 Many hospitals are now live-tweeting or webcasting surgical procedures for all to see.

The FDA and Internet Ads
No specific guidelines for online and social media have been issued.
In April 2009, 14 companies received warning letters stating Google ads were misleading because they didn’t state risk information.
The “one click” rule didn’t exist.
Product ads were replaced with “help seeking ads” which mention a condition , instead of a product .
These new ads link to unbranded disease sites or websites that redirect to the branded site.
Examples of “help seeking” ads

What the Future Holds
“ The future is here today. It’s just unevenly distributed.” – William Gibson
Wireless technology and the aging youth population will accelerate the e-patient movement.
Users with mobile internet access are more likely to participate in the online health care discussion 1 .
Adults 18 to 49 were more likely than older adults to participate in social technologies related to health 1 .
Innovative marketers are already reaching out to the growing e-patient population. Those who don’t risk losing market share.
1. Fox, Susannah, and Sydney Jones. "The Social Life of Health Information." Pew Internet & American Life Project June 2009.

About Krū Research
What is Krū Research?
Krū Research is a global think tank focused on “empowered patients” — those who are increasingly marshalling digital technologies and communicating with peers to actively manage their health. Our aim is to lead the ecosystem of life science professionals, Health 2.0 companies, and e-Patients themselves as we collectively nurture the inevitable change to a patient-centered health system.
Visit www.KruResearch.com to:
Download the FREE whitepaper: Patients Rising: How to Reach Empowered, Digital Health Consumers
Subscribe to The Krū Report: e-Patient Connections , a monthly e-newsletter covering the latest research, news, and insights related to Health 2.0 and ePharma topics.

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Patients Rising: How to Reach Empowered, Digital Health Consumers

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