Just 40% of survey respondents reported being ‘very aware’ of pharmaceutical companies' patient services.
New research from Accenture finds healthcare professionals' lack of awareness is limiting the usage of patient services (such as adherence programs and remote monitoring) offered by pharmaceutical companies.
The Accenture research is based on a survey of more than 360 healthcare professionals in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States, with respondents being either general practitioners or specialists in one of five main therapeutic areas: oncology, immunology, neurology, cardiology, and respiratory.
Despite most pharmaceutical companies (80%) relying on healthcare professionals as the primary way to communicate information about their services to patients, just 40% of respondents reported being "very aware" of pharmaceutical companies' patient services, with more than half (55%) saying they were only "somewhat aware" and 5% saying they were "not aware."
The research also reveals that while pharmaceutical sales reps are the primary way healthcare professionals hear about patient services (mentioned as the primary source by 70% of interviewed healthcare professionals), sales reps most often do not mention patient services during their meetings with healthcare professionals.
Nearly half (46%) of the healthcare professionals interviewed said they hear about patient services less than 25% of the time they meet with sales reps; this was true across each of the therapeutic/practice areas included in the survey.
The survey also found healthcare professionals hear about patient services even less through other communication channels, such as conferences, email, websites, and portals. More than half of healthcare professionals (53%) said they hear about patient services through these channels less than 25% of the time.
In addition, healthcare professionals most often cited better patient outcomes as the benefit to using patient services. However, healthcare professionals said just three out of 10 pharmaceutical sales reps present services in terms of their ability to improve patient outcomes.
The majority (two-thirds) present services primarily as an add-on to a pharmaceutical product, rather than as part of an integrated solution that improves patient outcomes.