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Category Archives: Marketing
Medicare spending on advertised drugs
Prescription drugs with some of the highest Medicare spending also had the highest level of direct-to-consumer advertising, a recently-released GAO report found.
By the numbers: The GAO found the Medicare program and its beneficiaries spent nearly $324 billion on prescription drugs advertised to beneficiaries and other consumers between 2016 and 2018.
This amount is more than half (58%) of total Medicare Parts B and D spending on drugs during that time, the most recent data available.
- Seven of the top 25 drugs in Part D and two of the top 25 drugs in Part B with the highest spending were also among the top 25 drugs with the highest consumer advertising spending that year.
- For example, Trulicity, as well as Lyrica, Eliquis and Humira were among the top 25 drugs in Part D and direct-to-consumer advertising spending.
- Keytruda and Botox were among the top 24 drugs in Part B and direct-to-consumer advertising spending.
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Are new moms really the key to health system loyalty?
https://mailchi.mp/d88637d819ee/the-weekly-gist-march-19-2021?e=d1e747d2d8
It’s long been accepted as a truism that “moms” make most of a family’s healthcare choices. This has led many health systems to invest in high-end women’s services, especially labor and delivery facilities, with the hope of winning the entire family’s long-term healthcare loyalty.
This conventional wisdom has existed since the middle of the last century, when the postwar Baby Boom coincided with the rise of commercial insurance. But it’s hard to find real evidence that these investments deliver on their intent—and we think the argument deserves to be reexamined.
An expectant mother is likely years away from her family’s major healthcare spending events. Giving her a fantastic virtual care experience, or taking great care of her teenager who blows out a knee playing soccer, is likely to engender greater loyalty to the health system when she’s looking for her first mammogram, than her labor and delivery experience from a decade earlier. That’s not to say that top-notch obstetrics isn’t important—but market-leading labor and delivery facilities are likely more critical for wholesale purchasers, such as an employer considering a narrow network, or for physicians choosing where to build an OB practice.
Direct-to-consumer strategies should be built on more sophisticated consumer research that takes into account the preferences of a new generation of consumers, for whom not all healthcare choices are equal—that same consumer will be in different “segments” and make different choices for different problems over time, not all pre-determined by one memorable birthing experience.
In need of more nuanced consumer segmentation
https://mailchi.mp/85f08f5211a4/the-weekly-gist-february-5-2021?e=d1e747d2d8
As “consumerism” becomes an ever-greater focus of health system strategy, we’ve begun to field a number of questions from leaders looking to develop a better understanding of consumers in their market.
In particular, there’s a growing desire for more sophistication around consumer segmentation—understanding how preferences and behavior differ among various kinds of patients.
Traditional segmentation has largely been marketing-driven, helping to target advertising and patient recruitment messages to key groups. For that, the old-school marketing segments were good enough: busy professionals, the worried well, the growing family, and so forth.
But as systems begin to develop product offerings (telemedicine or home-based services, for example) for target populations, those advertising-based segments need to be supplemented with a more advanced understanding of care consumption patterns over time. Segmentation needs to be dynamic, not static—how does a person move through life stages, and across care events, over time?
A single consumer might be in different segments depending on the type of care they need: if I have a new cancer diagnosis, that matters more than whether I’m a “busy professional”, and my relevant segment might be different still if I’m just looking for a quick virtual visit.
Layered on top of demographic and clinical segments is the additional complexity of payer category—am I a Medicare Advantage enrollee or do I have a high-deductible exchange plan?
With consumers exercising ever greater choice over where, when, and how much care to receive, understanding the interplay of these different kinds of segments is fast becoming a key skill for health systems—one that many don’t currently have.
Is vaccine distribution a health system loyalty opportunity?
https://mailchi.mp/128c649c0cb4/the-weekly-gist-january-22-2021?e=d1e747d2d8
As vaccine eligibility guidelines have expanded to include adults over 65, we’ve heard from several friends and acquaintances looking for the inside scoop on getting a place in line. They’ve heard that their local health system is taking appointments, but only for established patients—do we know someone at the local system who could help them (or their mother, or their aunt with Stage IV cancer) get the shot?
One acquaintance was livid that his local hospital was prioritizing established patients: “They’re just rewarding people who have already paid them money. Is that fair?” It’s likely that system was making decisions based not on prior business relationships, but rather logistics. If patients are already “in the system”, they can be contacted and scheduled through the patient portal, fill out information online, and have their doses tracked in the EMR.
As health systems have been thrust into leading frontline vaccine distribution some have recognized an unprecedented opportunity to earn loyalty by connecting current and potential patients with the vaccine.
Outreach must provide clear information around vaccine access and how eligibility decisions are made (consider the difference in message between “we’re offering vaccines to current patients only”, and “because established patients can be quickly scheduled and monitored, we are beginning with this group, and plan to expand quickly”).
Systems’ ultimate goal should be getting vaccines to as many people as possible, as fast as possible, given supply and resource constraints.
Cartoon – How Vivid is your False Memory?
