Delayed health care access problems

Jul/01/2008 06:25
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It should come as no surprise that 69% of people cited “worried about costs” as the number one reason for delaying or going without needed care. When the economy takes a downturn, like it is now, people tend to put off as many expenses as possible. That means a move from preventative care to going to a physician when they absolutely need to. However what was also troubling was that 81% of people who cited the health system said that they could not get an appointment soon enough, could not get to the doctor’s office when it was open or said it takes too long to get to the doctors office. While this sounds like excuses it means that a lot of people are not getting preventative care which could lead to higher costs on an already taxed healthcare system.

I believe that time is the new currency in today’s market. We are always rushing to get to work, do the shopping and take care of the kids so who has the time to go see their physician? Out here in California I go to a health care store that is open every day, no appointment required. This allows me to determine when I have the time to get a refill on an Rx rather than making an appointment two to three weeks in advance.


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So how does this effect DTC? Well let’s see..you see a DTC commercial on TV and than more times than not you go online to learn about the product and then make a mental note to ask you physician about the brand. However if you have to wait 2-3 weeks for an appointment your request may fall off the radar screen. This is why a lot of smart brands are moving from In creating value for brands, we need to look beyond "intent to buy" and toward "intent to engage" with a brand message.

In many cases, this has absolutely nothing to do with traditional models of targeting and everything to do with the "mode" a consumer is in when spending time on a web page. We see as much as a 15 times difference in our ability to get consumers to spend time with advertising across popular social media sites. We also see massive differences in time spent on ads when looking across various blogs and gaming environments. Yet according to the latest data that John Mack has on his site most advertisers are spending about 7-8% of their advertising budgets online while pharma lags behind at 3%.

The model for DTC has to change with the times. Traditional metrics don’t work today because reach and frequency do not take into account external barriers to patients seeking treatment. Engaging people and telling your brand story will do a hell of a lot more to drive business than a CPM model with TV ads.

3% spending online? That is dismal for the pharma industry, no wonder Steve Case said that this channel is woefully underfunded by pharma companies. Until pharma starts to build capabilities in this area they will continue to be underfunded because most lawyers in pharma don’t understand that it’s about engaging rather than pushing irrelevant information.


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