Feature
A Day in the Life Physician Survey Results
with The DHC Group
Summary
A Day in the Life of Physicians in 2021
“I think if you look at a physician’s life now in 2021, they’re still grappling with how to get the right information at the right time. How do you do it on-demand? What type of platforms, programs could we put in place so it’s when they want, where they want, and how they want?” – Paul Murasko, Ipsen Pharmaceuticals
This month we are looking at the physician’s world in 2021. In addition to a recorded conversation with industry thought leaders, we also conducted a physician survey using reader-submitted questions. Pharma marketers were most interested in understanding what communication channels are working best for physicians now, how HCPs are staying up to date with digital learning, and what is working best as the rep relationship shifts to virtual.
DHC Group’s co-founder Mark Bard sat down with four experts on HCP communication: Erin Fitzgerald (CMO, Sermo), Matt Holland (CCO, Healio Strategic Solutions), Susan Johnson (SVP, Customer Outreach, Outcome Health), and Paul Murasko (Head of Digital Customer Interaction for North America, Ipsen Pharmaceuticals). A summary video and transcript are available and we’ve provided some of their reactions to our latest physician research here.
- View Survey Results Below
Question #1
Marketers Asked:
In rank order, what is your preferred channel to interact with a pharma company?
Physicians Answered:
Physicians indicate that while they would still vastly prefer in-person visits with sales reps (45% of them rank it 1st), given the current climate, 32% acknowledge virtual sales rep is top right now, followed by email. When looking at channels that ranked lowest – text, phone and MSL stood out.
Data Source: DHC Group / Sermo. February 2021
Experts Reacted:
“There is absolutely still a place for a rep both in-person and on-demand. I think it will look a little bit differently, and I think there will – you will see a greater need and respect for the type of clinical or specialized content. I think you’ll see the expansion of very specialized roles where pharma can still provide the needed support to both providers and office staff in support of the patient experience.” – Susan Johnson (Outcome Health)
Question #2
Marketers Asked:
Over the past 3 months, how would you rate the usefulness of the following communication channels?
Physicians Answered:
In this response, physicians reminded us they have been unable to visit with drug reps in the last 3 months (40%) and a quarter of them also haven’t had any interaction with manufacturer’s medical science liaison or phone calls with drug reps. Supplementing that disruption, greater than 65% of physicians rated virtual visits with reps, websites, online webinars, and virtual congresses/scientific meetings as somewhat to extremely useful over the last three months.
Data source: DHC Group / Sermo. February 2021.
Experts Reacted:
“What we’re seeing is increased demand for summaries and overviews of conferences, so virtual conferences are popular with physicians, but then in a social community such as Sermo, they want a recap and highlights of the events. The rate in which information they were sharing information about how to treat patients was really accelerated as well. Then this is somewhat of a controversial topic, but you see with this rapid sharing of information potentially a democratization of what the KOL is as well.” – Erin Fitzgerald (Sermo)
Question #3
Marketers Asked:
What is most valuable to you in regards to virtual meetings with pharma medical and/or sales representatives?
Physicians Answered:
In this open-ended question, physicians provided specific insights as to how virtual meetings are working right now. Top frequency responses included benefits like flexibility, easy access to information and the ability to engage in discussions. They obviously appreciated being able to receive the content in a COVID-safe manner and acknowledged that in some cases it was “better than nothing” while others appreciated the “limited time away from work” and “minimal amount of time interacting”. Multiple respondents also highlighted the ability to get new information and important updates in a timely and to-the-point manner.
Data Source: DHC Group / Sermo. February 2021
Experts Reacted:
“We really need to start looking at where we’re going to place our big bets, and that has to be around making sure content is enriched. We always hear content’s king, but I think now more than ever, we also need to make sure we truly move into the on-demand model. We’re past the point of reaching people. Now we need an engaged interaction, and let’s be honest, it’s not going to be face to face. It’s going to be some face to face in ‘22, more than now, for sure, but there’s going to be a virtual component to this that I don’t think ever goes away.” – Paul Murasko (Ipsen)
Question #4
Marketers Asked:
Are there additional types of online information, resources and services you would like to see provided by pharma companies?
Physicians Answered:
Not surprisingly, most of the respondents focused their requests on better ways to serve their patients – asking for more coupons, discount programs, easier co-pay assistance program navigation, patient support and education. Many agree that there is an opportunity for pharma to provide more specific clinical data, CME, and MSL data. The need for some kind of online sample ordering was a top suggestion as physicians continue to grapple with disrupted access to in-person sales rep visits.
Data source: DHC Group / Sermo. February 2021.
Experts Reacted:
“The value is in how the interaction and the value-add changes, increase patient care, the delivery of that care, how to be efficient, things that were not typically feature, advantage benefit or – because I think they can get all that information online, and most of them want to get that on their schedule, and then use the rep to answer some questions.” – Paul Murasko (Ipsen)
“Everything’s very targeted now. As a result, the content, the information, the format you give that content to them in has got to be engaging. You need to think broadly, but you need to think also very targeted.” – Matt Holland (Healio Strategic Solutions)