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EVENT RECAP
Take-Aways From
The Patient Adherence Congress


  Sandra Nelson
Senior Producer, Events Division
Frost & Sullivan

On March 8, 2012 over 60 executives from a variety of healthcare and pharmaceutical companies met to discuss innovations and major developments in patient adherence at Frost & Sullivan’s 7th Annual Patient Adherence Congress at the Union League in Philadelphia held in partnership with McKesson Patient Relations Solutions.

Congress participants walked away with high-level perspectives on some of the most pressing topics in patient adherence today. Several sessions touched on the impact of patients delving into new digital and online technologies to stay better informed. Other sessions dug into delivery system reform, innovations in wellness and health promotion, and better ways to market adherence.

Also on the top of attendees’ minds, was the importance of personalizing interventions to maximize adherence and the real-life experiences of cancer survivors, as relayed by Matt Zachary, the 16-Year Young Adult Survivor & Founder/CEO of Stupid Cancer, Inc. Zachary’s passionate session discussed how cancer survivors, who have a high sense of social responsibility, are ideal advocates for adherence awareness and reform.

Though all of the sessions brought together an outstanding group of speakers — including leaders from pharmaceutical companies, advocacy organizations, healthcare providers, and government agencies — here are some specific highlights from key sessions as well as some essential take-aways.
  • During the session Connecting the Dots: Pharmaceutical Adherence, Public Policy, and Unintended Consequences, Joseph Ganley, Director of Corporate Public Affairs with McKesson Corporation discussed the big picture implications of healthcare policy initiatives. Ganley reviewed the major healthcare initiatives in 2012 which paid special attention to macro public policy trends. A key issue from the talk was the challenge of figuring out to how share and secure patient information.

  • Dr. Dirk Schroeder, Executive Vice President at HolaDoctor, Inc. led a highly interactive session called Targeting Demographics: Increasing Adherence through Cultural Insights and Mobile Platforms. During this session, Dr. Schroeder shared many staggering and enlightening healthcare demographic statistics, thus prompting a group discussion on the importance of effectively connecting and communicating with rapidly growing multi-cultural communities to achieve higher medication use and adherence. Dr. Schroeder noted that the Hispanic population with over 50 million people was the fastest growing U.S. demographic. Nearly 50 percent of Hispanics own a smartphone, and they are more trusting of mobile delivered health related messages than non-Hispanic people. See Dirk’s article Increasing Adherence Among Hispanics: New Insights – New Technologieslater in this edition for more cultural insights into improving adherence.

  • In the session Quantifying Peer Impact on Treatment and Adherence Decisions, David Williams, Chief Marketing Officer of PatientsLikeMe used the example of Multiple Sclerosis to look at the adherence scale and the importance of peer impact on treatment decisions. Williams’ presentation emphasized the importance of engaging patients in the emerging world of ubiquitous data. As Williams explained, the goal of a group such as PatientsLikeMe, within the framework of adherence, is to have members use each other’s treatment experiences to put their own experiences into the context of the entire population.

  • In a session on The Truth About Coupons and Co-pay Offsets, Mason Tenaglia, Managing Director, The Amundsen Group, began his discussion by refuting many of the recently published PCMA assertions. Tenaglia expounded upon his co-pay offset research in which his findings showed co-pay offsets programs increase patient adherence promoting better outcomes and reducing medical costs and do not favor non-contracted brands. He went on to state there is little correlation between co-pay offset use and generic utilization. Find Mason’s recent Pharmaceutical Executive article “Letting the Facts Get in the Way: An Empirical Defense of Coupon and Copay Offset Programs”, on which this presentation was based, here.

  • In a lively and humorous recollection of the bumps along the road in the adherence process titled, Integrating Multiple Touch Points to Build a Comprehensive Patient Support Program, Brook Jennings, Marketing Director with LEO Pharma Inc. discussed his company’s own experience with its psoriasis medication. The variability of the condition coupled with the major social stigma associated with this condition made the “one size fits all” approach to adherence and support a poor fit for this condition, he said. Jennings concluded by imploring other pharmaceutical executives to have faith when they find value in a program and to practice patience.
Additional highlights of the Congress include:
  • The Empowered Patient: How Patients Are Using The Internet To Make Informed Decisions: Mike Cunnion, Chief Executive Officer of Remedy Health Media delivered this opening address focusing on the key factors that differentiate the empowered patient.

  • Delivery System Reform, Innovation, and Medication Adherence: John O’Brien, Senior Advisor, CMS Innovation Center, spoke at great length about the internal structure of the organization and its desire to “scale up” initiatives that have proven to be effective, such as the Medicare Shared Services Program.

  • The Employer Perspective: Innovations in Wellness and Health Promotion Programs Driven by Behavior Change: Thomas Lerche, Senior Vice President with The Vitality Group gave rare and valuable insight into the perspective of employer sponsored wellness programs.

  • How to Make Adherence Part of the Marketing Mix: Hans Sjoquist, Former Senior Director, Multi-Channel Marketing at Sanofi-Aventis kicked off the afternoon sessions with an address that delved into why the focus on adherence from a marketing standpoint is a multi-faceted issue.

  • You're Talking to Me?! – Personalizing Adherence Interventions to Maximize Effectiveness: Talya Miron-Shatz, PhD., Guest Lecturer, Marketing Department at the Wharton School of Business focused her presentation on the positive impact of combining knowledge with motivation.

  • Digital and Mobile Use in Pharma: In the closing address of the Congress, Brian Dolan, Editor, MobiHealth News covered a wide array of topics and provided participants with a preview of gadgets that will soon be utilized by individuals to monitor their own health in ways that had never been possible before.
The 7th Annual Patient Adherence Congress closed with a networking dinner at the Ritz where participants, speakers, and attendees shared their thoughts on all of the topics discussed during the day as well as ways they could continue to collaborate on strategic initiatives to further improve patient adherence.


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McKesson Patient Relationship Solutions is a unique division of McKesson Corporation created specifically to help pharmaceutical manufacturers build and expand their relationships with patients. Our core competency is delivering market leading acquisition and adherence solutions such as co-pay discounts, free trial offers, behavioral coaching, contact center services and pharmacy outreach.

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