Physicians are more than eager to interact digitally with makers of medical devices.
That was the message that James Avallone, principal analyst with Manhattan Research, one of the speakers at the 2nd Annual Digital Marketing of Medical Devices Conference in Minneapolis, communicated Tuesday.
In fact, many of them are open to hearing from medical device makers, even if they haven’t communicated in-person with company reps before. That was one of the results of a survey done by Manhattan Research, whose results are due to be released Thursday.
Another result of the survey shows that these physicians are also big consumers of video, Avallone said. The top five online video destinations are:
- YouTube
- Professional Association websites
- Healthcare provider portal websites
- Medical device company websites
- VuMedi — a video website that contains expert surgical videos
Another key result from the survey that polled 824 physicians in 10 specialties is that more than half of these physicians believe that iPad has the potential to make a rep’s visit more informative.
However, Avallone repeatedly stressed that iPad is merely a platform and interactions can be meaningful only if relevant content is added to that tablet.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
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