Few healthcare industry sectors are more intrigued by people’s online health search habits than pharmaceutical companies. A presentation by Manhattan Research Vice President of Research Monique Levy at the ePharma Summit in New York this week offered a deeper dive to pharma marketers on how smartphones come into play. Jonah Comstock of MobiHealthNews offered up some highlights from the talk, including a look at the patient populations most interested in using mobile phones to help manage their health and what information patients are looking for online.
Levy noted that of the 86 percent of the general population going online for health, half are mobile health users. Two thirds of people doing online searches use social media to seek health information, and one third communicate with doctors.
About 20 percent of patients say that mobile is essential for managing their care, the article said. That holds true for 32 percent of people with diabetes, and 39 percent of people with MS, according to the article.
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Levy also noted that smartphone Internet activity is mostly about fundamental research such as locating a physician’s office or learning about a drug.
“They’re not tracking their blood pressure or video conferencing their doctor; We’re not at that point yet. They’re using it to look up lots of different things: Where is my doctor, what do I need to talk about, how do I prepare for the conversation? What is this drug, what are my choices? Why should I take: an oral versus an injectable?”
Online health searches are very much in the news of late, particularly with the changes Google has made.
Although niche apps, such as for gaming, pose some interesting opportunities, the article said Levy sounded a note of caution that companies need to carefully consider how they get prospective users to try these apps.
Manhattan Research’s findings offer some useful insight for big pharma, especially as they try to figure out how to improve patient engagement and boost adherence. Several companies have sussed that helping people better understand their condition and how they can manage is essential. There continues to be a lot of experimentation to find the right balance between making health literacy more interesting an approachable without being too distracting.
