Every day, doctors make hundreds of decisions. Decisions that affect patient care, diagnosis, follow up and pharmaceuticals prescribed.
What influences those choices? When it comes to prescribing habits, says Dr G Caleb Alexander, a University of Chicago assistant professor of medicine, “this is one of the great unknowns. It’s pretty tough to accurately identify the sources and magnitude of influence that guides physician learning.”
Yet comparative effectiveness research (CER) in the US is not only shedding light on comparing disease treatments, but prompting detailed examinations of how doctors make prescribing decisions and the factors that sway them.
Report Overview
In New Research into Prescribing Practices, FirstWord reviews the role of CER intelligence, the significant gaps it has identified in physician knowledge and how CER information will shape the way that pharmaceutical firms promote their products. Based on expert interviews and the latest research, the report reveals the key factors influencing physician decisions, from formal education, casual colleague conversations, insurance regulations and government subsidies to continuing medical education, samples and even patient pressure.
Key features
- Compelling insight into how pharma can address prescribing trends
- Examination of CERs influence on pharma, patient care and academic detailing
- Expert insight into how new drug promotions can evolve
- Discussion of how promotions can impact doctor-patient relations
- Analysis of why some drugs are overprescribed while others are underutilized
- Charts and tables illustrating compliance, prescribing trends
Key Benefits
- Expert advice on how pharma and CER projects can influence physician choice
- Insight into the dominant factors affecting prescribing habits
Key Questions Asked
- How can pharma identify which doctors respond to which promotional techniques?
- What are the key factors affecting how doctors prescribe pharmaceuticals according to CER research?
- How do promotional emphases need to change over the life cycle of a new drug?
- How can pharma firms build goodwill by helping doctor-patient communication?
- How are CER projects informing how pharma firms market their products?
- What are the gaps in physician knowledge?
Who Should Read This Report
- Marketing and Brand Management
- Advertising/Promotion
- Medical Education
- Marketing Research/Business Intelligence
- Sales Management
- Territory Management/Sales Representatives
Key quotes
“Armed with this comparative information, doctors and patients can discuss the pros and cons of medications to come up with one that best fits the patient’s needs and preferences.” – Dr Carolyn M Clancy, director of AHRQ
CER is “the next stage in an evolution of research and knowledge development in regard to medical intervention... Embracing CER is regarded as an essential step for the innovative pharmaceutical industry.” – Marc L Berger, vice-president of global health outcomes and David Grainger, global public policy director, Eli Lilly
“It’s pretty tough to accurately identify the sources and magnitude of influence that guides physician learning. This is one of those great unknowns. We know that some sources are influential, but discussing exactly how influential and in what settings is easier said than done.”
– Dr G Caleb Alexander, assistant professor of medicine, University of Chicago
Expert Views
Dr Carolyn M Clancy, Director, AHRQ
Dr Scott R Smith, Senior Fellow, AHRQ
Dr Ramkumar Janakiraman, Texas A&M University
Dr Ben Gerber, Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago
Dr David P Miller, Assistant Professor, Wake Forest University, North Carolina
Dr Julie A Schmittdiel, Research Division, Kaiser Permanente
Dr G Caleb Alexander, Assistant Professor of medicine, University of Chicago
Dr Katherine Y Yang, Assistant Professor at the University of California, San Francisco
Frank Powers, CEO, Dudnyk consultants
Alex Swedlow, Executive Vice-President, Research and Development, California Workers' Compensation Institute
Executive summary
Comparative effectiveness research
Impact on pharma
Impact on patient care
Academic detailing
Knowing doesn't equal doing
Influencing physician choices
Gaps in physician knowledge
How doctors make their choices
Healthcare coverage
Getting doctors to switch
Custom-tailored detailing
The importance of drug samples
The role of patients
Which promotions work best?
Patient information
Safety considerations
Cost considerations
Combating non-adherence
Persistently overprescribed drugs
Antibiotics
Opioids
Addressing underprescribing
Cardiac care
Older patients
Minorities
Looking ahead
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