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The global digital health market is on the rise. Digital healthcare is the future, and increasingly the present, of how patients are diagnosed and treated. With the shift in healthcare, DTC marketers are presented with a new challenge: understanding how patient needs change as new technologies enter the market.

It’s no longer enough to talk simply about the promises of new technologies. Now it’s time to take a hard look at how digital healthcare impacts the patients and consequently, how new needs and expectations are formed. Cybersecurity, or lack thereof, is becoming a major factor in this equation.

Concerns Around the Internet of Medical Things

You probably already know that the Internet of Medical Things has a huge potential for medicine. Elderly patients’ health can be remotely monitored by care-givers, extending the period of independence. Medicine can be automatically administered, ensuring the right dosage at the right time. Reports can be composed and sent to an app on the patient’s phone, giving them greater agency over their own health. Emergency alerts can be sent directly to hospitals if the patient’s health rapidly deteriorates.

In short: countless lives can be saved or made easier thanks to the Internet of Medical Things.

But that doesn’t mean that the technology behind the Internet of Things (IoT) is flawless. In fact, security experts have been raising concerns about IoT since its very inception. And while having a smart light switch or smart TV hacked shouldn’t have any effect on users’ health, a hacked medical device is a whole other story.

To give you an idea of how disastrous things could turn out, security researchers discovered security flaws in the Medtronic implantable insulin pump that allowed them to remotely disable it, cutting off the delivery of medication. The same researchers demonstrated also taking total control of a pacemaker system.

The message from this and many other experiments was clear: if insufficiently protected, IoT medical devices could be a danger to patients’ lives.

Cybersecurity and Telehealth

Telehealth is yet another field of digital healthcare that carries a great promise. Telehealth entails providing remote care through means of telecommunication which increasingly means the Internet. Its great advantage is that it minimizes the need for in-person visits to the doctor’s office: particularly important for elderly patients or those with mobility issues.

Giving the popularity of smartphones and laptops, most households are equipped for telehealth. As the infrastructure develops, we’re likely to see many patients schedule doctor visits online and consult specialists remotely via a video chat.

But telehealth faces the exact same criticism as the Internet of Medical Devices. Most Internet users are don’t have the technical expertise necessary to protect their devices from access by unauthorized parties. Once those devices are being used to transmit such sensitive information as medical test results, doctor consultations and other health data, the question of cybersecurity becomes ever more pressing.

Should this Matter to DTC Marketers?

Before I answer this question, let’s consider another one. Does cybersecurity matter to the end-users of these technologies — patients?

The answer is a resounding yes. According to research, Americans care about their data privacy and security (85% of respondents are extremely, very or somewhat concerned about their smart devices monitoring their personal habits). And not just that, many users will take active steps to protect their privacy as well.

With surveillance and hacking scandals breaking out seemingly every week, this security awareness will only grow. It’s enough to take a look at Millennials’ laptops: many will have their video cameras taped over, GPS location disabled, and a VPN running in the background as they surf the Internet.

To come back to the question in the heading: DTC marketers need to care about cybersecurity because that’s what patients care about. Security features are slowly moving into the spotlight — when making an important decision about their health, patients will be weighting security as one of the factors. Understanding and being able to answer questions about cybersecurity will soon become a part of DTC marketer’s stack.

Moving Forward

Digital healthcare transformation is picking up speed and so will the controversies associated with it.

To be fully prepared for the future of healthcare, we need to look critically at what this new field is shaping up to be. With patients increasingly concerned about their privacy and security, it seems that security features will be a strong selling point for any new technologies entering the health sector.

HCB Health opened their third office recently, in Parsippany, NJ. This will allow the independent, full-service healthcare agency to focus on serving large-scale pharma clients in the tri-state region. The office currently has 10 team members, and is expected to grow to 25 in the next year. According to the news release, they are “actively recruiting to fill positions in the NJ office in account services, creative, project management and digital.”

“We created this office to service existing local accounts and engage new clients in the tri-state region. Even in our virtual world, it's essential to be close to your clients,” stated HCB Health CEO Kerry Hilton in the announcement. HCB Health President Nancy Beesley added: “We're strategically located in the middle of the pharma belt – where talent, agencies and especially pharma and biotech companies converge.”

The NJ office joins their Austin and Chicago based locations. The agency utilizes technology to ensure “seamless collaboration and integration” across all of its team members as well as maintain it's quality and commitment to clients, regardless of location. The New Jersey team members are (listed according to hire date, earliest to most recent):

• Lee Randolph, SVP Group Account Supervisor
• Nick D’ Amore, Medical Editor
• Mark Davis, SVP Multichannel Delivery
• John Augenstein, Group Account Supervisor
• Dale Fordsman, Senior Project Manager
• Allison Musante, Senior Copywriter
• Matthew Musick, Account Supervisor
• Lysa Opfer, Art Supervisor
• Alexandra Langdon, Assistant Account Executive
• Thomas Cianci, Project Manager

A special ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on Nov. 4th for the newest office. From left to right: (front row) President Nancy Beesley, Francesco Lucarelli, Matthew Musick, Kelsi Brown, Lee Randolph, Alexandra Langdon, John Augenstein; (back row), Travis Waggoner, Lysa Opfer, Allison Musante, Brooks Bagwell, Dale Fordsman and Mark Davis.

The official Verification and Validation Guidance was released in mid-October for the Point of Care Communication Council (Poc3). The Guidance will “serve as a unified set of industry standards that will define best practices, engender trust among those who transact at the point of care, and provide a clear and standardized mechanism enabling media buyers to determine which POC media vendors are certified and adhering to the auditing requirements set by PoC3,” as per the news release.

“The PoC3 Verification and Validation Guidance is pivotal to the POC industry at large,” said PoC3 Co-Chair Larry Newman (also Chief Operating Officer of Health Media Network) in the release. “As the channel continues to grow and advance at an accelerated rate, having a unified set of checks and balances will help buyers understand POC opportunities and have confidence in program implementations and results.”

Input and insights were collected from PoC3 member companies, pharmaceutical companies, advertising agencies, and other stakeholders, as well as “public feedback collected over the summer during an open comment period” to help shape the Guidance. In addition, PoC3 will certify those in compliance with a PoC3 Certification Seal. According to the Guidance, Completed on an annual basis, the Seal “represents compliance with all areas within this document labeled as ‘requirements' and marked with an asterisk in the Table of Contents … [and] a company's Network Audit success at the 92.5% audit success criteria as part of the Overall Auditing Requirements within this guidance, as well as an aggregate of Campaign Audit success at the same 92.5% audit success criteria.”

“Ensuring that all industry stakeholders had the opportunity to contribute and provide input was critically important in developing this guidance. Our hope is that all POC media companies will strive to become PoC3 Certified. It's a high bar requiring substantial investment in external independent auditing, improved operational processes and IT reporting systems. This collective effort continues to elevate the industry, and we've been seeing ongoing momentum and energy as a result,” added PoC3 Co-Chair Mike Collette (Founder and CEO of PatientPoint).

Ethan Lindenberger made headlines this past year when, at the age of 18, he went against his parents' wishes and chose to get vaccinations. According to the news release, “Ethan grew up being told that vaccines cause autism, brain damage, and do not benefit the health and safety of society despite the fact such opinions have been debunked numerous times by the scientific community.” Through his own research, he learned about the benefits of vaccines and was able to debunk myths and misinformation. The now 19-year old has become an activist know for his “opposition to vaccine misinformation efforts” and has thus joined Unity Consortium to be featured as a member of their Voice of AYA (Adolescents and Young Adults) campaign.

Unity's Voices of AYA encourages young adults and teens to get and stay up-to-date with recommended vaccinations and helps them identify misinformation online. Outcome Health has partnered up with the non-profit organization to produce video spots featuring Ethan and Dr. Laura Offutt, an expert source and teen health advocate. Outcome Health has worked with Unity since 2018, but this is their first collaboration on a joint video campaign (video spots can be seen here and here). As part of the initiative, the videos will run on Outcome Health's doctor office screens nationwide and Unity's advocacy network, be shared through social media, and Ethan will post a number of blogs over the coming months.

According to the news announcement: “With new outbreaks in diseases, such as the measles epidemics that have hit multiple states in the US, it’s important to spread the word about the importance of vaccinations. A Unity survey conducted by Harris poll found that 4 in 10 parents and nearly 6 in 10 teens believe teens should only see a doctor for an illness, which likely reduces opportunities for physicians to discuss preventive health measures, such as vaccination. Similarly, the survey showed that 1 in 4 parents and teens believe that vaccines are for babies and not as important for teens.”

PatientConnect Video was launched by Healthgrades earlier this month to provide not only education video programming about specific health conditions, but to then connect patients with qualified, local specialists. According to the news release, “PatientConnect Video eliminates the uncertainty for patients who don't know where to access care.”

Coupling proprietary AI technology with their innovative solution suite, this online video solution provides content along with relevant healthcare provider information. “For example, patients watching video content about rheumatoid arthritis are dynamically provided with listings of rheumatologists closest to their location along with the physicians’ accepted insurance, patient reviews, contact information and more.”

According to John Mangano, Senior Vice President, Business Intelligence for Healthgrades, this takes things a step further than the usual ‘ask your doctor for more information' instruction typically found in ads by actually “helping the patient find their doctor. After viewing an ad online, Healthgrades delivers individually localized contact information, along with patient reviews of the provider, so each patient can connect with the right practitioner.”