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“Visits to physician offices and other health care practices, which had fallen 60 percent by early April, have now rebounded and plateaued at 10 percent below prepandemic levels,” found the latest wave of research from the Harvard University, Phreesia, and the Commonwealth Fund. In-office visits are still showing a decline, even among those states which saw a surge in cases during the June and July months. However, these declines are still smaller than that of the early days of the pandemic.

Several hot spots states – including early-opening ones such as Arizona, Florida, and Texas – recorded an increase in telemedicine visits, but only a slight decrease in overall visits. “Practices in these states appear to have maintained most of their visit volume by increasing telemedicine visits and creating new safety protocols for in-person visits.”

Telemedicine use peaked in mid-April. While it has shown a decline and its current adoption has plateaued, it is still being used at a “substantially higher rate than prior to the pandemic” the report notes.

The research continued to find a large difference in visit patterns between adults and children, with adults still outpacing children. Those aged 18-64 years old showed a -4% change in visits (the smallest percent change for the week starting 7/26/2020), while children ages 3-5 represented the largest percent change at -36%. Children ages 0-2 were tracked at -32%; ages 6-17 recorded a -17%; and those aged 65-74 and 75+ both came in with a -9% each in visits.

Initial data findings were published in April 2020, with this research partnership team providing monthly updates to track trends in outpatient office visits. Click here to view more of the findings – including what impacts insurance type has had on visit rebounds and the adoption of telemedicine by Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) and non-FQHC.

In a follow up conversation with DTC Perspectives this summer, Sherry Novembre and Amy Graham shared how Ogilvy Health’s #EverydayMatters cancer awareness campaign continues to expand and reach audiences, as well as how COVID-19 has impacted the agency’s efforts.

The #EverydayMatters campaign was launched by Ogilvy Health in February of this year, kicking off a year-long campaign to “make an impact on cancer.” Their spring and summer efforts have continued, centering on colorectal cancer in March. They developed and released videos targeting all ages, not just older adults, to educate and encourage screenings. “Colorectal cancer is on the rise in those under age 50”, with 1 in 10 being diagnosed before the age of 50, stated one of their videos. An additional video included an experience view of a colonoscopy as Group Copy Supervisor, Bryan Minogue, “documented his cancer screening journey to show the ease and importance of getting checked early.” Novembre shared that the social media promotion of the #EverydayMatters campaign has made more than 50,000 impressions since its launch on World Cancer Day 2020. The team is also continuing to pursue partnerships where appropriate, such as teaming up with advocates for National Cancer Survivors Day on June 7^th. Efforts honored survivors, including a tribute video for survivors and loved ones who serve as beacons of hope, as well as providing continual support and needed information to maintain their healthy journeys.

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Amid #EverydayMatters campaign endeavors, the global COVID-19 pandemic arose. As “stay at home” and other safety orders were issued by governments, the agency team also began looking into the impacts coronavirus was having on cancer patients. Graham, citing research from the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science shared via Medscape, stated that an estimated “80,000-plus diagnoses of five common cancers in the United States are projected to be missed or delayed during the 3-month period of early March to early June because of COVID-19 disruptions to healthcare.” Additionally, normal treatment routines may have been interrupted for patients. Already a vulnerable population group, patients now were finding themselves challenged in new ways with regards to managing their healthcare. The Ogilvy Health team knew that their mission was more important than ever and has remained steadfast in their commitment to continue creating awareness, sharing knowledge and education, and providing support to the oncology community wherever it has been needed.

To comply with government safety orders during the pandemic, the team, as with all those now working remotely, has had to make some adjustments across their practices and procedures. However, even without a studio and despite the fact that all collaborations must be done virtually, they still came together to develop content and videos to support the #EverydayMatters cause. Members of the Ogilvy Health team that were not necessarily a part of the agency’s oncology projects volunteered to participate in the efforts as so many have “a personal stake in it,” noted Sherry. Team members came together in a truly collective effort to address several serious and timely issues:

• A COVID-19 Impacts on Cancer video was created to educate and support patients.
• A unique impact survey on HCP and cancer patients as related to COVID-19 was conducted to better understand and address the challenges the groups are currently facing.
• A tribute video to acknowledge and thank those working in the oncology community during the pandemic was also produced.

According to Graham, when looking to the future of this program, based on their research and learnings they will continue to explore timely topics that enable better conversations and care for people living with cancer. Future topics may include ways to improve patient use of their Electronic Health Records, and cancer care inequality awareness. 

While some projects may launch in 2021 instead of 2020 now due to COVID-19 delays, long-term and global plans are still very much in play. One such venture is through content sharing: Ogilvy Health’s global offices are picking up content that this US-based team has created so that they may share locally how and where appropriate.

Check back with us in the fall for another update on Ogilvy Health’s #EverydayMatters cancer awareness campaign.

Eight healthcare marketing and media leaders turned over their social media channels to “eight organizations and influencers focused on health issues and disparities facing the Black community,” according to the news release about the social media effort. On July 22, #ShareTheScope allowed “new voices and perspectives from those who are tirelessly advocating for equity and justice in healthcare” to reach more than one million followers collectively. The initiative, spearheaded by Outcome Health, was “based on the highly successful #ShareTheMicNow … with the aim of amplifying Black voices working toward change in America’s embedded racist healthcare system and reaching an audience they previously hadn’t,” continued the news release about “sharing the stethoscope”.

With the African American population disproportionately affected by several health issues, including heart disease, diabetes, asthma, among others, Outcome Health “recognizes that economic instability, physical environment, inadequate education and lack of access to healthcare systems can perpetuate” such health issues. Matt McNally was quoted in the press release, saying: “#ShareTheScope is Outcome Health’s call to action to the industry to educate and advocate on the deeply embedded gaps in healthcare for Black families. Knowledge is power, so we decided to connect prominent Black organizations with our peers in healthcare who have a shared desire for justice to act together to collectively walk the walk, not just talk the talk.”

The #ShareTheScope social media turnover partnerships were:

• “Outcome Health & Suzet McKinney, DrPH, MPH, CEO/Executive Director of the Illinois Medical District, the second-largest urban medical district in the United States and home to four major hospitals.
• “Ad Council & Black Mental Wellness, which provides access to evidence-based information and resources about mental health and behavioral health to decrease mental health stigma in the Black community.
• “PatientPoint gives its platform to GEN-H, developers of a regional health plan as a community-wide response to the critical and growing health challenges facing Greater Cincinnati and North Kentucky.
• “Verywell Health & Black Women's Health Imperative, the only national organization dedicated solely to improving the health and wellness of our nation’s 21 million Black women and girls – physically, emotionally and financially.
• “HealthiNation & Sean Peters, Ph.D., the founder of My Body, My Kitchen, an online resource to help with the development of the physical and mental health of persons of color.
• “Real Talk with Dr. Offutt & Urban Health Media Project, which is teaching diverse high school from under-resourced communities how to report multimedia stories about the health and social issues affecting their communities.
• “Shatterproof & Texas Harm Reduction Alliance, which develops and promotes practices and programs to create positive change and reduce the harmful consequences of substance use and misuse in Texas.
• “MM&M partners with BLKHLTH, which challenges racism and its impact on Black health via its platform that educates, engages and empowers the Black community.”

“Despite the fact that healthcare in America has been a topic of debate for decades, the needs of people of color have not been given equitable consideration. The opportunity to ‘Share the ‘Scope’ with Outcome Health for education and advocacy should be a catalyst to a growing recognition of the existing health disparities suffered by Black Americans, and we trust it will encourage more people to use their voices loudly to enact meaningful, lasting change,” stated Dr. McKinney in the news release.

“#ShareTheScope fits well with our mission to mobilize and engage women and organizations to pursue greater opportunities for gender and racial justice. This is a great opportunity to educate and shift public perception about the needs of Black women’s health,” noted Linda Goler Blount, MPH, President and CEO of the Black Women’s Health Imperative in the news release.

This past Friday, July 24th, President Trump signed multiple Executive Orders to lower medication prices for patients and, as he commented during the signing, to restructure the prescription drug market in terms of pricing. The three Orders, as well as a potential fourth:

1. “Enable Americans without access to affordable insulin and injectable epinephrine through commercial insurance or Federal programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, to purchase these pharmaceuticals from an FQHC at a price that aligns with the cost at which the FQHC acquired the medication.”
2. Allow for: importation of certain, safe prescription drugs from other countries; re-importation of insulin products; facilitate use of individual importation waivers at authorized pharmacies in the US.
3. Pass along drug rebates to patients so they may save at the pharmacy counter.
4. Reduces prescription drug costs for Americans to the “lowest price available in economically comparable countries for Medicare Part B drugs.”

The fourth Order was not signed and issued; full details are still unknown. As stated in the White House's briefings statement: “Absent successful negotiations with drug company executives this Order will be implemented on August 24.” The heads of major drug companies requested a meeting with the President, which was scheduled for Tuesday, July 28th, as noted by Trump during his Executive Order signing. That meeting was reportedly canceled.

Shortly after these Orders were issued on July 24th, PhRMA CEO Stephen J. Ubl released a statement. “The research-based biopharmaceutical industry has been working around the clock to develop therapeutics and vaccines to treat and prevent COVID-19. The administration’s proposal today is a reckless distraction that impedes our ability to respond to the current pandemic – and those we could face in the future. It jeopardizes American leadership that rewards risk-taking and innovation and threatens the hope of patients who need better treatments and cures,” said Ubl as part of his response.

According to a New York Times report: “Wall Street analysts were skeptical that the orders would have much effect on drugmakers and said they could prove difficult to implement in practice. ‘We believe they are likely geared more towards deriving campaign talking points rather than producing tangible, material effects,' Brian Abrahams, a biotech analyst at RBC Capital Markets, said in a note.”

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Earlier this year, Rx EDGE Media Network / LeveragePoint Media acquired Brandperx. The company has now transitioned into a brand-new company, InStep Health. In an interview with DTC Perspectives' Chairman, Bob Ehrlich, InStep Health's president and CEO, Nathan Lucht, discussed ways their programs educate patients and consumers, providing brands with new opportunities to reach audiences in meaningful ways.

Bob Ehrlich: The company has undergone some very big changes in a short period of time. In less than a year, you have acquired another company, Brandperx, and undergone a full rebranding. What inspired these changes?

Nathan Lucht: Reflection, evaluation, and ultimately change are all important components of a healthy company—and imperative to performing at your peak. Before we began the acquisition of Brandperx, we had already started reflecting and evaluating, and adding new offerings to our platform. We were improving our targeting capabilities, adding digital programs, and making our data insights even stronger. When we became familiar with Brandperx and their HCP network and relationships, we thought it was a natural fit for us. It provided the perfect opportunity for us to bring even more marketing solutions to pharma marketers that want to educate patients and their providers. As for the rebranding, a new name and aesthetic is the quintessential way to break away from past narratives. We are proud of our past accomplishments from over the last 19 years, but we wanted a new name and look that would convey the excitement we felt about the new offerings.

Bob: What is behind the name ‘InStep Health'?

Nathan: During our background work, we reflected on the strong culture our company (both legacy companies) have and the relationships we have with our clients. There were a few themes that consistently resurfaced, and connection was one of them. The connections between clients’ messages, providers, patients, and consumers. We wanted to produce marketing that matters to care providers and consumers and remain in stride, in sync, and inspired by what’s next. Doctors want to be in step with the patients, and patients want information that’s in step with what they’re going through! That’s what we deliver.

Bob: How big is your network ‒ in physician offices and in pharmacies covered?

Nathan: It’s very large, which is why our programs work so well—because we can reach consumers and patients at healthcare destinations all over the country. Currently our network consists of 250,000+ healthcare providers and more than 30,000 retail locations.

Bob: What is InStep Health able to do better by bringing together services offerings at the pharmacy, HCP, and point of care?

Nathan: Great question. We are delivering brand messages to specific audiences in the physical locations when health is top of mind, and we are making an impact as they use their digital devices whenever and wherever they are. Our platform keeps clients’ products at the forefront throughout their target audience’s entire healthcare continuum.

Bob: What specific products are you offering patients at each step?  What does this network actually look like to a consumer?

Nathan: At the pharmacy, millions of consumers see our media displays in the aisles that offer prescription savings and high-impact educational materials that drive the consumer to the pharmacist or physician to find out more. In the providers’ offices in our network, they’ll see physician-endorsed activation bags and education kits filled with relevant samples, incentives, and other resources. And our addressable digital programs allow microtargeted campaigns to reach the right patients as they move throughout their daily lives.

But what our new platform has really focused on is keeping our clients in step with the consumer’s individual experience ‒ it’s what we call the iX design. We connect the consumer to our client’s brand messages throughout their unique care path with all of the tools we mentioned above, and by inspiring meaningful conversations between patients and healthcare providers for healthier outcomes.

Bob: How have you increased your technical abilities to support these networks?

Nathan: This is an especially exciting area for us! We’ve made a lot of investments in this area and we break that effort into two parts: one, using data from the pharmacy and HCP office networks to create more effective programs. And two, using digital activation programs to provide clients seamless patient reach. From the data perspective, we’ve always been focused on using prescription fulfillment data to place our clients’ programs in exactly the right pharmacies. We’ve now amped that up so that we can do that type of planning in any of our physician offices. And on the digital activation front, we now have technology that we call “Arrivals” that allows us to serve mobile takeover messages as the consumers step into our waiting rooms and our pharmacies. This technology then combines with some leading-edge capabilities in HIPAA-compliant audience targeting when patients aren’t in our point of care settings. All these pieces fit together like a jigsaw puzzle and it’s really great stuff!

Bob: What kind of returns are clients seeing within your network and how are you measuring those?

Nathan: Clients know us for the results we deliver since we have been quantitatively measuring our legacy pharmacy programs literally since day one! So, creating smarter, data-driven programs and measuring their success remains at the core of our new platform. InStep Health has built a flexible measurement approach utilizing best in class data and third-party partners to deliver metrics and insights for every initiative we execute. We can successfully measure prescription lift and ROI in stores. On average our clients see a script lift of 12% and an $8 ROI through the pharmacy alone. We also measure changes in prescribing at the physician level, OTC/CPG sales lift and ROI, increases in physician recommendation and awareness, response to digitally served ads, and digital audience composition. 

Bob: Bringing it back to all of the renovating the company has recently done, what has been the best part of this process?

Nathan: Yes, we have a great new look, and an inspired new name. But personally, to me the best part has been unifying two great companies with their individual strengths and bringing together two incredible teams of people to form one powerhouse. We know we can do really extraordinary things together, and we have just gotten started bringing them into the current landscape of healthcare marketing.

In the latest research update from the Commonwealth Fund, Harvard University, and Phreesia, analysts investigated how office visits have adapted to a “new normal” during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings revealed a “‘cumulative deficit' in visits over the last three months (March 15-June 20) is nearly 40 percent,” with the greatest decline being in states that “had an early surge in COVID-19 cases.”

Telemedicine, which was utilized as in-person visits dropped, has begun to decline after peaking in mid-April. The use of telemedicine “remains substanially higher than prior to the pandemic” however.

Furthermore, researchers found that in the week starting June 14th, “visits to some clinical specialties, such as dermatology and rheumatology, have returned to their baseline rates. The cumulative decline in visits from the start of the pandemic is greatest among pediatricians, pulmonologists, and several surgical specialties.”

Data was collected from Phreesia's clients, which include more than 1,600 provider organizations representing more than 50,000 providers. Visits were captured from February 1 through June 20, 2020.

Click here to read the latest round of findings.

Vilifying the pharmaceutical industry has long been considered an acceptable public sport. The criticisms have been wide-ranging and near universal at times, with both sides of the political aisle taking their shots. Hollywood movies feed into and perpetuate the systemic belief that Big Pharma comprises evil executives hell-bent on taking advantage of the American consumer-patient. And critics like to point to the fact that pharma innovations have slowed while many “me too” drug sales seem healthy and robust.

In a Gallup poll published last Fall, the pharmaceutical industry was ranked as the worst industry in the US—regarded less favorably than all others, including the oft-maligned industries of oil and gas, law, and the federal government. In fact, the four lowest-rated fields were advertising and public relations, the healthcare industry, the federal government, and—pulling up the rear—the pharmaceutical industry. Personally, it’s sobering to realize that as a healthcare marketer, three out of four of these reviled sectors are directly related to work I not only believe in, but to which I have dedicated more than 30 years of my life.

But then, along came a virus, which led to a pandemic that for all intents and purposes is holding the world hostage and will likely continue to do so for the foreseeable future. And suddenly, people all over the globe are depending on the embattled pharmaceutical industry to play a vital role in the future of…well, our future. Big Pharma—and those of us on its periphery—are starting to be viewed in a very different light as the push for a COVID-19 cure has borne extraordinary innovations in record time, remarkable acts of corporate giving, and turned the healthcare industry on its head. Could it be that the villains are now becoming the saviors?

The demand for companies to band together to create life-saving meds in a crisis isn’t unprecedented. In the early years of WWII, President Roosevelt put a call out for the mass production of penicillin to help prevent infection and save those wounded on the battlefield. Nineteen companies stepped up and one—Pfizer, then a fermentation company—came forward with a way to mass-produce the “miracle drug.” Some might argue that this is perhaps when the seeds of Big Pharma began in earnest.

With all of the positive contribution pharma has made over these last 70+ years, how and when did we end up losing favor? There are very real, scathing and justifiable criticisms that can be traced back to the industry; bad eggs like Martin Shkreli, incidents of life-saving meds not being covered by insurance due to their excessive cost, and the origins of the opioid crisis arguably traceable back to prescription drugs. But how did it get to the point that these issues ultimately overshadowed the greater good that the pharma industry has contributed during the last century to advance the health and well-being of consumers? How did we become so focused on marketing the medicine that we neglected to recognize there was a need to better market our industry?

In the era of COVID-19, the pharmaceutical industry is working day and night to simultaneously find treatments for the virus, a vaccine or even a cure, and the eyes of the world are laser-focused on it. There is a higher level of responsibility and expectation than ever before and the hope for our collective future now lies firmly in the hands of biopharma scientists, researchers and technicians. Tides are turning—reports suggest that consumers are now viewing the pharma industry with new regard, with 40% of the people who responded to a recent Harris poll looking to pharma with greater trust, perceived authenticity, and a more positive view of the industry than they did before the pandemic began.

Where pharma companies must do the heavy lifting in finding the holy grails of treatment and cure, healthcare marketers have a part to play, as well. We’re in a unique position to help foster and build upon the positive momentum that this industry is creating. Unlike our marketing colleagues whose clients are in the “want-based” categories of automotive, entertainment, or hospitality, we have the privilege and charge of working within a need-based category. “Health” is an industry that will never go out of style and won’t be as influenced by fluctuations in the economy as companies and brands in those other categories. Our job is to do everything in our power to create more connectivity, utility and value through our work as the industry’s loudest voice.

Rx EDGE® Media Network (part of LeveragePoint Media), a healthcare marketing company that supports pharma marketers in reaching consumers, announces the formation of a new company, InStep Health. InStep Health provides expanded services and product offerings to better support healthcare providers and consumers. With its recent acquisition of Brandperx, InStep Health has added to its portfolio to give product marketers access to 250,000 healthcare providers (HCPs) at the point of care (POC)—the providers’ offices. The increased capabilities will give pharma and OTC partners unprecedented direct-to-patient access that complements the company’s historically strong pharmaceutical marketing reputation in the retail pharmacy.

InStep Health will leverage past successes as it addresses consumerism across the continuum of care. “Now that consumers’ healthcare habits and expectations are changing, reaching patients is more critical than ever. Our intention at InStep Health is to do our part by engaging with them during and in between critical points of care, wherever that may be,” says Nathan Lucht, president and CEO of InStep Health. “No one does exactly what we do in the pharmacy, in the doctor’s office or digitally for patients, consumers and providers. By design, this is more than just point of care marketing.”

The company’s name expresses the distinct and diverse educational scope of the firm’s products and services they provide to consumers as they proceed along their personal healthcare paths. “The name change represents our future-facing, comprehensive platform by which our pharma and OTC clients can deliver education and wellness solutions to consumers when and where they need it most,” adds Lucht.

Heightened accessibility to the 30,000+ retail locations in the company’s network delivers an individual experience “iX” to healthcare consumers seeking solutions across thousands of integrated connection points.

InStep Health combines best-in-class data with the power of relationships to educate consumers at every point of their healthcare game plan, using a strategic blending of tangible and technical approaches. Their metric-driven marketing programs serve the health and wellness community by connecting brands, HCPs, and consumers via today’s ubiquitous digital access points.

About the Company
Since 2001, more than 70 pharmaceutical companies spanning 185 brands have leveraged the power of Rx EDGE® Media Network because they recognize the importance of the pharmacy as an education and communication channel. The acquisition of Brandperx added 80 OTC and CPG brands to their client base. Now as InStep Health, the company connects consumers and patients to brands through unique online and in-aisle resources and at the healthcare providers’ (HCPs) offices. www.instephealthmedia.com.

Contact:
InStep Health
Kathleen Bonetti
EVP Marketing
(847) 879-6036
kathleen.bonetti@instephealthmedia.com
www.instephealthmedia.com