Physician to Pharma: Engage the Patient!

Heart Doc Envisions More Meaningful Role for ePharma in Patient CareBy Marc Dresner, IIRIt's not a sentiment one might expect, given DTC's sometimes tense relationship with physicians. But Dr. Jordan Safirstein actually wants pharmaceutical companies to interact with his patients directly and in potentially more influential ways.From a healthcare provider's perspective, advertising to patients would seem intrusive enough; anything more would presumably constitute an intolerable land grab.Jordan SafirsteinBut the cardiologist says he wouldn't be opposed to seeing pharmaceutical and device manufacturers overtly insinuate themselves in the healthcare process. In fact, he's encourage the industry to do just that."I feel like there is a lot more [pharma] could do in terms of helping patients with compliance, educating patients about their disease state and not just the medication that they are taking," Safirstein told Inside ePharma.The opportunity as Safirstein sees it would be most pronounced in the digital space—apps, digital interventions, streaming educational content for patients, etc.And it seems a natural next step when one considers the potential of interactive media in the context of broader healthcare trends.“[Pharma] can fill in the gaps that currently exist in medicine.” - Dr. Jordan Safirstein"Now that pharma has been restricted from providing anything without an educational component to it, maybe they should redirect their strategy toward becomi...
Source: ePharma Summit - Category: Medical Marketing and PR Tags: Drug advertising DTC eHealth empowered patients ePharma Healthcare Healthcare apps marketing pharmaceutical marketing Safirstein Source Type: blogs