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Do
Consumers Know Your Product Is Not Just Another Commodity?
 "A
challenge facing the healthcare industry is that consumers
don't understand why they need full information about their
medications. Consumers don't see the difference between
a prescription drug and commodities such as food, cosmetics,
or a VCR."
That point was made by Consumer
Health Information Corporation President, Dr. Dorothy Smith-one
of 120 patient information experts invited by the U.S.
Department of Health & Human Services to participate in
the first national multidisciplinary symposium on verbal counseling.
The symposium was held to develop a
series of strategic plans to improve the effectiveness of
oral counseling by pharmacists.
- "It's one thing to buy a VCR and
not read the manual," Smith said. "It's far more serious
to purchase a prescription medication and not understand
how to use it."
This has to change if we are going
to reverse the high cost of noncompliance incurred by patients,
employers, pharmaceutical companies, and healthcare professionals,
she said.
- Product managers can improve compliance—and
increase sales— by providing health professionals with
high quality patient education materials on their products.
Give
Your OTC's a Competitive Edge
Make
sure your OTC products have a competitive edge. Give consumers
more information than your competitors.
Consumers will be more likely to self-medicate
properly—and repurchase your product—if they receive
user-friendly information beyond what fits on the package
label. For instance, the statement, "Do not drink alcoholic
beverages" is not enough. Consumers need to know why—or
they will ignore it.
With 20 years of experience in developing
successful patient education programs, Consumer Health Information
Corporation knows how you can increase sales by turning consumers
into powerful allies for your product.
More details are in our comments
to FDA on Proposed Labeling Requirements for OTC Human Drugs.
Call us for a complimentary copy.
How
Many Patients Don't
Fill Prescriptions for Your Product?
 Product
managers who think it's enough just to get the doctor to prescribe
their product are building their marketing plans on shaky
ground. Here's why.
- Nearly 11% of women and 6.4% of
men fail to fill their prescriptions.
- Only 20% of patients receive information
about refills when they originally fill their prescription.
- Lost revenues from unfilled and
unrefilled prescriptions total a staggering $8 billion every
year.
Don't let this happen to your product.
When patients don't fill or refill their prescriptions, your
product never gets the chance to prove its effectiveness.
We
Win National Health
Information Merit Award!
Consumer
Health Information Corporation received this award for a patient
education program designed to motivate parents to give their
children the full 10-day course of an antibiotic used to treat
middle ear infections. The program was carefully designed
using a variety of patient education techniques to present
complicated medical and therapeutic information in an easy
to understand manner.
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