Intel Releases its Own "Text" Reader for the Health Care Market

This post in the NY Times highlights a new handheld device unveiled by Intel called the IntelReader that helps people who struggle to read standard texts because of certain medical conditions. The reader is able to scan books and other printed texts into a digital form, and then read it aloud to its users.

The device, which is priced at 1$,500, is far less than any other text-to-speech devices covered by Medicare that range from $5,000 - $10,000. Intel is also looking into making other devices in the health care market as it is trying to find more uses for its chips other than regular PCs. It will be interesting to see the line-up of health care products Intel will manufacture of the course of the next couple of years.

AstraZeneca is joining the conversation

In a recent article at Delaware Online, the reveal how and why AstraZeneca is jumping into the social media conversation. Earl Whipple, the Senior Director of AstraZeneca's Corporate Communications Group, is the senior editor of the AZ Health Connections blog, has used the blog to communicate about a variety of topics, including healthcare reform, innovation, and the current state of Pharma and using online technologies.

Many have criticized the new AstraZeneca blog. How do you feel about it? As the article pointed out, people are online and talking about AstraZeneca whether or not their online. This gives them a chance to join the conversation and show their views. What do you think of their blog?

Novo Nordisk re-launches hemophilia campaign

Evelyn Lee of NJBiz.com reports that New Jersey-based pharmaceutical company, Novo Nordisk has relaunched it's hemophilia campaign. Its “changing possibilities in hemophilia” campaign with a re-branded Web site and a new community on the social networking site Facebook. The new online resources are intended to reach the hemophilia inhibitor community, which represents just 800 to 900 Americans, according to the health care company, whose U.S. headquarters are based in Princeton.

Do you think that Novo Nordisk's relaunch will be a success?

Agencies partner to launch social media service for pharma companies

Cara Wood of DMNews.com writes, Extrovertic and Virilion announced a joint venture on October 28, called EV Healthcare, to help healthcare companies implement digital and social media marketing campaigns. The service, based in New York, has just begun marketing to prospective clients, saidPfizer veteran Dorothy Wetzel, co-founder and executive marketer at Extrovertic.

“When there's a lot of change there's a lot of opportunity,” Wetzel said. ”Consumers are more often getting healthcare information from digital and social channels. Traditional direct-to-consumer campaigns are under fire, the most innocuous campaigns are attacked because consumers are more skeptical of pharma advertising. Healthcare companies need compelling creative strategy and true consumer dialogue.”

What do you think of the joint venture into the pharma and social media sphere? We'd like to hear how you think this evolves -- will we see more partnerships to come?

Archived Webinar: Shifting Media, Shifting Minds – Optimize Online Engagement

If you missed your chance to view yesterday's live web seminar presented by Bill Drummy, the CEO of Heartbeat Digital, here's your chance to view it at your own leisure! Take some time to view the hour long webinar below. Enjoy!

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/367946673

Complimentary Webinar: Shifting Media, Shifting Minds – Optimize Online Engagement

Join us for a Webinar on Wednesday, October 28
2-3PM EST

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/367946673
Mention Priority Code: P1506LinkedInBLOG


About the web seminar:
The days of one-way brand communication (i.e. advertising) are over. Engagement, utility and brand evangelism are the secrets to success in the user-controlled world of Facebook and Twitter. See how some major brands have exploited the new digital realities. Heartbeat Digital CEO Bill Drummy presents real-world examples showing how Bayer, J&J, Novo Nordisk, and UCB are racing ahead into the digital future.

What you will learn:
• The dramatic change in consumer media consumption patterns
• Who’s really using social networking and what are they doing
• The real data behind Facebook & Twitter
• The “reason for being” of various social networking environments and how to harness their unique capabilities
• Real-world examples of effective social networking campaigns

About the speaker:
Bill Drummy is CEO of Heartbeat Digital, an independent interactive marketing and software company he founded in 1998. Heartbeat is headquartered in New York, with offices in Brussels, Geneva, Paris and London. Named one of pharma’s “100 Most Inspiring People,” by PharmaVoice, Bill has provided strategic guidance at the highest levels for Amgen, GSK, sanofi-aventis, UCB and many other leading pharma and biotech companies. Bill’s reputation as a strategic thinker is well-known; he’s regularly published on industry issues and has been a featured speaker at major industry conferences, including DTC National ePharma Summit, and the Conference on Marketing.

Chris Anderson, Editor in Chief of Wired magazine will be at ePharma 2010!

Chris Anderson, Editor in Chief of Wired magazine, will be a keynote presenter
at the ePharma Summit in February 2010

Are you interested in How Emerging Technologies Will Impact Consumer Behavior & Preferences? If the answer is yes, be sure to join us on the morning of Wednesday, February 10th at 8:15 at the ePharma Summit 2010, where Chris Anderson will discuss the long tail of the pharmaceutical industry and the inevitable shift towards the “mini buster” and personalized medicine. Understand how the economics of abundance and the evolving digital landscape will forever influence the way you sell and market pharmaceutical products.

Widget Wonderland at FDA-Who Knew?

Angie Drakulich of PharmTech News writes today that the FDA will hold its public meeting to discuss the use of social media tools in marketing pharmaceutical drug products. The last time the agency held a meeting to discuss these types of items was in 1996 when the Internet’s popularity was growing by leaps and bounds.

While the agency is doing its best to figure out how to regulate online marketing—which comes with a whole new set of timing variables—it’s also working to keep up with technology on its own website. For example, last week, FDA posted a new widget that highlights fraudulent H1N1 swine-flu prevention and treatment products.

Drakulich also writes, FDA actually has a few widgets available. A peanut product recall widget lists all products pulled from the market for peanut contamination. A MedWatch widget highlights industry news including adverse events and product safety information. A food safety widget links to food safety programs at the agency as well as information on foodborne illnesses, allergies, and more. Some more simple FDA widgets are noted on the agency website here.

Widget Wonderland at FDA-Who Knew?

Dr. David Blumenthal's view on medical records

The New York Times recently had a piece where Dr. David Blumenthal, an adviser for President Obama on digitizing health records, spoke about what the current situation is for transition to digitized medical records and what the benefits will be when US doctors fully move over to the system. This includes patients being able to better manage their care and doctors and hospitals performing at higher levels. Read the full interview here.

Free Webinar Tomorrow: Overcoming the Challenges of Government Pricing, Compliance Reporting and Medicaid Rebate Processing

October 15, 2009
2-3PM EST

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/286708561

Priority code: P1458W1BLOG/TWITTER


About the web seminar:
All pharmaceutical product manufacturers who sell to various agencies of the federal government and/or who participate in Medicaid, 340B, Medicare or other public sector reimbursement programs face significant requirements and challenges with respect to their government-mandated pricing calculations and compliance reporting processes. Huge penalties and fines can be levied for miscalculating or incorrectly applying the various government price types to government-contracted sales and/or for compliance reporting mistakes.

The Seminar will address the complexities and challenges associated with automating Government Pricing and Medicaid Rebate system(s) as well as the pros and cons of using a packaged-software approach versus a custom-development approach. An overview of a leading-edge enterprise solution, developed as a fully-integrated component of the SAP® Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System, will be presented, accompanied by a live software demonstration and followed by a Question & Answer discussion of the issues.

What you will learn:
• An appreciation of the historical and legal background and context for the government-mandated price calculations and compliance reporting requirements;
• An understanding of the various price types that must be calculated, used in sales transaction processing and reported under each corresponding government program;
• Why automating and managing these processes using a packaged solution, based upon a fully-integrated enterprise architecture, is the lowest risk and lowest Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) approach


After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista
Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.4 (Tiger®) or newer

Complimentary Web Seminar: Shifting Media, Shifting Minds

Title: Shifting Media, Shifting Minds
Date: Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Time: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT

Register here: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/367946673
Mention Priority code: P1506LinkedInBlog

About the web seminar:
The days of one-way brand communication (i.e. advertising) are over. Engagement, utility and brand evangelism are the secrets to success in the user-controlled world of Facebook and Twitter. See how some major brands have exploited the new digital realities. Heartbeat Digital CEO Bill Drummy presents real-world examples showing how Bayer, J&J, Novo Nordisk, and UCB are racing ahead into the digital future.

What you will learn:
• The dramatic change in consumer media consumption patterns
• Who’s really using social networking and what are they doing
• The real data behind Facebook & Twitter
• The “reason for being” of various social networking environments and how to harness their unique capabilities
• Real-world examples of effective social networking campaigns

About the speaker:
Bill Drummy is CEO of Heartbeat Digital, an independent interactive marketing and software company he founded in 1998. Heartbeat is headquartered in New York, with offices in Brussels, Geneva, Paris and London. Named one of pharma’s “100 Most Inspiring People,” by PharmaVoice, Bill has provided strategic guidance at the highest levels for Amgen, GSK, sanofi-aventis, UCB and many other leading pharma and biotech companies. Bill’s reputation as a strategic thinker is well-known; he’s regularly published on industry issues and has been a featured speaker at major industry conferences, including DTC National ePharma Summit, and the Conference on Marketing.

Pharma Drops Search Advertising After FDA Warning

Fearing any further warnings or issues from the FDA, Pharma companies have dropped search advertising on search engines. AdAge reports that according to a study from web metrics measurement firm ComScore, paid search ads by pharmaceutical companies dropped a whopping 84% between March 26 of this year and the end of June. Pharma companies that believed they were in compliance with the unwritten "one-click rule" -- taking the consumer from the ad to a site that offered fair balance and the risk information by clicking on the ad -- immediately began pulling paid search ads, according to the study.

For more information about the changes in search engines from Pharma companies, please click here.

Pharma Drops Search Advertising After FDA Warning

New Multi-Marketing Channel Strategies for Pharma

The future of Pharma marketing lies in using new marketing channels such as social media intertwined with traditional marketing practices to create a multi-channel marketing mix. However, online brand promotion through social media is more effective for targeting patients than physicians, indicating direct marketing tactics to physicians through social media should be limited. Datamonitor’s report, New Multi-Marketing Channel Strategies provides an overview of the reasons behind the need for new marketing channels and explores the different channel mixes used to reach the pharma industry’s diverse customer base (focusing on patients and doctors). The report also examines the use of online technology, especially social media and uses in-depth case study analysis to examine the pros and cons of each method, while providing actionable recommendations on the appropriateness of the respective targeted audiences.

FDA To Hold Hearings On Social-Media Use By Drug Makers

Mediapost.com reports that pharmaceutical companies in a quandary about what they can and cannot do on Web 2.0 are welcoming news that the Food and Drug Administration will hold a two-day public hearing on the issue Nov. 12-13 in Washington, Rich Thomaselli reports. Ad agencies that specialize in health-care marketing say the hearings, and any resulting guidelines, will be helpful for the industry which, by and large, has avoided participating in social media for fear of an FDA warning letter.

With the new guidelines set by the FDA, will we see participation in social media increase by pharmaceutical companies? We'd like to hear your thoughts.

FDA To Hold Hearings On Social-Media Use By Drug Makers

Microsoft releases My Heatlh Info

According to Channel Web, Microsoft has released it's version of online medical records, My Health Info, to the public. It's beta version is now online for individuals to begin managing their healthcare information, from high blood pressure to coordinating the medication they're using. It also has an area for vaccines records as well as lab results. Read about the new release here.

What audience do you think is most likely to take advantage of online health care records? And is the younger generation going to jump on the personal health records bandwagon? They've propelled many online services such as MySpace and Facebook, but will they be likely to share their private medical data with Microsoft?

Registration open for ePharma Summit the most innovative digital marketing event for Pharma

The 9th Annual ePharma Summit is the most innovative digital marketing event for pharma. Year after year, hundreds of marketing professionals from leading pharmaceutical companies attend ePharma for incomparable access to insider information for optimizing their brand strategy and perfecting consumer relationships.

Based on feedback from hundreds of pharmaceutical digital marketers and brand managers, we’ve created a cutting-edge event packed with fresh case studies, hands-on workshops, hot topic debates, facilitated roundtable discussions, and live audience polling sessions. There might be other events out there, but ePharma Summit is the one event you need to be at in 2010!

Don’t Miss Out On
• Chris Anderson, the Editor in Chief of Wired Magazine what “free” means for Pharma and “The Long Tail” digital marketing
• Social-Media Boot Camp lead by the industry’s most notable experts Shwen Gwee at Vertex Pharmaceuticals and Mel Halkyard at Eli Lilly & Company
• Susan Dentzer, Editor in Chief Health Affairs and Health Policy Analyst on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer gets to the bottom of healthcare reform. The annual eMarketing University lead by industry gurus from Shire Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, Google, St. Joseph’s University, and Daiichi Sankyo
• UCB first time presentation on their innovative patient-centric epilepsy community
• Kevin Nalty, former pharma marketer and prolific online video creator interactive session allows you to weigh in on pharma on YouTube
• Two Physician interviews where they tell you how they prefer to learn and what is preferred in non-personal promotion

To preview the newly completed program agenda and the all-star speaker line-up, check out the website: www.epharmasummit.com.

This is your chance to rub elbows with the foremost leaders in digital marketing in an unobtrusive environment conducive to 1 on 1 networking and idea exchange. Don’t wait…The ePharma Summit this past February was standing room only. Reserve your seat today and prepare to pursue true e-marketing innovation in 2010 and beyond.

Registration Open!
Register now for the e-marketing event of the year—February 8-10, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia, PA. Use registration code P1506 blog when registering for th event.

We look forward to seeing you in Philadelphia,

The ePharma Summit Team
Lesly Atlas
Kristin Paulick
Paul Ivans
Joe Shields

Electronic records adopted by New York Hosptial

North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, a New York regional health care group, has announced the adoption of electronic records throughout it's system ranging from large hospitals to its doctors. It will cost a total of $400 million to digitize the health records, but will more tightly link the doctors and hospitals together, along with labs to coordinate patient care, reduce medical mistakes and reduce necessary tests. Find out more about this implementation of electronic health records here.

Future doctors and their current online lives

With new social lives taking place online, many professionals have found conflict between their personal profiles and how it affects their personal lives. This is no different for future doctors, meaning that many medical students are also guilty of putting inappropriate content online. Some situations are even violating doctor/patient confidentially.

Of the Student Affairs offices interviewed, Web MD found that 60% of the schools know of inappropriate behavior taking place online, with another 13% of instances where the medical students breaching doctor/patient confidentially rules. Half of the schools interviewed also had no policies in place to guide their students when it came to online behavior. Read the full article here.

I personally think we're entering a new age where professionals are going to have to mentally draw lines between personal/online lives and professional lives. However, the current Facebook Generation is going to have to learn what is appropriate online and make better judgements about what pictures and actions they place online. However, there should be no tolerance, and doctors should know, for breaking any confidentially laws and posting about patients online. So while the acceptance gap should grow about what is posted online, in no way should it relate to the patient, whose privacy and well being should be the main concern at all times.

What do you think?

Online perscriptions present growing problem

As the nation moves to online health care, a separate issue is arising in terms of healthcare on the internet. According to Reuters, there's a growing number of online websites that will provide prescription drugs with no questions asked. The main concern to this practice is, in many cases, patients are taking the wrong drugs after self-prescribing the medication themselves. This is contributing to the growing trend of antibiotic resistance. Many of the those ordering from these sides bypass any trip to the doctor, and take the wrong prescriptions, which may be dangerous for many reasons, including how the drugs will interact in one's body with other medications.

What do you think about situations like this? Online sites do give out prescriptions after an order takes an online survey, however there is no one monitoring what drugs are interacting with which. Not to mention the growing resistance of many of the antibiotic drugs. How can this problem be solved?

CDC uses social media to distribute health incformation

According to the Independent Florida Alligator, the CDC will now be using Facebook and Twitter to help distribute information about the Swine Flu.

Jay M. Bernhardt, director of the National Center for Health Marketing at the CDC stated"We have great information, [but] we have a terrible time distributing it. It's about providing health information and interventions when, where, and how people want and need them."

You can follow the CDC on Twitter at CDC_ehealth and become a fan of them on Facebook to have the latest information on the swine flu here.

New widget helps NY doctors treat AIDS

According to NY1, a new widget introduced by the New York State Health Department will help doctors know the latest medical information for treating patients with HIV and AIDS. This widget will provide doctors with podcasts, a hotline and email that will be constantly updated with the latest news on how to treat patients with the disease. Click here to watch the news report.

This is a great way to keep doctors current with treatment information on a disease which is very difficult to treat. This information will be available to New York doctors, do you think that other states will follow and begin offering widgets that will provide up-to-date instant information on how to treat other diseases?

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Wisconsin Harnesses Social Media to Interact with Members

In an effort to connect with customers, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Sheild of Wisconsin has begun to utilize social media. According to Reuters, the healthcare insurance giant is piloting a program in which it uses Twitter to identify members who may have questions or concerns about their health benefits. Twitter allows Anthem to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, real time conversation, and respond to each tweet about Anthem.

Members can follow Anthem on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AnthemHealth

In addition to Twitter, Anthem is utilizing Facebook to create a community where people
can interact with Anthem and with each other, and learn about how our health
is connected and how one person's healthy behaviors can positively affect
someone else's health behaviors. Anthem is also launching a brand channel on
YouTube to create a vital and viral community around health and wellness.

Will we begin to see more insurance companies flocking to social media, especially smaller companies?

A Glimpse at a World Without Rules in Pharma Marketing

Jonathan Richman recently posted on the imedia connection blog what would happen if there was no FDA, FTC, or DDMAC to set guidelines and rules for marketers in pharma. At first it seems like a great idea but then he went on to explain that instead of the FDA critiquing and reviewing your products it would instead be the patients, doctors, caregivers, researchers, payors, random pharma critics, and commentators doing it.

Those companies that claim bogus benefits would be shunned from society whereas those that are honest in their marketing would remain on top. Is this a good thing for pharma?

Friending Doctors on Social Networks..Is it a good thing?

This post on CNN shows how ex-Cleveland Cavalier basketball player Walter Jordan messaged his doctor on Facebook only after becomingly increasingly frustrated with closed offices, unreturned phone messages, and other said outputs of doctor-patient communication. His response through the social network was incredible, he got a returned message within 24 hours.

A study conducted by Manhattan Research shows that traditional means of communication including phone calls and face to face meetings with doctors just isn't as effective as it once was. Out of 9,000 US patients surveyed, 5 percent of respondents had received or sent an email to their doctor and of those 49 percent were interested in doing it again. More and more numbers are showing that consumers want to be able to communicate with their physicians electronically, so it would only make sense to friend your doctor on Facebook.

Minnesota helps citizens online

Minnesota recently launched a nonprofit website that will help the citizens of its state compare the prices of different medical procedures and treatments. Minnesota Health Scores is aiming to educate the Minnesotan public by providing them with information the costs and quality of of procedures at clinics around the state.

Source: WKBT

Pharma Companies are Launching YouTube Channels

Steve Woodruff mentions in his latest blog post that pharma companies are beginning to realize the importance of online video sharing and alternative methods of communication. Novartis, for example, has joined the elite group of pharma companies that have launched their own YouTube channel. Now why is this important? This proves as a great way for pharma to turn people's negative perception away by allowing patient stories to be seen as videos. The Novartis Channel does exactly that, covering 1-minute patient stories ranging from cancer, dengue fever, meningitis, and other diseases.

There is no reason why other pharmaceutical companies should not join in the bandwagon.

Some online health appoints proven to be effective

At Health care Republic, they look at how may services, such as the online psychiatric counseling, are effective for treating health conditions. The author wonders if this could change our health care in the future, meaning that much of our basic consulting could turn online.

Do you think this is a good thing? We have been hearing about the drought we're going to experience in family health doctors. Will this help or medical system in the future?

Is Web 2.0 Past its Hype Cycle in Pharma?

John Sharp detailed in this post on eHealth that according to Gartner Research Web 2.0 technologies has moved past the initial hype phase and now has matured into something of real value. Gartner specifically mentioned,

"We see a number of potentially transformational technologies that will hit the mainstream in less than five years, including Web 2.0, cloud computing, Internet TV, virtual worlds and service-oriented architecture (SOA)."

John seems surprised that microblogging applications like Twitter has not made it to that list of components that Gartner expects to become mainstream. Do you think pharma is heading in the same direction and speed in terms of Web 2.0 technologies compared to other industries?

Many turning to online health insurance websites

According to the Chicago Sun Times, of the people who buy health insurance this year, 28% will do so online. This article focuses on eHealthInsurance, which is an affordable Expedia-type search engine that finds affordable health insurance for individuals. It's partnered with Celtic Insurance Company of Chicago. However, new legislation from the Obama administration could put businesses such as these out of business. The government is considering a single market place that would detail all health insurance, which would not allow eHealthInsurance to operate.

What do you think? What do you see for the future of online health care insurance?

Online Psychiatric Counseling Appears Effective

ABC.com reports today that there could be virtual relief for patients suffering from depression through an innovative internet-based program.

Online cognitive behavioral therapy for depression -- with patients and therapists communicating in real time via instant messaging, or IM -- was not only effective, but could broaden access to treatment, researchers reported in the Aug. 22 issue of The Lancet.

After four months, 38 percent of patients who had participated in the Internet-based therapy program had recovered from depression, compared with 24 percent of those in a control group, according to Dr. David Kessler of the University of Bristol.

After eight months' follow-up, 42 percent of the treatment group -- but only 26 percent of controls -- had recovered.

Online Psychiatric Counseling Appears Effective