Healthy Skepticism Library item: 15081

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

Diller W.
Don't Come Knockin' On My Door
The Invivo Blog 2009 Feb 13
http://invivoblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/dont-come-knockin-on-my-door.html

Full text:

The pharma industry doesn’t need more stats to tell it that knocking on doors doesn’t work any more, but some new figures blast that cold reality. (A comprehensive review of what needs fixing in pharma’s commercial model is in the December IN VIVO. Our take on Merck’s stab at reinvigorating its commercial presence is here.)

The latest data comes from California-based market research firm SK&A, which found the percentage of doctors who require reps to make appointments for visits rose 22 percent between June and December 2008 from 31.4 to 38.5 percent (of doctors who see reps). The number of physicians who won’t even see sales reps at all rose from 22.3 percent to 23.6 percent (of all surveyed).

Put another way: about 40 percent of general practitioners—that is, the ones who see reps at all—now require appointments, up from 33 percent six months ago. The trend rose for specialists too-from 28.3 percent in June to 36.6 percent in December. Every kind of practice and specialty is getting tougher, although specialty physicians are more likely to completely bar reps than GPs. Among the toughest to get to: pathologists, diagnostic radiologists, and neuroradiologists. No specialty stood out as particularly friendly, although dermatologists, allergists, and diabetes specialists were least likely to impose total lock outs.

The survey didn’t ask why doctors are increasing their restrictions, but SK&A researchers do speculate. Doctors are busier, under pressure to see more patients – and, affiliated with large organizations that increasingly institute system-wide rules. Not surprisingly, then, health systems are the most restrictive: more than half require appointments and 35 percent forbid rep access altogether. Of free-standing medical practices, those owned by hospitals stand out: 44.6 percent of those that see reps require appointments, while 31 percent keep their doors shut.

Lest anyone dismiss this data as fly-by-night, SK&A says it conducted telephone interviews with 227,000 medical practices representing 640,000 doctors-that’s nearly all of the active practicing physicians in the U.S. The response rate was 94 percent.

There is a silver lining. Some 76.4 percent of those surveyed, including the group that requires appointments, still see reps. And those appointments could be more productive. The survey didn’t measure quality of interaction, but SK&A CEO Dave Escalante points out that doctors who agree to visits by appointment may be opting for higher quality time with their rep, which scheduling in advance could provide. SK&A, however, didn’t look at the reasons for the new barriers to access or the quality of doctor-rep relations, although multitudes of others have.

The message? Well it hardly needs to be repeated, but hard numbers always resonate: large armies of sales forces are a model that just won’t work anymore.