What does healthcare engagement mean to you?

[pause]
>> DENNIS URBANIAK: Well I think 'healthcare engagement' means you are actually taking
the time to find out what is relevant to people. And you are learning that, and putting forward
products and solutions to realize that on a consistent basis. So, it is a move away
from a kind of a 'short-term' campaign mentality, to a longer-term, establishing a really credible
presence that you benefit from because you are delivering something which is relevant,
that is linked to either product or service offering.
>> JOE SHIELDS: When I think about 'healthcare engagement', it's about the expectations we
have for patients and the expectations they have for themselves. So a physician in the
US will go to school for an extra 12 or 16 years just to become a doctor. But unfortunately,
nobody goes to school to be a patient. So I think it is an 'on-the-job' training and
an on the job discovery process for every person. It's different. Certainly people who
are technically savvy - the younger, maybe people that have more chronic conditions are
more motivated to get information, connect with people and become a real proactive part
of their own healthcare. There are other people in my mother's generation that maybe see the
physician as the primary and only source of information, and treatment. And I think that
once again the world is big, and it is changing, and I think that we need to better define
for patients what it means to be a patient. And what the resources are. And also what
the responsibilities are, because I think we also talk about a patient bill of rights,
which is certainly important when we talk about patient privacy and things like that,
but there could also be a patient bill of responsibilities. So, I am responsible for
my own healthcare, and that of my family.
>> MARC MONSEAU: I mean to me, what's really important for us to understand is that; how
many people are going online to find access to information that can make or help them
make health decisions. And format the point of view of a company that makes, manufactures
and understands how to create products to help people manage those diseases. We have
an opportunity now to become more involved in some of that decision making that takes
place online. When we talk about healthcare; engagement on healthcare online, to me it's
being part of that conversation. What's really compelling is that how many people not only
go online for health information but how many of those actually trust information from others
like themselves. They're trusting information from other consumers, more than they are trusting
information that is being created by organizations, by companies, and from other members of industry.
With that in mind, we need to be able to help people to get access to accurate, informative,
and useful information. And that means we have to learn how to start to talk and engage
in ways that people - are engaging with people like themselves.
>> BENJAMIN HEYWOOD: Well I think it is really about empowering patients to take control
and manage their illness. So giving them the tools and the information they need to make
the correct decision in partnership with their healthcare provider or physician. And really
empowering them to have all the information.
>> BREICHEN MADEJ: To me healthcare engagement; I immediately think of patients and consumers
taking control of everything. I mean, let's face it we are in a consumer-oriented world.
Consumer goods and products have essentially grasped this already, and I think healthcare
is soon to follow. So it is really patients taking control of their own health, navigating
the complex systems that we have had to set up through managed care and other organizations.
So to me that is what immediately comes to mind.
>> BOB BROOKS: Healthcare engagement to me means, throughout the continuum of health,
everyone is engaged. The physician is engaged in the care that she is delivering, the technician
who is doing blood work is engaged with what he is doing, making sure the patient is being
put first, is placed first. But more than anything healthcare engagement to me means
that the consumer of the healthcare, the patient and as well as their loved ones, are 100 percent
engaged in the process. For me bottom line is that the consumer being engaged is healthcare
engagement. And if the consumer is engaged then inevitably better health is delivered.
>> CHRISTIANE TRUELOVE: For me healthcare engagement means being able to reach the patient
and the physician when and where they want the information.
>> KEVIN NALTY: Well, I can tell you what it is not. It is not browsing a website or
quickly skimming a video or having a two second conversation with a Rep. I mean, to me, if
it is with the consumer, it is actually, you know, providing some value, educating, maybe
entertaining, and then ultimately positioning your product toward the end of it. I don't
think that with the healthcare providers that is as easy, but you know, we as an industry
need to get back to the days when we were seen as an educational resource, and you know
that we are doing something positive and that we are adding value to that constituent before
we hock our own drugs. So, is that engagement? By definition of engage, which is used way
broadly, to refer from anything from I looked at a website to I commented to I watched a
video to et cetera. To me, in it's truest form, engagement means they are attentive,
they are leaning forward, they are absorbing information, their behavior or at least their
intent for positive behavior change has been shifted. That would quantify, not brand, brand,
brand, brand. That's just not, engagement.
>> JOHN MACK: Well OK, since I'm a guy that focuses on the pharmaceutical industry there
is a lot of talk about how pharmaceutical marketers or communicators can engage with
patients and physicians online and through social media. So one of the things that I
think is healthcare engagement is to help patients with their problems that, in terms
of supporting patients through social media. So to me engagement means conversation, and
it means helping patients not just understand your products, but helping them with their
medical condition online as well. So maybe this is something broader than the pharmaceutical
industry, and I think that social media tools can be used by healthcare companies to great
benefit.
>> WENDY BLACKBURN: You know engagement was a word that we heard a lot about over the
last couple of days, and I guess in my opinion it is that shift from the shotgun approach
- mass communication, mass effort, to more customized communication. The two-way dialogue,
all of those buzzwords that we have been hearing, probably a lot of the same answers you have
been getting. But I think it is a word that they use a little loosely, and really don't
think about it. So I appreciate the question and I think it is one of the things that pharma
is very specifically a little afraid of. How do we, in a regulated environment, frankly
converse with our customers and are we willing to listen to what they have to say.
>> DAVE DEBRONKART: Engagement is the difference between reaching up and catching something
that is thrown at you and looking at it and just letting it bounce off you. You know,
in the old model of healthcare it was something that was done to us, we'd go to the doctor,
we'd get a shot, we'd be told what to do and that would be the end of it. An engaged patient
asks questions, gets involved, keeps track of how they are doing and in general, they
also speak up - that is the empowerment aspect. They are engaged in their care instead of
being passive.