[e-drug] Patient education: putting patients first!?

e-drug
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E-DRUG: Patient education: putting patients first!?
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[E-drug normally does not post messages with a commercial background. However, we make exceptions if we can learn something from it, or when it could lead to healthy debate.
The message below announces a seminar on World Health Day (7 April) in Mumbai, and pretends to "put patients first". However, it looks that the participants will be businessmen rather than patients.
Is it possible to have good information and at the same time make good money? Maybe worth a debate? And maybe a Mumbai-based e-drugger can report later about the discussions? Wilbert Bannenberg, moderator]

World Health Day (7 April) – Seminar on " Putting Patients First!"

Doctors may be failing to prescribe one of the most powerful treatments known to man! While doctors may be experts on the pharmacology of the latest drugs, it's a sad fact that most doctors today do not dispense one of the most powerful therapeutic tools they have at their disposal – information.

We all know that knowledge is power – and that information can be is powerful medicine. Much of what happens in health care is about information - information about lab results, diagnoses, drugs, or referrals. Access to it gives the patient control over his own health and well-being. And the power of information grows when the patient and doctor are able to share it. Unfortunately, patient education is a concept most doctors just pay lip service too, because they are often too busy and don't have enough time.

Unfortunately, as a result of this, both doctors and patients lose in the bargain. Patients are often unhappy and dissatisfied when their doctor does not provide information. They then go to google to hunt for information on their own – and often get lost and confused. Doctors are also upset when they are confronted with patients who carry tons of internet printouts – most of which are garbage.

The best solution is Information Therapy – " Prescribing the Right Information to the Right Person at the Right Time". This is now routine in many clinics in USA. Don Kemper, CEO of Healthwise, USA (the world leader in this field, www.informationtherapy.org), will be presenting a seminar on Information Therapy, so that this becomes a routine part of medical practice in India too.

Patients represent healthcare's largest resource - and they have been untapped so far. Patient education can help patients to become better patients ! This is a major opportunity for healthcare insurance companies and TPAs in India today as investing in patient education can be very cost effective for them. Not only is it useful for brand-building and marketing, it is also an important value-added service they can provide to their clients. Patient education also represents a very cost-effective investment, because it has been shown to reduce claims’ expenditures by reducing unnecessary surgery. In the USA, a growing number of health insurance companies are providing their customers access to patient education for disease management in order to reduce the cost of their disease expenses. An excellent example is the CIGNA HealthCare Web site at www.cigna.com.

Speakers at this seminar include:

Don Kemper. Information Therapy – why it makes business sense for health insurance companies to promote patient education

Dr Aniruddha Malpani, Medical Director, HELP. How can we get doctors in India to prescribe information?

Mr. Rajesh Jain, CEO, Netcore. Helping patients become better informed – the business opportunity for entrepreneurs in e-healthcare;

Mr. Rakesh Jhunjhunwalla, Investor. Why I am bullish on health care in India

This seminar will be held at HELP on World Health Day, 7 April 2006, from 11 am – 1 pm, and will give you an opportunity to interact with Don Kemper, so you can learn from the US experience.

Please do come – I promise you it will be worth your while!

Dr Aniruddha Malpani, MD
Medical Director
HELP - Health Education Library for People
Excelsior Business Center,
National Insurance Building,
Ground Floor, Near Excelsior Cinema,
206, Dr.D.N Road, Mumbai 400001
Tel. No.: 55852393/55852394
helplib@vsnl.com
www.healthlibrary.com

World's largest free health library !
We help patients to talk to their doctors.

--
V.Bhava Narayana
Editor
Pharmed Trade News
3-3-62/A,New Gokhale Nagar,
Ramanthapur,Hyderabad-500 013.
Phone :91-40-27030681
Mobile:91-98495-51183
www.pharmedtradenews.com

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E-DRUG: Dubious drug promotion in Iceland?
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Dear e-druggers,

I recently spoke with a Swedish GP who had been in contact with a colleague
in Iceland. The Icelander described an interesting marketing practice:
apparently, every patient who got a 12-month prescription for a certain
(new, expensive) antihypertensive drug, was also given a year's subscription
to a high-class gym. The gym card was, he said, paid for by the manufacturer
of the antihypertensive drug.

Can anybody confirm or refute this? If it is true, surely it must be a
breach of the IFPMA marketing code?

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E-DRUG: Dubious drug promotion in Iceland? (2)
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Dear e-druggers,

This was promptly stopped by the medical authorities in Iceland.
The details are not right though. But that does not matter.

Albert Adalsteinsson
Iceland
trebla@simnet.is

----original message

I recently spoke with a Swedish GP who had been in contact with a colleague
in Iceland. The Icelander described an interesting marketing practice:
apparently, every patient who got a 12-month prescription for a certain
(new, expensive) antihypertensive drug, was also given a year's subscription
to a high-class gym. The gym card was, he said, paid for by the manufacturer
of the antihypertensive drug.

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