Sunshine Act: Pharma Impact – Changes in US Physician Behavior

Report Overview

The industry finally received word from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) regarding the final rule to the Sunshine Act. Officially called the “National Physician Payment Transparency Program: Open Payments,” the rule will require drug and device manufacturers that receive government reimbursements to collect data on gifts and payments to teaching hospitals and physicians, starting on August 1st, 2013.

This report measures the impact that the adoption of the Sunshine Act will have on physicians’ interactions with the Pharma industry. We looked at a broad set of communication/ information channels so as to give Pharma sales, marketing, and brand managers a full picture of the environment they will be facing post-Sunshine Act.

What you will learn:

• Physician preferences for interaction with drug makers (analyzed across 18 different information channels)
• The value physicians place on the same 18 information channels
• Effect the Sunshine Act will have on their continued use of each of the 18 channels
• The impact the Sunshine Act will or will not have on operations within a practice
• The therapeutic areas that are most attractive and best fit for adaptive designs

How you can use this report:

• Anticipate how the implementation of the Sunshine Act is expected to impact the flow of drug information
• Proactively re-allocate tactical budgets and mix to design strategic activities and ensure consistent and appropriate delivery of your brand’s message
• Establish internal regulatory policies and guidelines for branded interaction with physicians based on channel effectiveness and availability

Methodology:

This report quantifies the Sunshine Act’s impact on PCP’s use and perceived value associated with the following 18 channels:

1. Call center detailing
2. Conferences
3. Consulting engagements
4. Drug specific websites
5. eDetails
6. Free samples
7. General medical websites
8. In-person, group detailing by sales rep
9. In-person, one-on-one detailing by sales rep
10. Mailed, paper literature about specific drug/products/therapies
11. Medical society websites and publications
12. Peer-based, professional publications
13. Pharma-sponsored dinner meetings
14. Pharma-sponsored in-person CME seminar
15. Pharma-sponsored web-based CME seminar
16. Pharmaceutical company websites
17. Principal investigator fees to conduct clinical trial research
18. Research grants to conduct research

Report Contents:

1. Executive Summary
2. Frequency of Use: Information Channels
3. Value: Information Channels
4. Detail Environment
5. Practice Dynamics