KEY TAKEAWAY: Drug pricing in pharma DTC ads is not going to affect the prices of drugs. The list price doesn’t mean a damn thing to patients who have any health insurance. However, a lawsuit against pricing in ads is going to a PR nightmare for pharma companies.

QUICK READ: Those of us who love the pharma industry are responsible for being the change we want to see. This is true in all functions from healthcare marketing to agency people who work with clients.

• In a Medscape poll of more than 250 clinicians, more physicians said that electronic health record (EHR) systems have decreased quality of care (44%) in their primary workplace than increased it (40%).
• The poll also indicated that few physicians or nurses were involved in the decision of which EHR to use in their primary workplace.
• When asked what aspects of EHRs increased quality of care, the top answer among physicians was the ability to locate and review patient information more easily (59%), followed by the ability to electronically subscribe (49%), and portability/access to patient records by all members of the care team (44%).
• Physicians’ top answer was to make the systems more intuitive/user-friendly (44%), followed by allowing greater interoperability and record sharing (30%). Nurses/APRNs would most like to see more interoperability and better record sharing (33%), followed by making the systems more user-friendly (30%).

IN SUMMARY:

IN SUMMARY: DTC awards should not be decided by industry people who have a vested interest in winners. They should be decided by patients who were motivated to “learn more” or ask their doctor for a prescription.

IN SUMMARY: Over the last week, pharma has been blamed for the high cost of healthcare while PBM’s and insurers seem to protected by Teflon. A courageous politician would stand up and admit that our whole healthcare system is to blame, but it’s easier to unite voters against “big pharma.”