Interview with Jim Wilson, R.Ph., MBA
President of Wilson Health Information, LLC
What were the more significant findings in 2006 and what do you anticipate for 2007?
In 2006, chains are the most commonly used type of pharmacy while mail/online pharmacies continue to grow. In addition, among those customers who use mail/online, 70% indicated they would probably use their local pharmacy if the amount and price were identical.
Another interesting finding from 2006 is that while the majority of pharmacy customers trust their pharmacist as a source of information on medications, less than 25% indicated that they spoke to their pharmacist when they filled their last prescription. The downside is that consumers may be missing the chance to develop a relationship with their pharmacist and learn more about their medications and their proper use.
It will be interesting to see if these trends are continuing in 2007, as well as determining additional key findings and any new trends, particularly as they relate to the new Medicare Part D program and new pharmacy service questions.
Why does WilsonRx® use mail surveys?
For years we grappled with the issue of which methodology is best for measuring customer satisfaction with pharmacies, PBMs, Health Insurers and Medical Treatments. Faced with a myriad of options (i.e., mail, telephone, store intercept, online, focus group, etc.), we have decided each year to use a mailed hard copy questionnaire for the WilsonRx® Survey. Each of the various options presented us with substantial limitations compared to the mailed survey. These fell primarily in the area of scope and longitudinal value. At first, Online through the internet appeared to be the most attractive alternative to a mailed survey due to the relatively low cost and faster turn-around time, however, when we looked at the data more closely, we found that the data are significantly biased by income and age.
Furthermore, in an article published in Quirk's Marketing Research Review, June 2007 - in a comparison of online versus offline survey methods concluded that "For Hispanics, online is not a representative method" and "For African-Americans, online is generally not a representative method." And that "even when samples appear demographically balanced, they may be concealing "nested" demographic differences, and may still reflect respondents whose attitudes and characteristics differ from their overall populations in fundamental ways." The article concluded that there are only very limited uses for online research focusing on Hispanic and African-Americans that may include studies that do not require total population representation.1
For some studies such as our pharmacy manager/pharmacist study, online surveys are fine since the majority of pharmacists have access to computers either at work or at home. However, for household consumer research, we found that mailed surveys are still the best since we are able to collect large numbers of actual respondents in one of the most important healthcare and pharmacy customer segments, seniors and lower income households with Medicare/Medicare Part D coverage and Medical Assistance (Medicaid/MediCal) as well as multi-cultural respondents.
We strongly feel that it would not be appropriate to “weight” or project the data since it would be based on biased samples of populations representing thirty percent or more of a pharmacy's business and would not be representative of the overall population.
Why are historical and longitudinal studies important?
First, it is important to be able to compare results with the same households or households with similar characteristics across data sets to obtain the most useful and actionable information. Second, trends in pharmacy use are important indicators of changing population patterns. Case in point, we saw a significant rise in the use of independent pharmacies and a decrease in chains when we increased our sample size from twenty to thirty thousand respondents. However, after further analysis, we found that when we looked at the same markets, the percentages of pharmacies used by type did not change. But when we looked at some of the newer markets covered, we found a higher percentage of rural and suburban respondents, who typically are more likely to use a local retail independent pharmacy.
Longitudinal studies also allow us to look at consumer behavior versus intent over periods of time. We look at consumers who respond to the WilsonRx® survey in more than one year over the seven year period surveyed and analyze how households respond to our survey in multiple years. Therefore, we are able to compare actual behavior (i.e., use of pharmacies, PBMs and Health Insurance Plans) with their intentions to return to the pharmacy and/or reenroll in the Health Plan or PBM. We are able to analyze these households and look at which pharmacies they used, how often they changed pharmacies and their levels of satisfaction with specific issues with the pharmacy they were using at the time. Clearly, this knowledge on how to market to existing and new customers provides valuable insights into maintaining and building a successful healthcare business.
Finally, the value of the information received from mailed surveys is of great importance to Health Insurers, PBMs and pharmacies since it offers them consistent, reliable information to better serve their customers by providing data that can assist them in improving customer retention and reducing attrition. Increased knowledge of the varying satisfaction levels with treatment of medical conditions and the trending of these satisfaction levels help identify specific strengths and weaknesses and better serve the community at large.
Reference
1 "Compare and Contrast", Quirk's Marketing Research Review, June 2007 and EMarketer article "Reaching Hispanic Internet Users," April, 2006; and TNS Multicultural.
Jim Wilson, R.Ph, MBA, President
