Patient Level Data: The New Information Paradigm

This is the first installment of a three-part series examining patient level data as a valuable market research and brand management tool. Your March e-Tip! notes how this new approach has emerged and how it differs from traditional data sources.

Over the years, pharmaceutical executives have had to rely upon fragmented information to gauge their products' performance in the marketplace. Until the early 90's, prescribing data were collected at the pharmacy outlet level. This reporting method captured where a prescription was filled, but not where it was written. So, if a patient filled his prescription while traveling, marketers couldn't be sure if their efforts resulted in the sale. This shortcoming led to the emergence of physician-level data as the favored source for monitoring dispensed drugs.

Physician-level data simply tell the number of prescriptions written by a doctor for a particular medication. It's more commonly referred to as "script data." While marketers depend on this reporting, many find a major drawback in not distinguishing between new and refill prescriptions. Each new "paper" presented to the pharmacist represents a "new" prescription. However, as any patient on a long-term medication knows, the new paper prescription received during their yearly check-up doesn't mean they're new to the medication.

Script data will continue to be the industry standard for tracking prescribing activity, yet a new data source is gaining fans. Pharmaceutical companies interested in learning more about how patients are actually using their products turn to HIPAA* compliant "patient level data." By examining prescriptions from a patient perspective, marketers can verify new versus refill status and perform a host of new analyses. Prescribing behavior that can now be studied includes: adjunctive therapy use, dosing changes, product switching and patient demographics.

A type of patient level information is patient-centric data. This integrated approach links scripts with all the other care a patient receives within the healthcare system. Adding services such as diagnosis, lab tests and hospitalizations to the equation provides a clearer picture of how drugs are used in actual practice and their clinical outcomes.

The prospect of gaining new insights on prescribing behavior and patient therapies must be viewed from the proper lens. Your research supplier should help you define the following terms prior to engaging in a study using patient-level data:

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