86% of office-based HCPs now use Electronic health records (EHRs), according to the CDC. They do not just use them; they rely on them as a regular part of care duties. For healthcare marketers, this presents a goldmine of opportunity in EHR-based messaging. But how do you effectively stake claim and tap into that potential? Navigating the complex frontier of EHR advertising can be challenging, even for seasoned marketers. Whether you’re new to Point of Care marketing or looking to optimize your current strategies, asking the right questions of your EHR advertising vendors is crucial. Point of care marketing has emerged as the gold standard for effective healthcare marketing, often delivering higher ROI than traditional channels. By reaching HCPs at the moment of decision-making, it offers unparalleled opportunities for impactful messaging. To help marketers strike gold in this field, Veradigm, a leader in the EHR media space, has identified seven critical questions that every healthcare marketer should be asking their potential point of care partners. Let’s explore how you can turn this EHR opportunity into marketing gold.
1. What Does Your Claimed Reach Really Mean?
This might be the most important question you can ask a potential EHR or Point of Care (POC) media partner.When analyzing partners to consider, it is important to understand how they calculate their reach and how they will deliver against your target audience. For instance, a company might claim to reach 30% of all HCPs in the United States, but you may find that only a fraction of these providers are accessible for your promotional messages. Stand-alone applications, like ePrescribing, may be connected to an EHR but not be used by all those EHR users.
What to look out for when considering EHR partners:
- The number of active users versus total connected providers
- The breakdown of providers by specialty and care setting
- The actual number of HCPs you can reach with promotional messages
- The right frequency and flexible touchpoints for your messaging needs
- 3rd party-verified EHR vendors with proven market share (publicly available)
Remember, a large network doesn’t necessarily translate to a rich vein of effective reach for your specific campaign goals and targeted patient population. Specificity matters and is the true crown jewel in Point of Care marketing. Identify partners who can help you customize your brand messaging and deliver it most effectively to your target audience.
As a marketer, you need to dig deeper. Ask about:
- The number of active users versus total connected providers
- The breakdown of providers by specialty and care setting
- The actual number of HCPs you can reach with promotional messages
- he right frequency and flexible touchpoints for your messaging needs
- rd party-verified EHR vendors with proven market share (publicly available)
Remember, a large network doesn’t necessarily translate to a rich vein of effective reach for your specific campaign goals and targeted patient population. Specificity matters and is the true crown jewel in Point of Care marketing. Identify partners who can help you customize your brand messaging and deliver it most effectively to your target audience.
2. What Types of EHR-Based Messaging Can You Deliver?
Delivering messaging in healthcare contexts offers a wide range of opportunities, especially in how you target, personalize, and deliver content. Different partners may be uniquely suited for your specific campaign needs, or you may find strong use cases for using multiple vendors depending on campaign objectives. Understanding the types of messaging a POC company can deliver is crucial for aligning your campaign strategy and selecting your partners. For EHR-based campaigns, there are two main messaging types:
Promotional Messaging:
- Drives brand awareness
- Can be highly targeted (e.g., by specialty, patient characteristics)
- Appears during the EHR workflow before prescribing decisions
- Can link to brand websites or promotional materials
Financial Messaging:
- Is not intended to increase HCP awareness or education about your brand
- Typically involves coupons or financial incentives
- Appears after medication selection and not targeted
- Measured through coupon redemptions
The real gold lies in how these messaging types can be combined. For instance, you may use promotional messaging to build awareness of a new treatment option, followed by financial messaging to support patient access. This one-two punch can create a powerful impact on both HCP awareness and patient adoption.
Ensure the partner(s) you choose can deliver the type of messaging that aligns with your campaign objectives. Some POC companies may excel at one type but not offer the other, limiting your campaign’s full potential.
3. How Experienced Are You in EHR Marketing?
EHR Marketing has become a frontier ripe for exploration in HCP engagement. This dynamic environment presents exciting possibilities, but to navigate it effectively, you need partners with a deep understanding of the following:
- EHR workflows and user experience
- Regulatory compliance in healthcare advertising
- The unique challenges and opportunities of point of care marketing
- HCP perspectives and needs within their specialty and care context
Ask potential partners about their track record in EHR marketing. Can they provide case studies or success stories specific to your therapeutic area?
4. Which EHR Platforms Are Used to Reach the NPI Target List?
Now that you’ve mapped out your campaign goals, it’s time to chart how each potential partner can deliver. Once you’ve defined your target list of healthcare providers (often by National Provider Identifier, or NPI), you need to understand exactly how they plan to reach them.
Make sure you clarify:
- Which specific EHR platforms will be used?
- What percentage of your target list is reachable on each platform?
- Are there any limitations or special considerations for reaching specialties or practice types integral to your campaign?
Understanding the platforms involved will help you assess the potential reach and impact of your campaign. Additionally, consider these important factors:
- Ad Placement: Some EHRs, like Practice Fusion, display advertisements in an iframe window adjacent to the EHR workflow, separate and distinguishable from the clinical and practice management workflow. This approach ensures compliance with regulations that prohibit biopharma or device advertisements during the prescribing workflow.
- Campaign Goals Alignment: If your campaign includes multiple objectives, such as delivering coupons alongside promotional messaging, ensure the POC media company can support both. For instance, you might use promotional messaging to drive awareness of coupons upstream in the EHR workflow, followed by financial messaging for coupon delivery.
- Cost Efficiency: Understand how the POC media company calculates cost-per-thousand (CPM) impressions. Some might serve the same doctors with multiple impressions per page at high frequencies, inflating the impression count but potentially reducing the cost-effectiveness of your campaign. Consider focusing on the cost per provider as a quality metric when evaluating where to buy point of care media.
- User Experience: Inquire about their approach to ad rotation. Rapid rotation of media can negatively impact the provider experience and reduce the effectiveness of your message. Look for partners who prioritize longer viewable times and only rotate ads when providers navigate to a new page.
The most important thing is to ensure that once you have a campaign goal in mind, the POC media company you select can deliver on that goal effectively and efficiently within the EHR platforms they use. This alignment is key to hitting the mark on your EHR marketing goals.
5. What Counts as an "Impression" and What is the Average Viewable Time?
Not all impressions are created equal. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) standards require an ad to be 50% viewable for at least one second to qualify as a delivered impression. You don’t want to be surprised if impressions are high, but the impact is low.
Ask these questions:
- How do they define and count impressions?
- What is the average viewable time for their impressions?
- How quickly do they rotate ads?/li>
Consider partners who prioritize quality impressions with longer viewable times. For instance, Veradigm notes that their impressions are viewed for an average of over 30 seconds, which can impact the effectiveness of your message. This extended viewing time can make the difference between a fleeting glance and a memorable brand interaction.
When searching for an EHR partner, consider impression quality, not just cost. A lower CPM, rapidly rotating impressions might seem attractive at first glance but a slightly higher CPM with longer, more impactful impressions could yield a better return on investment.
6. What is the Extent of the Reporting Provided?
Robust reporting determines the true value of your campaign. Different companies offer varying levels of insight, so it’s imperative to ensure you’ll have access to the metrics that matter most to your brand. Have these conversations ahead of launch, so that you can ensure tracking ladders up to your overall marketing goals. Looking at your specific metrics for success and setting these KPIs ahead of time is also a great way to work on strategies, such as targeting. Ask about reporting on:
- Impressions and reach
- Prescription analytics
- Physician-level data
- Coupon redemptions (if applicable)
- Any custom KPIs specific to your campaign goals
The more granular and comprehensive the reporting, the better equipped you’ll be to measure ROI and optimize future campaigns.
7. What is the Compliance Oversight Around Your Platform?
Last but certainly not least, compliance is a critical consideration in healthcare marketing. EHR advertising is subject to numerous legal, regulatory, and privacy requirements. Ask your potential partners these key compliance questions to ensure you are comfortable with the answers you receive. Key compliance questions:
- Do they have documented compliance programs?
- Is there in-house expertise in medical, privacy, and regulatory affairs?
- How do they manage user permissions and data privacy?
- What is their process for reviewing and approving ad content?
Look for partners with strong, transparent compliance practices to ensure your campaigns are not only effective but also adhere to all relevant regulations.
Final Points
As EHR marketing continues to evolve, asking these seven critical questions will help you navigate the landscape with confidence. Whether you’re staking your first claim in EHR campaigns or refining existing operations, selecting the right partner(s) is crucial. Focusing on the reach that you want, messaging capabilities, experience, platform specifics, impression quality, robust reporting, and strong compliance measures will leave you well-positioned to create impactful, compliant campaigns that deliver measurable results.
Remember, in the world of EHR marketing, knowledge is power. Don’t hesitate to dig deep, ask tough questions, and demand transparency. Your brand’s success depends on it. With the right approach and the right partner, you can turn the vast potential of EHR-based messaging into marketing gold, creating campaigns that shine brightly in the competitive healthcare landscape.
*This material was created based on thought leadership provided by Veradigm.
