Healthcare and Marketing Attribution

One of the benchmark issues in evaluating the relentless inflation in healthcare costs is brand name versus generic prescription drugs. The objective of the drug manufacturers is to address the clinical needs of patients, but they must also create name recognition and demand among consumers for brand name drugs. The drug research and manufacturer invests heavily in the research that produces the breakthrough, runs clinical trials, secures FDA approval, and builds the distribution and packaging that will eventually bring a branded drug to market. Getting patients and insurance companies to accept a significantly higher cost for a brand drug is largely a product of successfully creating market demand.

As Congress continues to look for cost-effective alternatives to Obamacare, the pressure continues to build among insurance companies to anticipate how many consumers they might be dealing with next year and how, from an actuarial viewpoint, to cost out the coverage that they may or may not be obligated to provide.

Over the last couple of years there has been increased emphasis on the part of healthcare marketers in the Pharmaceutical and Health Insurance markets to measure and validate the fact that their promotional and marketing dollars are generating the proper return on investment. Unlike television, which these markets heavily rely on for reach, attributing marketing spend in your digital outreach is transparent and can be measured from campaign to campaign. In many cases, the digital attribution model can be utilized to measure spend in other channels as well.

Semcasting’s approach to attribution is based on a deterministic model where every impression served is subject to being matched back to the audience targeted and the purchase made. This process is facilitated by Semcasting data that can identify a medical practice (by specialty) and match back the impressions served in a campaign to anonymous sales at the local pharmacy.

In the healthcare insurance market the attribution model for encouraging insured patients to sign up for a generic drug prescription program may involve caregivers, pharmacies and consumers who have different health insurance packages. While the objective is to encourage more use of generic drugs, changing the distribution model starts with demand. Using Semcasting’s attribution solution, individual campaigns to caregivers and physicians are run in concert with campaigns to insured patients. Different digital messages for select drugs in different trade areas allowed the insurer to test for the right combinations. The digital audience that receives impressions and the digital dollars spent in each trade area were compared to physicians, specialties and the lift in anonymous sales of generics prescribed over brand name. A formulaic way of attributing the impact of digital spend on generic drug sales in a trade area was able to be measured deterministically and at scale.

For more information on how Semcasting’s patent pending attribution solution can improve the measurement and effectiveness of your campaigns please contact us at sales@semcasting.com or download our Healthcare Attribution datasheet  for more details.