Office managers wield influence on rep access
September 9, 2009 – 3:30 pm by Steven NilesThe SK&A Research Center has been surveying U.S. medical offices on their physician access policies for two years, releasing survey results every six months. I wrote about the company’s last report here. SK&A’s latest study reveals the percentage of physicians who welcome visits from pharmaceutical sales representatives has remained stable during the past six months, increasing slightly from 76.4% in December 2008 to 77.3% in June 2009.
In this iteration of its survey, SK&A found that office managers wield as much influence as lead physicians in determining the policy for allowing industry sales reps to visit with physicians. Of the medical practices that allow visits, 48% of respondents said the office manager sets the policy while 47% said the lead physician sets the policy. Another 5% of survey respondents said the policy is established at the group headquarters level. Moreover, 97% said their sales rep visitation policy has been in place for two or more years.
“Establishing a great business relationship with the office manager is imperative for sales reps trying to meet physicians face-to-face,” says Dave Escalante, president and CEO of SK&A. “In nearly half of the medical offices surveyed, the office manager is the literal gatekeeper to seeing the physician. To provide enhanced support for their sales teams, pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device, and medical equipment companies are executing non-personal promotion marketing campaigns, primarily through direct mail and e-mail, to educate the office manager on the value of their company’s products and services.”
Although access to physicians has remained stable, the percentage of physicians who require or prefer appointments to be set for meetings jumped from 38.8% to 48.4% during the same time period. Meanwhile, 22.7% of physicians refuse to see sales reps at any time. Specialty physicians, such as pathologists and radiologists, are much more likely to restrict access than general practitioners.
13% of group practices have general policies to restrict access to physicians at all their office locations, and 7% have these policies at some locations. When medical practices are owned by hospitals, sales reps can expect more obstacles in reaching physicians. The survey found 29.3% of practices owned by hospitals have “no-see” policies. Medical practices owned by health systems are slightly more restrictive. The survey found 34.6% of these practices have “no-see” policies.
The larger offices are, the harder it will be to see physicians. Physicians in larger practices, as measured by number of doctors, are less accessible than those with fewer physicians in practice. No access jumps from 13.7% in offices with one to two physicians to 42.2% in offices with 10 or more doctors.
Finally, regionally, the West is most restrictive with a 28% no-access rate, followed by the East (23%), the North (21.7%), and the South (19.5%).
These findings were based on telephone interviews with 224,895 medical practices representing 649,331 doctors. The physician list is available for sale to assist healthcare marketers in appointment setting and connecting with prescribers. SK&A says custom reports based on geography, specialty, practice ownership or sizes are also available, upon request.
Tags: research, Sales force effectiveness, SK&A, survey
