Study highlights where pharmaceutical industry falls short of healthcare professionals’ demand for medical websites

A new report on ‘The Evolving Role of Websites for Healthcare Professionals’ highlights a gap between HCP demand for online medical information, and pharmaceutical industry supply. It is based on an independent global study conducted with three key stakeholder groups – healthcare professionals (HCPs), pharmaceutical companies and third party service providers.
According to the research published by EPG Health, websites are HCPs’ preferred source of information in clinical practice, with 96% rating them important and half accessing websites daily via their smartphones.
However, pharmaceutical companies appear to underestimate the value of websites, rating them only their fourth most important channel for delivering information to HCPs, with 78% devoting less than a quarter of their HCP communications budget to providing online resources.
While the pharmaceutical industry appears to have a good awareness of HCP needs for online access, it faces a number of significant obstacles (according to the report) in successfully executing digital communications.
Most challenging according to over 90% of pharmaceutical company survey respondents are understanding HCP needs and behaviour, building trust and credibility, providing real value, and integrating websites with other channels for reaching and engaging with their audiences.
“With the number of digital native doctors due to reach seventy percent by 2020, the crucial role that websites play in supporting them will only continue to evolve,” says Chris Cooper, CEO for EPG Health, publisher of www.epgonline.org, the website for healthcare professionals. “This study is important for anyone involved in planning, creating and delivery medical information for HCPs. It provides valuable insights into where, as an industry, we can focus efforts to support better education and engagement. The opportunities are great.”
The full report is available to download for free at http://bit.ly/2INT6vq. Based on surveys conducted with over 200 healthcare professionals and over 100 industry professionals, it contains more than 80 questions covering 8 chapters: Website types and roles; Buy, borrow or build; Multichannel integration; Data collection and use; Content type and format; Credibility and trust; Collaboration and Influences and obstacles.

EPG Health
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Michelle Kelly, Marketing Director - +44 (0)1892 577706 Michelle.kelly@epghealthmedia.com

EPG Health specialises in behaviour changing education for better health outcomes worldwide. Via epgonline.org, the independent website for HCPs, we reach and engage segmented audiences of validated HCPs and take them on a multichannel educational journey, using relevant content and market leading behavioural technology. For more information visit www.epghealthmedia.com.

This release was published on openPR.