PM360 DECEMBER 2010

GUEST COMMENTARY

PARTNERSHIPS WITH PURPOSE
By Lisa M. Tate

It’s not uncommon today for patient-centered organizations and the pharmaceutical industry to partner for the benefit of patient care and better understanding of treatment options for both patients and healthcare providers. These partnerships with purpose are becoming the norm and play a significant role in advancing patient care in the landscape of the most educated patient population in history. Patient organizations such as WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease share common goals with pharma partners.

Both want women to understand treatment options, to have access to the treatments most appropriate for the individual, and to understand the importance of adhering to the treatment plan prescribed by doctors over the long term. An educated patient is a smart consumer; an empowered consumer has the best opportunity to live a high-quality life despite living with a chronic disease. Reaching women with the appropriate information about prevention and treatment and advancing research on treatment options are priorities for both patient advocacy organizations and their corporate partners.

A Winning Alliance
While the value may seem obvious, there are several key reasons for pharmaceutical companies to seek appropriate nonprofit alliances. First, partnerships provide pharma with a credible partner in a priority disease area for communicating key unbranded messages. Patient-centered organizations are viewed by their constituents as unbiased, thoughtful, and aimed at meeting the information and support needs of their members. At WomenHeart, we ensure the validity and credibility of all information we disseminate by seeking review of our Scientific Advisory Council, comprised of leading cardiovascular experts.

Second, the patient advocacy group provides pharma with increased access to a very targeted audience due to the organization’s focus and membership in a particular disease area. Those who register with a patient education website or Facebook page are those most interested in the topic—and can include the patient and family, friends, caregivers, healthcare providers, and media. The reach of this targeted audience, and the viral effect of message delivery, is invaluable in today’s health information–saturated marketplace.

Third, many patient advocacy organizations are grassroots and community-based, providing an opportunity to reach deep into communities of targeted audiences with key messages.

WomenHeart’s community-based orientation is similar to the structure of many patient advocacy organizations. Several of our programs illustrate the advantages that well-structured partnerships, with measurable goals and a clear understanding of expectations and parameters on both sides, can have for both pharma and the nonprofit. For example, our Red Bag of Courage gift bag program provides an opportunity for multiple partners to insert non-branded and, in some instances, branded educational literature about woman’s heart health into the hands of 100,000 women per year. With the assistance of our volunteers, this program provides corporate partners the unique opportunity to reach key audiences in a personal and meaningful way. Our organization maintains credibility by including only those materials that fill an information gap we can’t meet and requiring review of materials by our medical experts.

Supporting Patients
Another example typical of many patient organizations is the patient support function. Currently, WomenHeart has 72 local Support Networks in 27 states, as well as online patient support programs, touching tens of thousands of patients annually. While group leaders are trained not to provide medical advice, the patient volunteers who lead these groups want to keep abreast of new treatments and research findings. Often a synergy exists between these volunteers’ educational needs and corporate partners’ patient communication goals, making collaboration possible on projects including webinars, conferences, and technical assistance publications.

With safeguards in place, mutual understanding of goals, and transparency on both sides, collaborations between the pharmaceutical industry and patient advocacy organizations can be good business for both groups, with the ultimate beneficiary being the patient. Educated patients are more likely to understand the need for investment in research and the value of new treatment options and be able to communicate more effectively with their healthcare providers. Identifying creative ways to collaborate and develop those partnerships with purpose will be beneficial to all stakeholders—the company, the nonprofit organization, and most important, the patient.

To learn more about working with WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease, please call Lisa M. Tate, Chief Executive Officer, who can be reached at 202-728-7199, and visit us at www.womenheart.org