New York, NY. - In an article last week, MM&M reported a surge in Point Of Care (POC) investments such as Goldman Sachs and Alphabet’s $500 million financing into Outcome Health and PatientPoint receiving $140 million in June. These and many like them are signaling a shift in what may be to come for opportunities to increase brand awareness where patients make critical health care decisions.
With digital being involved in almost everything consumers do these days (77% of all American’s own a smartphone – Pew Research, 2017), it is no surprise to see Outcome Health pledging to ‘wire’ a majority of all exam rooms by 2020.
But not so fast, as MM&M reports, there are still hurdles yet to clear. For example, POC doesn’t just result in an exam room any longer. With virtual visits on the rise and consumers expecting to engage with their health care team in new ways, advertisers will still need to think of innovative solutions to not only reach the exam room patient, but also the living room patient. Reliable metrics will also be a challenge to overcome, as brands will demand to understand how well their messaging is getting through to the end POC user.
“Health outcomes are the aggregation of billions of decisions that take place in examination rooms. That moment of care offers brands the opportunity to influence better health outcomes. We can deliver information and applications - into the moment of care in ways that create measurable, positive outcomes for all.” Blake Chandlee, EVP and GM of industry strategy and emerging businesses; Outcome Health.
Read more about this story here, which originally published on MM&M.
Why This Matters –
Anytime we catch wind of a shift in how brands can reach and message to consumers, it catches our eye. Especially in a place notoriously known where patients spend a great deal of time waiting.
Therefore while Outcome Health and their POC advertising vehicles are nothing new, it is intriguing to see big investors such as Alphabet (Google) and Goldman Sachs inject new funding into the space.
Also interesting to note, several trends we continue to follow this year fit the changing expectations of where patients and consumers want to find information and brands shifting how they’re reaching target markets.
In the end, it is exciting to see an emphasis in an area where so many critical health care decisions are made. And personally, it would be great to have something different to focus on than a wall when inevitably waiting in that awkward silence of an exam room.
