News letter, January 2008

Dear Sir,

It is my pleasure to present you our January 2008 issue of the MedSupport Europe newsletter featuring some of our recent learning experiences from which I want you to benefit as well.

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Cash sales to patients - watch the information gap!
More and more we see a trend in Europe where patients pay for medical devices which better meet their needs than those devices provided via the standard reimbursement system.
The traditional marketing & sales channels are still in place, but multiple forms of direct response marketing are often being utilised.
While doing so, it is very important to fully understand what crucial information the patient is potentially lacking, so you can fill the “information gap” with the right message. Key to the effective communication strategy is to have a sharp eye on the following issues:

Who to target and when?

What is the “information gap”?

Available budget for communication plan

Change from traditional “push and pull”, requires process of support and guidance

Pro-active customer support mechanisms

Structured and frequent contacts with target groups to keep the momentum going.
Do take into account that creating awareness triggering interest and desire, is a mid- to long term process. MedSupport Europe (MSE) is your experienced partner for assisting you to recommend and implement the most successful communication strategy.
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Business development: Manning the cockpit together
In a business development assignment our clients ánd our mission have directed us to an approach of working to a large extend on success fee.
Over the past years MSE has been assisting many companies on their path to business development in Europe. As it is our mission to advance medical technology in Europe we have evaluating our assignments to learn; we have spoken with many of our existing and potential clients about business development in general and specifically about assistance from consultancy companies such as MSE.
In our view and in our clients’ view, business development can best be carried out when we ‘join the client’s team’. It is extremely important to thoroughly understand the client’s company, philosophy and people. By moving very close to our client we virtually and temporarily ‘join their team’.
Another very important parameter is the way in which we are rewarded. Clients justifiably prefer us to share in the business fruits as well as in the business risks. At MSE it is our aim to guide the fee structure in an assignment towards a substantial success fee-basis. This keeps us on our toes as we man the cockpit together with our client.
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Country Profile: Sweden, an interesting priority
In this issue we highlight the country of Sweden. Sweden is larger than France and slightly bigger than California. It has 9 million inhabitants and one of the highest GDP’s per capita in Europe; comparable to the US.
Sweden has an excellent national health system, which has consistently been ranked among the top healthcare systems in the world. There are more doctors per head in Sweden than in most other countries, and the government has traditionally invested heavily in health care.
The total expenditure on Medical Equipment for 2007 is estimated at 1.9 billion US dollar of which 80% is spent in the public sector. The country offers many small, specialised and larger distribution companies, generally highly professional, ready to partner with innovative manufacturers.
The Swedish healthcare professionals are very open for new innovative medical technologies. Time-to-market is therefore relatively short compared to many other European countries.
We at MSE have successfully covered the Swedish market for several clients for market research as well as business development assignments. We will gladly share specific information with you about the Swedish medical device market.

Dick van Rinkhuyzen