Originally Published IVD Technology January/February 2006
EDITOR'S PAGE
An emotional link
Attaining proper reimbursement for IVDs continues to be one of the major challenges for the IVD industry. One of the primary factors contributing to this problem is the lack of recognition among policymakers about the important role of IVDs in healthcare.
In addition to policymakers, many patients do not know what IVDs are and what they are used for, even though physicians routinely use them to make critical treatment decisions. Instead of being involved in knowing what tests are being conducted and how doctors make treatment decisions based on test results, patients are removed from the entire testing process. Unlike diagnostic imaging tests such as x-rays, patients have no tangible attachment or emotional connection to IVDs and their test results.
In this issue’s Commentary, “Revamping Reimbursement for IVDs” (page 18), Stephen J. Ubl, president and chief executive officer of AdvaMed (Washington, DC), discusses the lack of an emotional link between diagnostic technologies and patients. Without such an emotional link, Ubl argues, patients will continue to have no reason to be interested in or care about IVDs, and IVDs will continue to be unrecognized for their contributions to healthcare.
How can IVD manufacturers create an emotional link between IVDs and patients? The key is encouraging patients to take a more active role in the diagnostic process. Patients need to realize that IVDs are just like x-rays. However, IVDs are different from x-rays, which are visual. The notion of x-rays is more intellectually accessible to patients, while the workings of IVDs are more obscure and difficult to comprehend. With such limitations, IVD manufacturers should take a different approach in demonstrating what IVDs have to offer in order to make that emotional link with patients.
IVD manufacturers should go directly to patients and tell them about IVDs. One way of doing so is through direct-to-consumer (DTC) marketing. A news article in IVD Technology (June 2005, page 14) reported on how some manufacturers have launched DTC advertising campaigns. However, marketing executives at IVD companies commented that the focus of diagnostics marketing will likely remain on the industry’s traditional target audiences: clinicians and laboratorians. While this may be the case, IVD manufacturers should consider shifting their marketing strategies and spend more time and effort taking their messages directly to patients.
The ultimate goal is to have patients be more knowledgeable about IVDs, such that in addition to discussions about drugs and therapies, they will talk and ask questions about testing with their physicians. If this goal were reached, such discussions about IVDs between doctors and patients would become a routine part of the healthcare process. The sooner IVD manufacturers begin working on this goal, the sooner it will have an effect on improving reimbursement rates for IVDs.
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