Verispan Joins with Marketing Technology Solutions to Offer Innovative Market Research Integrating Primary Consumer Research with Secondary Longitudinal Data

Verispan Joins with Marketing Technology Solutions to Offer Innovative Market Research Integrating Primary Consumer Research with Secondary Longitudinal Data
Wednesday August 15, 10:13 am ET

Provides Insight into What Causes Patients to Fill, or Not Fill, Prescriptions

YARDLEY, Pa. & JERSEY CITY, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Verispan, the leading provider of de-identified patient data, and Marketing Technology Solutions (MTS), a performance-based, interactive marketing solutions company, today announced an agreement to jointly offer Brand Sig Powered by HealthTrak(SM), a unique tool that integrates patient perceptions with prescription information to provide insight into what causes patients to fill, or not fill, prescriptions.

Patient interactions with their prescriber are captured through MTS' HealthTrak consumer surveys, offered through an interactive Web site, QualityHealth.com. QualityHealth.com is visited by over 4 million patients monthly. Using strict filtering and eligibility, HealthTrak captures and collects over 1,200 patient surveys per market per month about the Medical Moment of Truth (MMoT)(TM). The MMoT is the first visit when a patient receives a specific drug and represents the best opportunity for the prescriber to influence the patient's commitment to treatment.

Through HIPAA-compliant processes, HealthTrak collects and summarizes patient demographic and perceptual elements pertaining to their initial office visit as well as for various brands in the market. Key areas investigated include education about their condition and the product prescribed, directions for treatment and dosing, the physician dynamics, and sampling.

The survey information is integrated with Verispan's longitudinal prescription data, which gives a clear picture of prescription-filling patterns. Verispan has the industry's richest patient-level data and uses a patented de-identification process to accurately track patients anonymously across pharmacies, payers and prescribers. By integrating the longitudinal data with patient perceptions, Brand Sig provides unique insights about the many messages patients receive from their prescribers and the effect that they have on actual patient behavior.

Brand Sig offers insights into such questions as:

• What was and was not discussed during the doctor's appointment? What did patients learn about a brand?
• What are patient attitudes toward different brands?
• What prescriber messages increase initial fill rates and persistency?
• Did patients fill or not fill their prescriptions? Why?
• What is the impact of sampling on prescription fill rates?
• What is the impact of direct-to-consumer advertising campaigns on prescription filling and requests for specific products?

"It's no surprise that disease education leads to greater brand utilization," says Steve Davis, Vice President of Product Management at MTS. "The question is, what specifically do patients want to understand? Brand Sig identifies the key messages at the brand level that patients need to hear and provides an assessment of the impact of specific messages by patient segment."

"We're very excited to be joining with MTS to offer Brand Sig," says Wayne Yetter, Verispan CEO. "The integration of our patient longitudinal data with MTS' consumer data provides a truly unique and innovative product that neither company alone could offer."

For more information on Brand Sig, please contact Mike Passanante at (267) 685-4518 or mike.passanante@verispan.com.

About Verispan

Verispan, a healthcare informatics joint venture of Quintiles Transnational Corp. and McKesson Corp., provides a broad array of information products and services to the healthcare industry, including sales targeting and compensation products; market research audits; healthcare profiles; comprehensive managed care offerings; data integration, warehousing and mining; data analysis and consulting; direct mail; list services; disease management studies; clinical trial investigator targeting and protocol recruitment evaluation; healthcare outcomes; and cost/benefit analyses, among many others. Verispan is also the nation's leading provider of patient-centric longitudinal data, with dozens of products used by clients spanning the industry.

Headquartered in Yardley, Pa., Verispan employs over 500 dedicated healthcare information professionals. The company's Web site is www.verispan.com.

About Marketing Technology Solutions

MTS is a performance-based, interactive marketing solutions company that specializes in connecting clients' brands with health-conscious consumers.

MTS connects clients to the largest audience of profiled, qualified, health-conscious consumers. Its community of health-conscious consumers has over 9 million members who interact with its sites for health and wellness information, nutrition tips and product offers for its clients' brands.

• QualityHealth.com, a leading consumer health portal that enables marketers in the pharmaceutical, medical device and consumer packaged goods industries to acquire insight about consumers who interact with the site in exchange for coupons, free trials and other valuable offers.
• Nubella.com provides an engaging and contextually relevant environment for brand messages that target consumers looking for healthy lifestyle and nutrition information.
• Healthpages.com is a unique online directory service that provides users with localized information specific to their

individual health needs.