Wolters Kluwer, Nielsen partner on consumer health information service

CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa. Wolters Kluwer Health and The Nielsen Co. on Wednesday announced the Healthcare Consumer Informatics Alliance offering, providing healthcare-related manufacturers and media companies with a comprehensive understanding of consumer behaviors and attitudes around the purchase of prescription, over-the-counter and other health-related products.

The first platform, HealthScape, combines de-identified patient prescription-related transaction data with consumer purchasing, attitudinal and behavior information to provide insights into therapeutic market activity, patient trends, consumer segmentation and targeting opportunities, the companies stated. It’s an entirely new class of healthcare informatics, representing the combination of Nielsen’s knowledge of the consumer health and media space with Wolters Kluwer Health’s expertise in prescribed pharmaceuticals.

“The healthcare industry including manufacturers and media companies are confronted with tough questions on how to efficiently target and influence patients and shoppers with limited marketing dollars,” stated Matt Dumas, managing director for NielsenHealth. “This alliance provides a consumer-centric view of the patient and the marketplace with metrics that bring a new kind of accountability to healthcare marketing.”

“The sphere of influence in healthcare has been steadily expanding from a purely prescriber-centric model to a more patient-centric one as consumers become increasingly responsible for their own care,” added David Martin, vice president of sales and marketing for Wolters Kluwer Health. “Informatics created by our alliance provide an understanding of not only what patient purchasing patterns are, but what is driving those patterns.”