On October 24-25th, PatientsLikeMe attended the 8th Annual Patient Adherence, Communication and Engagement (PACE) Conference in Philadelphia. The event focused on how the healthcare industry can deliver measurable improvements in patient adherence (i.e., taking medications as prescribed by your doctor).  Put simply, how can we help patients like you take the correct dosages at the correct times?

Why does this topic merit its own conference? Well, as we learned at PACE, medication non-adherence costs more than $300 billion every year in the US alone. You read that right. And this staggering amount is comprised of more than just hospitalization and emergency room costs. It also includes things like lost employee productivity and the cost for less optimal patient outcomes. Essentially, think of it as $300 billion the US could be saving each year – but currently is spending – in the midst of an economic downturn.

Here are some of the other noteworthy takeaways:

• Of that $300 billion, more than $100 billion is concentrated in four cardio-metabolic disorders: diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol and heart disease.

• A key factor in non-adherence is that patients may frequently have an incorrect understanding or an unrealistic expectation from their doctor of what their medications will do for them.

• Recently passed US legislation is attempting to change the way doctors are paid. The new law provides financial incentives for health plans to implement quality measures that hold doctors accountable for impacting patient outcomes.

• Many new solutions, such as telemedicine and the patient-centered medical home, are being piloted and studied. The goal is to learn how technology can impact patient outcomes via medication adherence services and remote medical care.

• To remain relevant to patients, biopharmaceutical companies now recognize that they must incorporate the voice and experience of the patient into their decision-making processes.

Last but not least, our very own Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Business Development David S. Williams III spoke about the work PatientsLikeMe is doing around medication adherence. Specifically, he focused on patient-to-patient interaction as an influential driver of medication adherence and how we can give patients the tools they need to (1) understand how their medication is working for them and (2) hold each other accountable for following their doctors’ instructions.

Do you believe connecting with – and learning from – other patients is critical to adherence?  Share your thoughts in the comments section.

“I got this call from my brother Stephen, and he said the news doesn’t look good. At that point, he’d been through enough processes to know what that meant – he had ALS. So I began this journey with my brother and my family…. We were thinking there had to be a way to make this about the patient. But it started like everyone else. You get that phone call, and your life changes.” – Jamie Heywood, Co-Founder

Recently, we launched a new and improved About Us page that included a short video about our company history. Now, we’re pleased to unveil a longer, more in-depth video that allows you to hear our founding story from four PatientsLikeMe executives and learn what drew each of them to become a part of our groundbreaking concept.

Tune in below to hear where it all started and why, five years later, we’re committed to continuing the journey we’re all on – as a company, as patients and as family members of those affected by disease.

You can also watch this insightful piece (~15 minutes) in three smaller segments:  Chapter 1, Chapter 2 and Chapter 3.

Recently, PatientsLikeMe Chief Marketing Officer David S. Williams III had the opportunity to participate in a podcast interview with the industry magazine PharmaVOICE. Along with Bonnie Brescia, a Founding Principal of BBK Worldwide, he fielded questions about how the new alliance between our two companies can both enhance and expedite the clinical trial recruitment process. Listen in to hear what each had to say about what this partnership means and what we hope to achieve together.

2010 was a strong year for business development at PatientsLikeMe.  Our goal was – and continues to be – to align patients’ needs with industry interests in order to maximize interaction between the two.  Here are a few of our successes and challenges over the year.

Successes

1.  New Partnerships, New Communities

In the first quarter of 2010, PatientsLikeMe launched two communities with corporate partners.  UCB helped us develop our Epilepsy Community, while Novartis partnered with us to create our Transplants Community.  Both communities have grown to more than 3,000 patient members and are now the largest of their kind in the world.

As with all of our partnerships, we made sure the focus is on the patient experience.   For example, what are your perceptions about the medications you take?  How do you see these treatments impacting your quality of life?  Getting quantifiable data on such questions can help our partners understand how they can help patients like you improve your health outcomes.

2.  Enhanced Services for Partners

When we create products and services for our corporate partners, it’s with a single objective:  to amplify the patient voice.  As a result, healthcare companies who wish to improve health outcomes have the information to improve their products and services accordingly.  In 2010, PatientsLikeMe further heightened the voice of patients by enhancing two existing products.

PatientsLikeMeListen^TM and PatientsLikeMeLandscape^TM

These complementary services help measure both the frequency and sentiment of treatment discussions in our community forums.  In 2010, we added functionality that allows our partners to see a longitudinal comparative view of patient sentiment (using  PatientsLikeMeListen^TM) as well as identify discussion topics that are rising within a forum (using PatientsLikeMeLandscape^TM ).  Both products help to elevate patient concerns and bring their importance and relevance to life for industry partners.

Challenges

As a for-profit health company that enables data sharing by patients, we knew we’d face our share of challenges.  2010 was no different.  Many groups, including patients, nonprofits, government and industry, had valid concerns about working with PatientsLikeMe because of our Openness Philosophy.

1.  Guidance on Industry Interaction with Social Media

One of the main (and valid) concerns our industry partners express is that the Food and Drug Administration has yet to deliver clear guidelines on how to interact with social media.  Dipping their collective toes into the social media wave pool is perceived as risky because the FDA levies severe penalties for companies attempting to directly sell to patients.

PatientsLikeMe has taken a leadership role in addressing this concern by further developing our PatientsLikeMeLeaders^TM service. After investigating all privacy and regulatory conditions, PatientsLikeMe has created a fully compliant solution for direct industry-patient feedback in an online forum that we moderate.  Now you as patients will be heard directly by those making decisions on what treatments are developed and how they are introduced, while our partners can learn what patients like you want and need – without fear of non-compliance.

2.  Being Open About the Data Scraping Incident

In May 2010, we discovered that a major media monitoring company had created a patient account and automatically downloaded forum posts in order to add data to their sentiment analysis client service.  Not only is that a violation of our User Agreement (“You may not use any robot, spider, scraper, or other automated means to access the Site or content or services provided on the Site for any purposes.”), but it reduces the trust patients have with our site.

We dealt with this challenge openly by disclosing our discovery of this “data scraping incident” the day it occurred.  We sent a message informing all patient members, and about 200 patient members left the site as a result.  In October 2010, The Wall Street Journal included PatientsLikeMe in its special series on the benefits and risks of sharing health information online, with the practice of data scraping highlighted as a risk to patients.  We welcomed this article coverage and continue to engage with other leaders in this ongoing discussion.

Since our PatientsLikeMeListen^TM product measures sentiment of discussions in our forums, we reminded our members about this similar service.  We will continue to inform and educate our members about how we conduct business so there are no surprises.

Summary

In 2010, we continued to grow our patient communities and further confirmed that the success of our business lies in aligning patient and industry interests.  In fact, we have recently been cited by the Board of Innovation as one of 10 Business Models That Rocked in 2010.

Because of the sensitivity of sharing health data online, however, we remain upfront, open and transparent about our business practices so that patients like you can be informed participants in your health, medical research and the development of effective treatments.  Happy 2011!