Enhancing your ROI

However, with the cost of developing such medical advancements continually rising, it forces people to think of ways to keep those costs down wherever possible. Costs of research and development were running in the vicinity of $51.3 Billion [1] in 2005 and some feel the cost could rise past $105 billion by 2010 [2]. At that rate of inflation, the need to be proactive is vital.

Measurement

One method would be to ensure that your advertising efforts are as effective as possible. This can be accomplished by outsourcing the patient recruitment and retention to a quality center that can not only prescreen callers to see if they qualify for your clinical trail but can also collect and organize data so that you have measurable results. Really, what good is a meaningful advertisement if you can’t measure the return on investment (ROI)? You wouldn’t be able to make a well informed decision on the effectiveness of a given ad any other way.

For example, company A is running an advertisement for clinical trials for a drug that treats high blood pressure. They arrange for an ad to be run before a popular day-time talk show and also after the 6 o’clock evening news. The cost of the first ad is $1000 and the second $3500. At first glance one may assume that the first ad would prove to be more cost effective but you then find out that the first ad only resulted in 15 qualified calls whereas the second produced 200 qualified calls. So, for the first ad each lead would cost you approximately $60 but with the second ad only cost $17.50. In this light, the better value is obvious.

Communication

You also want to be sure that your advertisement is being understood by your target market. Is the ad increasing public awareness or is the message being lost? If you’re using the right communication center for your patient recruitment, they’ll be keeping track of every call. If people are repeatedly calling in with a misinterpretation of the message you are trying to send, they will bring this to your attention so you can reevaluate the delivery. This proves cost effective as there will be more qualified calls due to fewer misunderstandings.

In just these two areas the potential to cut costs is significant. In addition, a quality communications center will also save time and money with their services in patient recruitment, retention, therapeutic pre-screening, protocol specific pre-screening, drug reimbursement and information help lines. Careful consideration must be given when choosing a company to handle these services for you. Choosing “just anyone” could have detrimental results.

Retention

Looking again at Company A, from their advertisements they have put together a database with 8000 prospects. Unfortunately they neglect to follow up and this results in over half dropping out. What happened? With no follow up, some of the prospects thought they were forgotten, others lost interest and some perhaps even decided to seek out other Clinical trials to take part in. To illustrate, if you were to apply for a job and then go through an interview, it is reasonable that you would expect to hear back within a short period of time as to whether you got the position. Weeks pass and you’ve yet to hear from this prospective employer. Due to this lack of communication, you presume that the position has been filled and so you in turn apply for another job elsewhere. When the call finally comes to congratulate you for securing the position, you regretfully inform them that you are committed elsewhere. Truly, what good is a large database of prospective patients without the follow up and regular communications to maintain it?

CliniCall

CliniCall is a communication center specializing in providing centralized patient recruitment and client retention services to the clinical & pharmaceutical industries. Our objective is to provide the best value to the industry with time and resources efficiency. CliniCall’s expertise in patient recruitment has proven to yield higher profits for its clients due to the higher number of qualified patient subjects. Also, in minimizing the number of unqualified and “no show” subjects, it shortens the clients estimated trial phase.

What makes CliniCall different?

Unlike many of our competitors, all calls are answered live so people won’t get frustrated going through never-ending IVR menus in hopes of talking to a “real person”. Our CSA’s are chosen for their caring and empathic nature, which can be critical at times depending on the nature of the clinical trial. Also, we can boast an average abandon rate of only 1% for the entire year of 2006.

According to Centerwatch, www.centerwatch.com, (the industry standard of information on the business of clinical trials) the discovery-to-pipline is estimated at 10-15 years. The focus of all those involved in this industry is cutting the time it takes to successfully recruit subjects for each phase of the clinical research process, as this is the area most able to be affected in terms of time and money. The goal is to recruit patient populations more quickly and to provide clinical research physicians with a better qualified list of prospective volunteers than what was available through the age-old practice of investigators handling their own recruitment programs.

CliniCall is a state-of-the-art communications center that has the ability to customize its services to the unique and specific needs of each client. CliniCall will develop its databases and reporting in a web based format to allow clients to retrieve the desired data whenever and wherever they choose.

A Bit of History

In late 2001, investigation proved that an opportunity existed in the Clinical arena for a dedicated contact center for patient recruitment and specific telephone answering services in the pharmaceutical sector.

CliniCall was launched in April 2002, basing its culture, principals and business practices from tried and tested best practices. CliniCall has been recognized in the industry as a professional and competent call center for the clinical research industry.

CliniCall’s first project started in January 2003 with a small patient recruitment and appointment setting project. Since its beginning, CliniCall’s growth has been consistent for a small startup company, earning revenue in its first year and an increase in revenue thereafter. Completing contracts in both pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms, CliniCall has proven results.

For more information about CliniCall, call 888-650-3333 or visit www.clinicallinc.com.

1. Burrill & Company, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), 2006.
2. “Global Contract Drug Development Spending to Reach $42 Billion by 2010,” Genetic Engineering News, May 2005.